They have made a great, not just good, but GREAT record."
A suggestion made by Matt McGee on atu2.com in OTR also was this:
In my previous OTR column from early October, I mentioned in passing a rumor we'd heard about U2 working on a double album, and suggested it may explain the Daniel Lanois comment about mixing "half the U2 record." I was lazy in my word choice. The rumor we heard wasn't of a double album, it was that U2 would be releasing two albums. I apologize for not being more clear.
Furthering that idea, we recently heard a new rumor with more details on what may be to come: One album will be the traditional CD release, while a second album will be released only online (i.e., via iTunes and other stores). I have no idea if it's true or not, but it does fit in fairly nicely with what Paul McGuinness said earlier this year about the new album release: "We will obviously work with whatever technology is available to make the release of the new record as interesting as possible."
AmazonMP3 (hopefully), Napster or iTunes distribution for another album - possibly like Unreleased and Rare? That would make me think the cover, he's been speaking about, is going to be a digital one of some kind. So if that is the case, then it's nothing new or exciting.
Greenday's Bullet In A Bible, a few years back, had a holographic cover. Michael Jackson's Invincible, about eight years ago, came in five different colours and Prince's Black album, a good few years ago, was coloured black. No label, song titles or whatever on it. Maybe one of those ideas will be the amazing cover we've been hearing so much about. Or you have to put in a password to unlock the album, and you get a free making-of video with it.
But it has to be a technological idea.
I hope that the second album isn't released purely digitally. But with Brian Eno also on board, who knows what this album could turn out like.
