The following is a running collection of news, rumors, quotes, and other information related to U2's next STUDIO album. We'll continue to post updates to this page as we get new information. If you have found a quote or news item about the new album, you're welcome to share it by emailing webmaster @ atu2.com.

ALBUM NAME: No Line On The Horizon

PRODUCER(s): Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois, with additional production by Steve Lillywhite; material from September, 2006, sessions with Rick Rubin has been "shelved" according to Edge in this MOJO magazine interview

ALBUM RELEASE DATE:

• March 2: Worldwide
• March 3: North America
• February 27: Germany, Austria, Ireland

FORMATS: The album will come in five different formats:

• Audio CD ($13.98 list price)
  Description: "This version is the standard album CD in a plastic jewel case w /24 page color booklet."
• Vinyl (2 LP) ($17.98 list price)
  Description: "This version is 2 vinyl discs in a folding sleeve with 16-page oversized booklet."
• Limited edition Digi-pack version (CD/Poster/Film Download) ($35.98 list price)
  Description: "This version features the album CD in a cardboard folded sleeve w/ a 36-page color booklet and fold-out poster, as well as a new film from Anton Corbijn featuring the music of U2, available as exclusive downloadable content."
• Limited edition Magazine version (CD/Magazine/Film Download) ($49.98 list price)
  Description: "This version features the album CD in a special 60-page soft cover magazine-style book as well as a new film from Anton Corbijn featuring the music of U2, available as exclusive downloadable content."
• Limited edition: Box Set version (CD/Poster/Book/DVD) ($95.98 list price)
  Description: "This version is a deluxe limited-edition-collectors item: packaged in a special box, album CD in a cardboard folded sleeve w/ 36 page color booklet and fold out poster. Box also includes 60-page hard cover book plus an additional fold-out poster and a DVD of the new film from Anton Corbijn featuring the music of U2 in a slip case cover."

TRACKLIST: unknown

POSSIBLE SONGS MENTIONED:

These are songs that have been mentioned in the buildup to U2's next studio album. It's possible that, as song titles changes, some of these may be referring to the same song.

• Q magazine's album preview mentions the following songs, some of which are new and some previously mentioned:
• "Magnificent" ("classic U2isms" ... "atmospheric sweep")
• "Crazy Tonight" (will.i.am worked on this one)
• "Stand Up" ("swaggering" ... "coruscated Edge guitar work")
• "Get Your Boots On" ("a heaving electro-rocker")
• "Winter" ("about a soldier in an unspecified war zone")
• "Unknown Caller" ("stately")
• "Moment of Surrender" ("a strident seven-minute epic recorded in a single take")
• "Breathe" (Eno loves this song)
• "No Line On The Horizon" (there were two versions being considered at the time)
• "Every Breaking Wave" (Bono: "We might be on to something special there.")
• "Unknown Caller" - Edge talks about the song in this MOJO magazine interview. It's one of the songs recorded in Fez, Morocco, and Edge says it "seems to be everyone's favourite or second favourite tune on the album." In the beginning of the track, Edge says you can hear the swallows that were flying above the band in the open atrium of the riad in Fez where they were recording.
• "Stand Up" - in this Reuters article, Bono says the song is inspired by the Stand Up and Take Action campaign events of October 17-19; "It's not a 'let's hold hands and the world is a better place sort of song.' It's more kick down the door of your own hypocrisy," Bono says.
• "Get On Your Boots" - described in this Q magazine article as "Eddie Cochran with barbershop harmonies'; previously referred to in some articles as "Sexy Boots"
• "Breathe" - described in this Q magazine article as a "f--k-off live rocker"
• "The Cedars of Lebanon" - Daniel Lanois revealed this track in an interview with the Montreal magazine, Voir. He said the song was inspired by Jimi Hendrix.
• "Moment of Surrender" - an 8-minute-long track mentioned in this Q magazine article; Brian Eno told fans outside Hanover Quay studios in early June, 2008, that it's "the best thing" he's recorded with U2. Edge talks about the song a bit more in this MOJO magazine interview, saying it's 7-and-a-half minutes long.
• "For Your Love" - a song title seen on the band's white board, as described in this article from the Fez recording sessions; in this Q magazine article, Edge says it has one of the best riffs he's ever played
• "One Bird" - a song title seen on the band's white board, as described in this article from the Fez recording sessions
• "No Line On The Horizon" - Bono and Edge played this song for a USA Today writer during an in-the-car interview at the Sundance Film Festival. On hearing it, writer Anthony Breznican says "heavy distortion fills the car," and later adds: "The song is rough, weaving between brutal guitar blasts underscoring the mellow title refrain." Edge explains that the song "It came out of a new distortion box that my guitar tech got."
• Unknown Title - in the same interview with Anthony Breznican, Bono and Edge played a second song whose opening lyric is, "It's six o'clock...". Bono tells Breznican that numbers are significant in each of the new songs.
• "If I Could Live My Life Again" - Bono says this song is "inspired by the great Argentinian poet Jorge Luis Borges." Bono said he had just begun the song while speaking with author Michka Assayas in December, 2005. Their interview appears as the extra material in the paperback version of Bono in Conversation with Michka Assayas.
• "Love Is All We Have Left" - a song Bono named during his May, 2006, trip to Africa as one that he had recently written. "It’s like an old Broadway tune. I thought it was a Frank Sinatra song," Bono said.
• "North Star," a song from the How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb sessions which included a guest organ appearance from Michael W. Smith. In this CCM article, Smith describes the song as a tribute to Johnny Cash.
• "Mercy", one of the last songs to get cut from How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, described in Blender magazine as "a six-and-a-half-minute outpouring of U2 at its most uninhibitedly U2-ish"
• "Lead Me In The Way I Should Go" -- a contender for Atomic Bomb first mentioned in this February, 2003, interview with Bono in Grammy Magazine
• "You Can't Give Away Your Heart" - a contender for Atomic Bomb first mentioned in SPIN magazine

