Release Date: February 27, 2009
Duration: 60 Minutes
Liner Notes:
Linear: An ANTON CORBIJN moving image/SEE-SAW FILMS PRODUCTION. Said Taghmaoui. Music by U2 with Brian Eno and Danny Lanois. Line Producer: Rosa Romero. Editor: James Rose. Art Director: Mark Digby. Make-Up & Hair: Aaf Corbijn. Cinematographer: Martin Ruhe. Executive Producers: Bono, Adam Clayton, The Edge, Larry Mullen Jr. Story by Anton Corbijn/Bono. Produced by Iain Canning, Emile Sherman. Directed by Anton Corbijn. Titles written by U2/Brian Eno/Danny Lanois and published by Universal Music Publishing BV/Opal Music, except in North America by Upala Music Inc/BMI. * "Cedars of Lebanon" includes a sample of the recording "Against The Sky" performed by Harold Budd and Brian Eno from the album "The Pearl" (Virgin/EMI 1984 - ENOCD13). Licensed courtesy of Virgin Records Limited. The composition "Cedars of Lebanon" contains elements from "Against the Sky" written Harold Budd and Brian Eno and published by Universal Songs of Polygram International Inc / Toyon Music / Opal Music London. Used by permission. All rights reserved. © 2009 U2 Limited. The copyright in this film and artwork is owned by U2 Limited and is under exclusive licence to Mercury Records Limited in the UK, Interscope Records in the US, and Universal Music Group for the rest of the world.
Track List:
- Unknown Caller (6:18)
- Breathe (4:37)
- Winter (6:17)
- White As Snow (4:46)
- No Line On The Horizon (4:11)
- Fez - Being Born (5:15)
- Magnificent (5:23)
- Stand Up Comedy (3:50)
- Get On Your Boots (3:28)
- Moment Of Surrender (7:24)
- Cedars Of Lebanon (4:14)
- Credits (2:29)
Commentary:
"Late May 2008 - at a band meeting I was introduced to the new songs. The reason for letting me in so early on this sonically and lyrically different U2 record is that the band have this idea for me to make some kind of moving imagery to go with the record. The thinking is that as a lot of people buy music from the internet and are likely to hear this on a computer or mp3 player, their listening pleasure could be heightened by visuals. Instead of just seeing a pack shot of the record sleeve, or a still photograph of the band for 45 plus minutes, as is often the case now, why not have a moving image for the duration of the record? It is not essential to the record, you can either watch it or ignore it. Brilliant! As always, U2 are thinking ahead, not so much having one foot in tomorrow's door, as having built the house to which that door is the entrance."
Bono talked me through the songs and the record as a whole. For the first time he had created characters for this record, and wrote lyrics about their lives or from their perspectives. The record had an essence of time to it, most songs had a number or time references connected to them, as if going through a 24 hour period. Although I didn't want to translate the lyrics visually, I felt that making use of one the characters Bono wrote about would be interesting. It became the Parisian motorcycle cop of northern African descent, who threw it all in to go back to see his girlfriend in Tripoli. I was going to make a silent movie, with a touch of a story to it. We prepped late June-early July, shot late July, edited in August and were ready for the record's November release. Fantastic! However, it was at this point that the band decided to go back into the studio and work on the record a bit more. As U2 never do anything in half measures, the record that emerged from the studio in late December 2008 was a very different one than the one I'd made images for. Not only had the running order changed, now there were completely new songs on the record while another song had gone, new lyrics without the characters had emerged, and different sounds dominated the songs I had worked on. Disaster! Thankfully, we worked on a solution that saw LINEAR keeping its own running order and songs, whilst only changing edits for the 10 songs, those that are also on the new U2 record, to their newly created identities. Thus LINEAR is a very interesting hybrid version of No Line On The Horizon, partly how it was in May 2008 and partly how it is now. Tomorrow is always partly yesterday. Apparently."
Anton Corbijn
January 2009