News on New U2 albums

Continuing the train of thought that U2 are not going to release an album called Songs of Ascent, @U2 have done a sweet write up of a few new comments from U2 about the new album or albums. Here’s their entire story:

U2’s latest comments about plans for a new album are both refreshing and mysterious at the same time. The band did a round of interviews on Friday in Johannesburg and, although the focus was on the 360 tour, talk eventually turned to the band’s next album. During a dinner with a handful of reporters that’s recounted in the Mail & Guardian, both Edge and Adam spoke very reservedly about a new album:

There’s also discussion about how Jay-Z is getting really interested in rock and roll and about how important Chuck D was, and still is, about what it’s like working with Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois, and about some work U2 has done with DangerMouse. “Will it be on a new album?” the journalists chorus. “Maybe,” shrugs Edge. “We’ll see,” says Adam Clayton.

While it might be easy to think the worse and assume there’s no chance U2 will make the previously stated May album release target, I look at it this way: how refreshing that they’re downplaying things, not overhyping and making grand statements about music. Meanwhile, Bono was also talking about new album(s) on Friday and, according to Billboard, managed to equate the process to breakfast cereal.

The Edge, who’d flown in from New York that morning, confirmed that the band was working on demos with Dangermouse. He and Bono hinted that any new studio album was unlikely to be packed with songs. “We were trying to write an album with ‘No Line On The Horizon’ that had a kind of narrative and if I look back on it now, it’s probably too long. Maybe just by one song or two,” Bono said. “It’s incredible that people think ‘Oh gosh I can put 17 songs on this’ … it’s like more cornflakes in a better box.”

I’m not quite sure what to make of that, frankly, but I think he’s saying that the concept album that U2 was planning prior to No Line wasn’t a good idea and is unlikely to be completed. Or maybe he was just hungry. And finally, RedOne (Lady Gaga’s Born This Way producer) spoke about his work with U2 during the Grammys on Sunday.

While that’s where the Gaga talk began and ended, the super-producer was more forthcoming with details about working with rock icons U2 on their next album. “I’m working with U2 and Bono and them. I’m a guitar player. I’m a musician,” he explained. “A lot of people think RedOne is a synth guy, but I’m a guitar player, I’m a singer and all of that.”

RedOne said that while the band’s next album will sound distinctly U2, he revealed that he and the guys are also putting a new-millennium spin on the age-old formula. “I love producing. I love doing different styles, and with U2, it was like going back to when I was in a band, a rock band. The process is very special,” he said. “It’s a very unique process. It’s futuristic, but it’s still U2. U2 is U2.”

We’re pretty confident that RedOne is working on the dance/club-sounding album — the one with will.i.am and David Guetta — and not the album that Danger Mouse is producing. That’s what we’ve reported on our new U2 album page for some time now.

So there you have it, some interesting news with at least another confirmation of sorts that U2 are working on at least two different studio based projects. I’m picking the one with Gaga’s producer will be pretty full on rpm – wouldn’t it be interesting if U2 did a cover of Gaga’s Government Hooker?