LATEST NEWS

December 19, 2008: Amazon.com lists five different versions of the album for sale.

December 18, 2008: U2 has confirmed the name of the album, No Line On The Horizon, and says that Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois are producers, with Steve Lillywhite providing "additional production"

November 24, 2008: All kinds of U2 album news in this MOJO magazine interview with Edge:

• Album is likely to be called No Line On The Horizon
• Songs from 2006 session with Rick Rubin have been "shelved"
• Edge talks about songs called "Unknown Caller" and "Moment of Surrender"

Best to just read the interview...

November 15, 2008: Daniel Lanois tells the Boston Herald about the new U2 material: "I believe, well, rock ’n’ roll has been reinvented one more time. (Laughs)"

November 4, 2008: Daniel Lanois tells the Canadian Press that U2's new album is "fantastically innovative" and "some of their best work. He says he'll be joining the band for 10 more days of work later this month, but doesn't know when they'll be done. "It has broken new sonic ground, and I think Bono's lyrics and vocal performances are better than ever. I'm glad to see he's stepping up and talking about what's on his mind."

October 24, 2008: Daniel Lanois describes the new album in an interview with Canada.com:

"It's very sophisticated, rhythmically," said a coy Lanois. "I'm talking high-grade and wicked. We've gotten to a place, a combination of myself and (Brian) Eno, I think we've just done something that's never been done before. The president of the company is singing like a bird."

October 22, 2008: Bono tells Reuters that he's working on a new song called "Stand Up," that's inspired by the Stand Up and Take Action anti-poverty events of October 17-19

September 3, 2008: Bono tells U2.com that the album will not be out until early 2009:

"We've hit a rich songwriting vein. It gets a bit dark down here but looks like we've found diamonds not coal. I thought a while back we might have the album wrapped by now, but why come up above ground now if there's more priceless stuff to be found? ... I'm always the one who underestimates how easy it is to simply 'put out the songs now.' If it was just up to me they'd be out already! But early next year people will be able to start hearing what we've been doing. We want 2009 to be our year, so we're going to start making an impression very early on."

September 1, 2008: Q magazine has a detailed article speaking with Edge about work on the new album. Though not quoted directly to Edge, the article says "opinion is divided whether the album will make a pre- or post-Christmas release." Edge also shares a few quotes about the material, and several track names are discussed.

August 11, 2008: According to this Evening Herald article, the first single will be a track called "Sexy Boots."

July 21, 2008: Universal Music have registered the domain, nolineonthehorizon.com, which is one of the known song titles listed above. It could be the album name, or perhaps the name of the first single.

July 6, 2008: As described in this Sunday Mirror article, Steve Lillywhite has reportedly told Irish DJ Tony Fenton that the new album is U2's best ever.

