U2 is always looking for unique ways to release their music and have done it again with their first album in five years, Songs of Innocence. The album was posted on iTunes for free on Tuesday, the day Apple unveiled the iPhone 6.
The group, fronted by Bono, performed the first single on the album, “The Miracle (of Joey Ramone),” at the end of the Apple event. The song received a standing ovation, and Apple chief Tim Cook told the crowd, “Wasn't that the most incredible single you ever heard? We would love a whole album of that.”
Bono said that the group likes to get their music to the widest possible audience, and Cook suggested that they post it on iTunes for free. Faster than Jean-Luc Picard could order “Make it so,” it happened. The full album is now up for free.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Bono said that they wanted to make a personal album and this was the result. The album features 11 tracks, plus a digital booklet.
“Let's try to figure out why we wanted to be in a band, the relationships around the band, our friendships, our lovers, our family,” Bono told Rolling Stone. “The whole album is first journeys — first journeys geographically, spiritually, sexually. And that's hard. But we went there.”
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Songs of Innocence was produced by Danger Mouse, with some help from longtime collaborator Flood and Adele’s producers, Paul Epworth and Ryan Tedder. They worked on the album for two years.
It is the legendary group’s first album since No Line on the Horizon, which was actually released on MySpace in 2009, a few weeks before the CD came out.
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