How to dismantle an atomic bomb, november 2004

This album by U2 was set for release on November 22 / 23, 2004 but as has become commonplace, the album "leaked" on the internet weeks earlier on November 6, 2004. Originally during the recording sessions a demo CD with six possible tracks from the album was stolen, and the band claimed that they would release the album through Apple's iTunes music service if they appeared online early. But when the leak did come it was from a full version of the album, not this earlier stolen CD.

'It's just such a personal record. It may just be our best.' Bono

The best of 1990-2000, november 2002

The nineties,’ says Edge, ‘Was about taking 'the idea of a rock 'n' roll band, abstracting it as far as you possibly could - and then reconstructing it again.'
U2: The Best of 1990-2000 he explained, "is really the story of us taking the idea of a rock 'n' roll band and abstracting it as far as you possibly could - and then reconstructing it again, that's really, in a nutshell, what we did during that period. At every turn, it was an attempt to find inspiring places to go as songwriters and artists.

All that you can't leave behind, october 2000

All That You Can't Leave Behind was heralded by the critics as U2's third great masterpiece after The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby. The album was released at the end of October in the midst of a strong promotional campaign which saw U2 making stops at several radio and TV appearances. The album was released in mp3 format on the internet two weeks prior to the actual release of the album.

All That You Can't Believe spawned the Elevation tour, which started in Florida in March 2001 and finished back there in December of 2001. The tour was one of the most successful tours of the year, and also produced two live DVDs, something previously unheard of from U2. After struggling with critics throughout the PopMart tour and beyond, U2 was back, and at the top of their game.

'Bono's lyrics this time, in a sense, they're less poetic, less romantic and more real. To me they're much more about where he's coming from and what he's dealing with. I think this record has a great tenderness. And I'm sure it addresses the way he feels about the commitment to the band and to his family, to his children and Ali.'
Adam

  The Best Of 1980-1990, November 1998

Compilation records don’t deserve the kind of welcome U2’s Best of 80 to 90 received and of course it’s not a qualitative thing, in our heads it was housekeeping, a bit of tidying up for the era conscious... you’d probably call it cleaning up which is ... fair. I must say the success of the best of and Sweetest Thing has raised the game on our next studio album lest its original title, ‘U2, Love Your Early Stuff’ proved a pronouncement on our new material....’

 Pop, march 1997

‘I thought ‘pop’ was a term of abuse, it seemed sort of insulting and lightweight. I didn’t realise how cool it was. Because some of the best music does have a lightweight quality, it has a kind of oxygen in it, which is not to say it’s emotionally shallow. We’ve had to get the brightly coloured wrapping paper right, because what’s underneath is not so sweet.’

 Zooropa, july 1993

''It occured to me... look at the history of the band and then the Zooropa album... and looking at the history of The Beatles, and everything they’d done and learned, and then suddenly...Sergeant Pepper, which redefined the whole ballgame, and produced a different language, a different sound. And I think Zooropa achieves a new language for Bono to use - a language that’s more his own, that he feels more comfortable with...
And musically, I think, we’ve defined, or found, a sound that we’re entitled to use...It’s a record deep with mystery for me.’

Adam speaking to John Waters for Race of Angels

 Achtung Baby, november 1991

I certainly think this record, ‘Achtung Baby’, is a new start and things move in shifts. I mean, there’s another record that belongs with this, just as ‘Rattle and Hum’ belonged with ‘The Joshua Tree’. I know that record, I can hear it in my head already.’

Bono, November 1991

 Rattle and Hum, october 1988

Rattle and Hum was the follow up to The Joshua Tree, which had been one of the most successful albums of the 1980s. But Rattle and Hum was more than an album. It was a double vinyl LP. It was a movie. It was a book. And to many it was an overload.
But the album was a success. It went to the top of the charts around the world upon release. It spawned four successful singles, all of which were backed by new b-sides. The film played in theatres for weeks, and did quite respectable for itself. Not a Hollywood blockbuster, but it did just fine.

The Joshua tree, March 1987  

A lot of the songs were ones that were recorded in Larry’s spare bedroom or Adam’s living room. When the red light’s on we often don’t respond to it. When we’re just left to be, left to make music our own way, well some of the tracks are almost like demos. We had to fight to make them work and there were a lot of songs left over. It could have gone off in a number of different directions. We wanted the idea of a one-piece record, not a side-one, side-two thing.

Bono, March 1987

 War, March 1983

Opening with the ominous, fiery protest of "Sunday Bloody Sunday," War immediately announces itself as U2's most focused and hardest-rocking album to date. Blowing away the fuzzy, sonic indulgences of October with propulsive, martial rhythms and shards of guitar, War bristles with anger, despair, and above all, passion. Previously, Bono's attempts at messages came across as grandstanding, but his vision becomes remarkably clear on this record, as his anthems ("New Year's Day," "40," "Seconds") are balanced by effective, surprisingly emotional love songs ("Two Hearts Beat as One"), which are just as desperate and pleading as his protests. He performs the difficult task of making the universal sound personal, and the band helps him out by bringing the songs crashing home with muscular, forceful performances that reveal their varied, expressive textures upon repeated listens. U2 always aimed at greatness, but War was the first time they achieved it. Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide

Boy, October 1980 

Soundbite
‘Boy was a retrospective of U2 over two years - the end of our adolescence...What we were looking for in Boy was a sort of cinema sound, panavision - really textured and big, like a huge screen in a cinema.’

Bono