June 28, 2008: Somewhere around this date, U2 has finished recording the new album. Daniel Lanois told Le Journal de Montreal, "It's going to be different in several ways, but I think it's similar from one point of view, namely that it's going to push the known limits in the sound arena, the way Achtung Baby did in the past."

June 4, 2008: Appearing on RTE radio, Daniel Lanois says the album should be finished in about 3-4 weeks. "We're just finishing the vocals. Bono's in great form, singing fantastic," he says. Lanois adds this opinion of the album: "I think we can safely say it's one of the great, innovative records from U2."

May 21, 2008: U2 fans spot the band working late at Hanover Quay Studios with Steve Lillywhite, and speculate that Joe O'Herlihy's comments to Hot Press (see below) were probably made a couple weeks ago since Bono and Edge have been spotted in recent weeks in France and Monaco.

May 19, 2008: Hot Press reports that U2 are moving the recording sessions to France for a while. The magazine quotes Joe O'Herlihy, who adds: "We're hoping to have something in the can come September/October. We'll know in the next couple of months how things shape up but that's what they're aiming for. All things being equal they will more than likely tour in 2009."

March 25, 2008: Daniel Lanois has told Canadian radio station CKTB that U2 wants their new album out this fall. He also described how the studio sessions are going:

"It's going well. Very inventive, a lot of hopes and dreams in the room. (Singer) Bono's a hell of a fighter, and as long as he's got me in there, I'll fight along with him, you know. It's just quality, innovation, better songs, choruses that will communicate in a stadium setting."

February 20, 2008: At the European premiere of U2 3D, Bono told reporters the new album will be "radical and uncompromising." When asked for details, he replied:

"Who needs another U2 album unless it's a really great piece of rock 'n' roll? You young people better watch out! We have to do something really extraordinary to be able to get out of bed these days. If I told you [about the album] I'd have to kill you. And if I did tell you they'd probably have to kill me too."

February 18, 2008: Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois are back in Dublin this week to continue work on the new U2 album. Lanois told the Toronto Sun about the current material: "It's very much hand-played but it's also electro."

January 29, 2008: Speaking at the Midem music industry conference, Paul McGuinness said U2's new album will be out in October (2008) and will be a "collaboration with the producers Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois."

January 26, 2008: In the new issue of Hot Press, the magazine says U2's new album is "likely to emerge in October" (of 2008).

January 19, 2008: During an interview with USA Today's Anthony Breznican, Bono and Edge played a new song that Bono called "No Line On The Horizon." On hearing it, writer Anthony Breznican says "heavy distortion fills the car," and later adds: "The song is rough, weaving between brutal guitar blasts underscoring the mellow title refrain."

January 2, 2008: In this Spinner.com article, Daniel Lanois says the new record is "promising to be a fantastically innovative collection of songs". He also says they've recently been listening to Jimi Hendrix for inspiration (specifically, for drum inspiration, not guitars).

December 1, 2007: In this interview with The Independent, Bono talks about U2's current studio work:

"World music this is not," he says, though U2 fans will "feel the difference". Polyrhythmic is the word he chooses with a self-deprecating laugh. "U2 in dancefloor shock. Normally when you play a U2 tune, it clears the dancefloor. And that may not be true of this. There's some trance influences. But there's some very hardcore guitar coming out of The Edge. Real molten metal. It's not like anything we've ever done before, and we don't think it sounds like anything anyone else has done either."

The article also says that Bono "hopes" to have a new album out in 2008: "We have enough material for two albums but it has to be extraordinary. And I think we've got that."

October 7, 2007: According to Zootopia.de, U2 are working on two separate album projects at the moment. They quote Four5One design guru Steve Averill, who spoke last night at "Music Ireland" in Dublin, telling fans one album is a Passengers-like project with Brian Eno and Dan Lanois, and the other is a proper U2 album.

July 26, 2007: In an article about the Morocco sessions, Adam tells U2.com that the band came up with "at least thirty or forty pieces" during their work with Eno and Lanois:

"There's definitely an album in there," he [Adam] says. "If anything we might be short of one or two songs of a certain nature but I think we've got a record."

June 18, 2007: In an article in the TelQuel Moroccan newspaper, Bono says U2 worked on "about 10 songs" while in Fez. The article claims that two songs listed on the band's whiteboard are named "For Your Love" and "One Bird." (possibly tentative titles)

June 16, 2007: In an article about the Morocco sessions, U2.com reports that the two weeks U2 spent with Eno and Lanois are the 3rd and 4th weeks overall they've been writing together this year. The article says that local musicians - percussionists and fiddlers - have also contributed to the sessions. Two songs are described thusly:

"One track they've been working up sounds like a soul song with distinctly Arabic rhythms. Another is an epic story-telling piece which seems to run for seven or eight minutes."

