U2 scrap Rick Rubin tracks on new album

U2 have shelved a host of tracks recorded with Rick Rubin on their forthcoming 12th studio album.

Guitarist The Edge said the Irish four-piece scrapped early sessions with the renowned knob-twiddler because it did not suit the band's style of recording.

"We actually laid all that stuff to one side. Really out of deference to Rick and that set of songs we just said, OK, that’s that, and we drew a line," explained the guitarist. "So none of the Rick material went into this project. Everything has been written subsequently."

He added: "He gave us great advice as much as anything. His whole thing is, 'Don’t go near the studio until you know exactly what you want to do', which, of course, is the opposite of how we usually work."

U2 have since teamed up with long-term producers Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois for the record, which is slated to be called 'No Line On The Horizon'.

"We went in with Brian and Danny, literally just as an experiment to see what would happen. And suddenly there was this excess of stuff, ideas," The Edge told Mojo.

"We just thought, OK, this is clearly where we are at our most potent at this moment, working with Brian and Danny, so let's follow that idea down the road."

The Edge also revealed that the album's current working title was born from an "image of infinity".

"It's an image, Bono tells me," he explained. "It's like when you're moving forward, but you’re not exactly sure what you're heading towards – that moment where the sea and the sky blend into one. It's an image of infinity, I suppose – a kind of Zen image."

As previously reported on NME.COM, the album has been pushed back until February 2009 because the record needed two more songs, according to the boss of their label.

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