We all genuinely believe it. It’s not arrogance. It’s because we are still hungry. There’s no reason why we can’t do this. You think about other art forms and artists – filmmakers, painters, sculptors. It doesn’t follow that your best work is done in your late twenties, early thirties, and then it’s downhill. Unfortunately, that’s the way rock & roll has panned out. But we don’t buy that. Our only limitation is our ability to apply ourselves, to be hard-minded on our work. We push and push until we get to those special pieces of music, those lyrics. And it doesn’t arrive on call. You can’t turn it on. It needs time spent and time spent in the right frame of mind.

While I’m on the topic of U2, you might consider this powerful quote as a means of grace to stir your Christmas affections. Don’t just read it; meditate on it. Merry Christmas!

The idea that God, if there is a force of Logic and Love in the universe, that it would seek to explain itself is amazing enough. That it would seek to explain itself and describe itself by becoming a child born in straw poverty, in shit and straw…a child… I just thought: “Wow!” Just the poetry … Unknowable love, unknowable power, describes itself as the most vulnerable. There it was. I was sitting there, and it’s not that it hadn’t struck me before, but tears came streaming down my face, and I saw the genius of this, utter genius of picking a particular point in time and deciding to turn on this

And here’s a bonus, the new song “Winter” off the Brothers soundtrack. Moving.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DiegKVXpCs]

Eno’s description of the song creation is insightful, not just for U2 fans, but also for anyone concerned with creativity. The creative process was transcendent and collaborative, as Bono put it: “Instead of going into the studio to find the music, the music found us.” Eno described this experience like “channeling the song”, which brought to mind Elizabeth Gilbert’s TED talk on the necessity of artist’s finding a muse.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mYx0dt9iKE]

Achtung Baby! A conference on all things U2 is being held in Durham, NC on Oct 2-4 to explore the philosophy, theology, art, and history of U2. From the website:

We’re bringing together scholars, teachers, students, journalists, clergy, musicians and intellectually curious U2 fans for a rich program of exploring this truly one-of-a-kind band for a truly one-of-a-kind conference, and we hope you’ll be in the room.

More HERE.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmVFyYmUmBE"]

Bono points us toward the light in a life that can be difficult and dark, a place where we have to “shout in the darkness” to keep out sanity and to God to “still our soul.”

Yeah, thanks to Zac I am streaming the new album for free from here right now. Select No Line On the Horizon from the drop down menu in the player. Killer. The first two tracks are mellow but contagious.

• “Magnificent” articulates Bono’s conviction that his voice was given to him from God for the magnificent One. The music is October meets Unforgettable Fire.
• “Moment of Surrender” grooves, soul..these songs will reverberate through the whole stadium live.

The first release off of No Line On the Horizon was sort of disappointing. “Get on Your Boots” is super-pop not vintage U2, but this is something I have come to expect from their first radio releases (Discotheque/Pop, Vertigo/Atomic Bomb, etc). However, the reviews I keep reading hold out the promise of yet another U2 reinvention with Lanois tinkering with the sound quite a bit. It’s going to be a progressive album.

Levitate (Spirit Come on Down)

Austin 360′s review strikes a similar chord. In fact, Joe Gross gives us a track line-up from best to worst: 4-3-2-1-7-8-9-11. And as if the new album wasn’t enough, U2 has released ‘U2:Medium, Rare and Remastered‘ a limited edition double disk collection of rare tracks and lost early cuts spanning three decades in the studio with U2.The catch is a $50 members fee to U2.com, which came in handy for me during Atomic Bomb tour, affording me the opportunity to buy tickets ahead of the crowd. Plus, you do get access to some cool stuff. You can listen to “Levitate” a surging anthem that reverberates with spiritual power, a song I’ll be singing the rest of the day. The lyrics dip into that great b-side “Always” from All That You Can’t Leave Behind. Enjoy!

To me, it is probably the album ‘Zooropa’ was supposed to be, building on the sonic architecture of classic U2 and taking it into the pop stratosphere. But what a place for a band to be, in orbit around their own myth, making music that bounces off the inside of a listeners skull, charged with ideas and emotions, groovy enough to want to dance to, melodic enough to make you sing along, soulful enough to cherish, philosophical enough to inspire, and with so many killer tracks it might as well be a latterday greatest hits. It is, at the very least, an album to speak of in the same breath as their best and what other band of their longevity can boast of that?

read the rest…to see what Bono thinks…

1. No Line On The Horizon
2. Magnificent
3. Moment of Surrender
4. Unknown Caller
5. I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight
6. Get On Your Boots
7. Stand Up Comedy
8. Fez – Being Born
9. White As Snow
10. Breathe
11. Cedars Of Lebanon

No Line On The Horizon will be available in five formats;

- Standard jewel case – with album CD and 24 page booklet

- Digipak format – limited edition with album CD, 32 page colour booklet and fold out poster. Features access to exclusive downloadable Anton Corbijn film.

- Magazine format – limited edition with album CD, with 64 page magazine. Features access to exclusive downloadable Anton Corbijn film.

- Box format – limited edition bespoke box containing digipak format album CD, DVD of Anton Corbijn’s exclusive film, 64 page hardback book, plus a fold out poster.

- LP vinyl – limited edition with 2 black vinyl discs, gatefold sleeve, and a 16 page booklet.

- Preorder from Amazon US

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jgswWMlUN8]

Sessions for No Line On The Horizon began last year in Fez, Morocco, continued in the band’s own studio in Dublin, before moving to New York’s Platinum Sound Recording Studios, and finally being completed at Olympic Studios in London. The album calls on the production talents of long-time collaborators Brian Eno and Danny Lanois, with additional production by Steve Lillywhite.

Great interview with the Edge that describes the new album in greater detail.The words: “innovative”, “U2″, “new”, “piano” all stood out. I’m excited!

Bonus: Listen to two leaked tracks here.