June 6, 2007: U2.com confirms that the band is working on new material in Fez, Morocco. They're working with Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois in a "purely songwriting capacity."

May 30, 2007: A blog post by USA Today reporters about Bono's reaction to new U.S. funding proposals for AIDS in Africa mentions that Bono is in Fez, Morocco "recording with his band, U2." (Fez is where U2 shot the "Mysterious Ways" video back in 1992.)

May 8, 2007: An Italian U2 fan has posted in the U2place.com forums about speaking with Bono outside the band's studios. The fan writes that Bono says "Mercy" will be included on U2's next album, and that Bono doesn't understand how the song made its way to fans on the Web. The Italian also reported seeing Daniel Lanois at U2's studios.

April 21, 2007: Before a Music Rising auction in New York, Edge spoke about the band's new work with ABCNews.com:

"We are working on a lot of material at the moment, but I have to say, it's without any particular ambition, without having to think about where it's going to go, and we're really enjoying that. It's very liberating. We're making music just for the sake of making it, and some wonderful things are happening as a result. I'm really resisting the temptation to start thinking in terms of making a record, of finishing anything and putting a record out -- I want to keep this spirit going for as long as possible. Who knows -- we may end up with two or three albums at the end of it. But for the moment, we're just loving getting lost in the music."

March 29, 2007: Edge spoke about the current recording sessions with Rolling Stone magazine:

"We're working on new songs and getting lost in the music," he says. "I don't think we're going to try and think too much about what we're going to do with it yet, we're just going to do a lot of writing and just see what gives. We're giving ourselves the luxury of just working on the songs. There's some amazing things coming through." He calls the material the group's been working on with producer Rick Rubin "fascinating stuff." When asked whether the band will team up again with longtime collaborators Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, he merely laughs: "You might be surprised how quickly that happens."

December 25, 2006: In an interview that airs on Christmas, Bono told BBC Radio 1's Jo Whiley about the U218 album and where U2 may be headed next:

"But when you do these collections, they are usually to mark the end of something, and our band has certainly reached the end of where we've been at for the last couple of albums. I want to see what else we can do with it, take it to the next level; I think that's what we've got to do."

You going to continue to be a rock band?

"We're gonna continue to be a band, but maybe the rock will have to go; maybe the rock has to get a lot harder. But whatever it is, it's not gonna stay where it is."

He also talked about Bruce Springsteen's recent music.

"He's amazing. There's real power there, in voice and the acoustic guitar. I would like to do a couple of tunes in that direction, with just a lot of space around the voice. I'd like to strip things down; that's something I'd be very interested in at the moment."

December, 2006: In the January, 2007, issue of Q magazine, Edge talks about U2's next studio album:

"Will there be a new record next year? We hope, but we don't know. We've got about five or six songs that are in good enough shape that we feel strong about them, but not in good enough shape that we could record them.

"It's going to be a very melodic record. It's interesting to me that some of the artists who were really glossed over in the early period of the band's existence I'm starting to 'get' more and more now. People like the BeeGees. You listen to their work now and think 'My God, how brilliant were they as songwriters?' but totally undermined by a lot of bad hair and living in Los Angeles or whatever.

"And some of the things that the Eagles wrote -- amazing songs. It's a new-found appreciation for pure melody. That seems to be what we're all interested in at the moment."

November 5, 2006: In a Sydney Morning Herald article, Bono talked about progress on a new studio album, saying "I think a U2 album will not be that far away, I hope. We've hit the vein, I think."

September 26, 2006: MTV news interviews Edge in New York, and reports that U2 plans to continue working on new songs with Rick Rubin, though no date is set for a new album. Says Edge:

"We've been doing a lot of work with Rick, and at this point, it seems to be going very well, so my guess would be yes, he's going to be producing our new record," Edge said. "We're still in the early stages, so it's difficult to say what will happen or what it will be like, but we've really been enjoying the sessions, and I don't see any reason why they should stop."

