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At what point does it become a non-event to hear that a band you have followed for decades is coming out with a new album? If someone announced that The Rolling Stones were coming out with a new album, it is arguably true that the real excitement is for the accompanying world tour and not the 11 new tracks. Not to pick exclusively on the Stones, since this concept holds true for many of the artists whose careers span multiple decades.

It is up for debate, but the artists with storied careers who come to mind as still producing (or having the potential to produce) a moving & substantial set of new songs are Springsteen, Dylan and U2. The tour is always a bonus, but there is also legit anticipation for the new studio album from them.

U2 will supposedly have a new album out later this year, to coincide with that all too important pre-Xmas fourth quarter. In the midst of his charitable promotional work, Bono gave the below quote to The Independent regarding the in-progress tunes:

“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.”

Now, what does that mean? “Discotheque II”? Summing up a work in progress is never straightforward, and one could imagine that pre-release quotes of their last four albums had similar over-the-top but vague sound bites attached to them. One album was described as “titanium soul”.

No matter how it is described, people will want to hear that first single come September/October and eventually the album… why? Because of the potential that the new music may take us to the places where “New Year’s Day”, “One” and “Where The Streets Had No Name” took us all. Should hope prevail, we will not return to the Bon Jovi-esque sounds of the last couple albums, which had a bit of music-for-shareholders vibe. Give me “Bullet the Blue Sky” and not “Beautiful Day”. Bring back the pain and fuse it with joy.

Can U2 produce another inspired album to join the holy trinity of The Joshua Tree, Achtung Baby and (insert your personal favorite here)? What other multi-decade artists are still putting out albums with the potential for greatness?

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