Bono: new album "our chance to defy gravity once again"

“This is our chance for us to defy gravity once again,” Bono tells u2.com from their south of France studio. “We have what it takes, we have the songs, new rhythms and a guitar player who is not ready to re-enter earth's atmosphere until he's taken a slice of the moon!
“It's been fun, it's been maddening... there have been injuries and recoveries, no babies born that I know of, but this one is nearly ready for the new year of 2009.”
The Edge isn’t the only one being bigged up.
“When we set out on this record it was Larry who came up with the plan not to have a plan,” Bono resumes. “He put up this idea that wouldn’t it be great just to make music for its own sake, not for the purpose of a live show or on album but just to see what we’re capable of.”
The biggest problem seems to be deciding which of the “50 or 60” songs they’ve got stockpiled will make the final cut.
“We’ve hit a rich songwriting vein,” he enthuses. “It gets a bit dark down here but looks like we've found diamonds not coal. I thought a while back we might have the album wrapped by now, but why come up above ground now if there's more priceless stuff to be found?
“We know we have to emerge soon but we also know that people don’t want another U2 album unless it is our best ever album. It has to be our most innovative, our most challenging … or what’s the point?”
According to insiders, songs that have already booked their place on the record include ‘Get On Your Boots’, ‘For Your Love’, ‘Breathe’, the eight-minute ‘Moment Of Surrender’ and ‘No Line On The Horizon’, which is being mooted as the title-track.