September 17, 2006: In a recent interview with TIME magazine, Edge was asked "if there's a new U2 album around the bend?" His reply:

"Noooo. Nowhere near. We're here with [producer] Rick Rubin and enjoying the chemistry, but we're nowhere near a timetable or anything. I will say that we're having a good time. And I have a feeling that because of Rick's presence it's going to sound very different. When people spend time with it, they'll pick up on a different spirit, and I think it is a departure. We don't want to spend a whole lot of time on this album, so hopefully we'll get on a roll and get it out there. But really, it's early days."

September 5, 2006: U2 arrive at Abbey Road studios in London to begin what's expected to be almost three weeks of recording with producer Rick Rubin.

August 22, 2006: While at the Sarajevo Film Festival, Bono does an interview with Bosnian TV, and says a new album will be out in 2007:

"I would like to think that we're doing our best work now. We're about to make a new album for next year, and it's the most important thing. We like being in a room with each other. We like playing. Something happens when we play, we have some sort of chemistry. And Edge, right now, is on fire. He's really rockin'. He's playing guitar like I've never seen him playing guitar. So, I like to think that the best is yet to come."

August, 2006: Various reports suggest U2 will be in the studio in September with Jacknife Lee producing, and the team of Rick Rubin and Greg Fidelman mixing tracks at Abbey Road Studios.

July 9, 2006: In a recent interview with the Hungarian fan site U2.hu, author Michka Assayas says he has encouraged Bono to work with producer Rick Rubin on U2's next album, and adds that "they [U2] are thinking about it."

July 4, 2006: In an email sent to paid members, U2.com confirmed today that U2 is in the studio: "U2 are off the road and spending some time working on new songs in the recording studio, so it's a chance for us to mail you one of our occasional U2.com updates."

May 26, 2006: During his trip to Africa, Bono told The Guardian's Larry Elliott about the band's plans to meet in the studio soon:

"I'm trying to get [campaigning] out of the way so that in June we can meet up and start writing together. I've got a lot of songs, which is -- oddly enough, [I've] been taking piano lessons. My kids' piano teacher, Dawn, has been teaching me the piano, and every time she gives me a lesson on the piano, I write a new song. So, next week, when we meet up, I have all these songs to play for them. So, I would like to thin out my schedule in terms of the politics and activism, and just get lost in music again. That's what I'm really looking forward to for the summer."

May 23, 2006: During his trip to Africa, Bono told NBC's Brian Williams that he's been writing lyrics during the trip, and has "up to" eight songs. He recited this verse:

There's no midnight please.
You're just on your knees.
There is a harbor in a safe port.
What was is now not.
There was no price to pay.
Thank you for the day.

January 26, 2006: In an interview with the Associated Press, Bono shared a few comments about making the next album:

"I happen to be in really a truly great band, and experimentation has been the lifeblood of this band. We of course will look and are looking across at hip hop and see the amazing innovation in the studio...I don't know where we're going to go with all our new information and all our new friends...but it will be somewhere very special or you won't hear about it, because there's no reason for you to put out an album now unless its very special. You know, we don't need the cash."

January 23, 2006: In an interview with Benjamin Wagner (working for MTV News), Edge had this to say about the status of a new album:

"We haven't really got to the point where we're thinking seriously about the next record. We're at that wonderful place where we're just experimenting, and trying things, just really letting our imaginations go. It's my favorite phase of making an album because there are no constraints, you just write and explore possibilities. That's where I am now: loads of possibilities, but nothing concrete."

December 3, 2005: In the January issue of Q Magazine, Bono talks about plans for the next album.

Q: Are you really recording a new U2 album in 2006?

Bono: Yes, I want to serve these men. I want to go back to working for them. They're dignified men and we're on to something here. Edge has never played like this before. We need to record some songs where we don't respect the conventions too much. Let Edge run amok. And Larry. If we concentrate we might knock another extraordinary couple of albums out.

September 21, 2005: In an interview with U2.com, The Edge talks about the next record.

So, are you writing new material on Garageband for U2 as well?

We are writing all the time. I sort of write music for recreational purposes, that is my fun! Unfortunately it doesn’t necesarily mean that it is all good but some of this stuff I’m happy with. There are some things I’m very excited about.

I’m already starting to think about the next record, I love being at the beginnings of getting something going, all the possibilities. And I think it is a very exciting time in rock n roll. Hip-Hop had its way in terms of breaking new ground and for a while there it dominated the creative zeitgeist but now I feel that bands and rock’n’roll ideas are back with a vengeance. There are so many great bands, so many new ideas in rock n roll, in guitar-based music. It’s wonderful to see, like some of the bands we have had on the road with us, and I am very inspired by all that.