U2 - Songs Of Ascent (2010)

In 2006 U2 began work on a new album with record producer Rick Rubin, but shelved most of the material from those sessions before beginning work with Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois in May 2007 in Fez, Morocco. The exotic musical influences that the group were exposed to in Fez inspired them to pursue a more experimental sound, but as the sessions unfolded, the band decided to scale back the extent of those pursuits. Having grown tired of writing in the first-person, Bono wrote his lyrics from the perspective of different characters, and recording continued at several studios in the United States, United Kingdom, and Ireland throughout December 2008. 'No Line On The Horizon' had been intended to be released in November, but after composing 50 to 60 songs, they delayed it to continue writing. Prior to the album's release, U2 claimed that their time in Fez, as well as Eno's and Lanois' involvement, had resulted in a more experimental record than their previous two albums, and when it appeared in February 2009 it received generally favourable reviews, although many critics noted that it was not as experimental as previously suggested. The album debuted at number one in 30 countries, but did not sell as well as anticipated, and after expressing disappointment over the relatively low sales of five million copies (!), the band discussed plans to release a meditative follow-up album, 'Songs Of Ascent', which would be a sister release to 'No Line On The Horizon', similar to 'Zooropa''s relationship to 'Achtung Baby'. 

In June 2009, Bono said that although nine tracks had been completed, the album would only be released if its quality surpassed that of 'No Line On The Horizon', with 'Every Breaking Wave' being mooted as the first single. Over time, the album continued to be delayed, and in April 2010 U2's manager confirmed that the album would not be finished by June, but indicated that a release "before the end of the year was increasingly likely". In October 2010, Bono stated that their new album would be produced by Danger Mouse, and that twelve songs had been completed, with the album having a tentative release date of May 2011, although he noted that 'Songs Of Ascent' was no longer the likely title. In the end the 'Songs Of Ascent' project was ultimately abandoned, and after numerous delays, U2 digitally released their thirteenth album, 'Songs Of Innocence', on 9 September 2014 in a surprise release. The band appeared the same day at an Apple Inc. product launch event to announce the album, and reveal it was being released to all iTunes Store customers at no cost, for which they were universally ridiculed. There are several tracks on 'Songs Of Innocence' that were originally slated to be part of 'Songs Of Ascent', such as the original version of 'Every Breaking Wave', which they also performed as a piano ballad. 'Mercy' was originally played live as 'Luckiest Man In The World', while 'Glastonbury' was a punchy rocker that was relatively stripped down, but later became reduced to just a bridge section on 'Volcano', and we also had the instrumental song 'Return Of The Stingray Guitar', which later morphed into the b-side 'Lucifer's Hands'. With these tracks as a starting point, and adding in some rare b-sides, film soundtracks and live recordings of songs that never made it into the studio, we can piece together a credible track-listing for what the album might have sounded like, and so here is U2's follow-up to 'No Line On The Horizon', which should have appeared in 2010.   

Track listing

01 Soon

02 North Star

03 Boy Falls From The Sky

04 Mercy

05 Return Of The Stingray Guitar

06 Are You Gonna Wait Forever

07 Glastonbury

08 Smile

09 Levitate

10 Every Breaking Wave

11 Winter