Breathe Live
Linked ?
For the second time this month, an online music store has started prematurely selling No Line on the Horizon. This time, the Universal Music Australia store has made the entire album available as digital downloads, and fans all over the world are buying it up, putting it on file sharing sites, and sending it to friends. The album's out there now; no turning back. Update: Universal Australia is no longer selling the album; it was available for about 1-2 hours.
Little did anyone know that NLOTH was also available on the Napster Mobile online store. An @U2 reader found it and bought the album on February 8th; it was available all last week, and finally removed yesterday (Feb. 16).
Everyone seems to love NLOTH. Join the discussion, or just see what they're saying in our forum. Link is below. (Note: no file sharing/trading is allowed in the forum.)
LIVE FROM NYC MARCH 6th
The location of the unprecedented morning TV event has yet to be announced, but the group's performance coincides with the release of its highly anticipated new album, "No Line on the Horizon," which hits stores Tuesday March 3.
Failed to make the top 10 list
The lead single from U2's much-hyped new album last night failed to breach the U.K. Top Ten, with the band hitting the charts at their lowest point in over a decade.
"Get On Your Boots" was the highest new entry of the week in the U.K., but fans were bitterly disappointed that it only charted at 12.
This is in contrast to the Irish charts, where the first single from album No Line on the Horizon shot straight to the top spot.
Online U2 fan forums last night blamed a host of factors for the relatively low U.K. placing, ranging from the changed nature of the charts to internet leaks.
Certainly the changed attitudes of the record-buying public mean that album sales will be the true barometer of the band's popularity. But unless the single rises up the charts in the coming weeks it will mark U2's worst performance since 1997's "If God Will Send His Angels."
That song was the fifth single from the Pop album and was not aggressively hyped or marketed in the way "Get On Your Boots" has been. And while number 12 is a respectable position for most bands, the world-conquering might of U2 has only failed to dent the U.K. top 10 four times in 25 years.
The band have enjoyed a remarkable run of success since their very first number 10 hit "New Year's Day" in 1983.
Elsewhere in the charts, last week's Brit Awards had a huge impact on the record-buying public.
They said no, we did not do it ! However what really happened
The controversy started with the leak of U2's "No Line On The Horizon" last week. The album appeared on file-sharing sites after Universal Music's Australian arm accidentally began selling downloads two weeks early. But on Friday, the technology blog Techcrunch sparked privacy concerns when they posted a rumor claiming that Last.fm, the CBS-owned music streaming and social networking site that allows registered user to keep track over their digital listening habits by "scrobbling" tracks played on computers, MP3s players and other streaming sites, had shared private user data with the RIAA that could identify individuals who had listened to the unreleased U2 tracks.
Daniel Lanois says new U2 album is 'fantastically innovative'
If you ask Canadian record producer Daniel Lanois about how U2's work-in-progress album sounds, he'll say it's "fantastically innovative" and "some of their best work."
But before Lanois gets back to tinkering with the tracks -- the album is one of 2009's most anticipated releases -- he's tackling his real "dream project," touring in support of his own music.
Lanois just finished two weeks of recording work with the Irish mega-band in New York and will now play a handful of shows in Ontario and Boston before flying to London, England, for another 10 days in the studio with U2.
Playing music live is a critical part of being a good producer because it helps reinforce what makes a good song that connects with listeners, Lanois said in a telephone interview.
"By performing live it really helps me to do better work in the studio, because you become aware of what works in the presence of an audience," he said.
"It's a necessary part of one's awareness and education, and you'll make better records if you play live."
Lanois has several albums and dozens of production credits to his name, and has worked with some of the biggest acts in music including Bob Dylan, Peter Gabriel and Emmylou Harris.
He helped mould some of U2's classic albums by co-producing The Unforgettable Fire, The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby. He also co-produced All That You Can't Leave Behind and one song off How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb.
Got Questions ?
Bono and The Edge will appear on the Christian O'Connell Breakfast Show on Absolute Radio this Thursday at (gasp) 6:00 a.m.
If you'd like to submit a question for them, enter to win a signed copy of No Line on the Horizon, or share your favorite U2 song with the station, follow the link.