The Irish quartet announced Monday that All That You Can't Leave Behind, its much-awaited new album and the 12th in the group's two-decade history, will be released October 31 on Interscope Records.

The Halloween treat aims to recapture the magic of the band's earlier works while still charting new territory.

"I think we've made a very special record, and I know everybody that's spent a year in the studio feels like that, but there's a certain clarity to this music that I don't think we've heard for a while," frontman Bono said in a recent interview.

The always-morphing band could use some new clarity. After reinventing themselves with the masterful Actung, Baby in 1991, the rockers have struggled to maintain commercial viability. With the exception of a greatest hits package (1998's The Best of 1980-1990), the band's recent albums--Zooropa in 1993 and especially 1997's Pop--have failed to generate much enthusiasm among rock critics and record buyers.

Recording industry analysts are looking forward to the new disc, and are predicting U2 could once again rule the charts.

"Their built-in audience will ensure a solid opening week" says Dave Adelson, executive editor of Hits magazine and E! News Daily's music guru. "However if Ricky Martin comes out with an album the same day, that in no way means a number one debut or even a top five. That's the irony in today's pop-driven youth market."

Adelson also notes the album's success will depent a lot the kind of radio airplay it receives.

"It's not how you start, it's how you finish," adds Adelson. "If top 40 embraces a U2 single, there's a possibility it could be [the band's] biggest album ever."

All That You Can't Leave Behind features 11 new tracks all produced by frequent U2 collaborators Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, who have supervised all the band's studio work since 1980's Boy.

The first single off the album, "Beautiful Day," written by U2 with lyrics by Bono, hits airwaves October 9. The tune will be issued as two different CD singles--the first containing two new tracks not on the album, "Summer Rain" and "Always," while the second CD includes live versions of "Discotechque" and "If You Wear That Velvet Dress" from a Mexico City performance during the band's PopMart tour. Swedish director Jonas Ackerlund, known for his work with Madonna and the Prodigy, just shot the "Beautiful Day" video at Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport.

In addition to "Beautiful Day," the album includes the following cuts: "Elevation," "Walk On," "Stuck in a Moment," "Peace on Earth," "Kite," "New York," "In a Little While," "Wild Honey," "When I Look at the World" and "Grace." n

The Irish rock group said it plans to approach touring cautiously this time around rather than mounting a massive outing like the costly Zoo TV and PopMart tours of the '90s that played stadiums and coliseums.

"We're gonna take it easy and see how the land lies," U2 drummer Larry Mullen said Thursday as he and singer Bono (born Paul Hewson) headed into Radio City Music Hall for the MTV Video Music Awards.

The tour is not expected to begin until early 2001, according to an Interscope Records spokesperson. While there are no plans to emerge from a giant lemon during the new tour, as they did in each PopMart show, U2 still hope to retain some of the light-hearted spirit of their '90s tours, Bono said.

"It was all about reaching out to the audience, keeping an open heart," he said. "We're going to have some fun, go indoors for the first time in years."

U2, whose lineup also includes guitarist the Edge and bassist Adam Clayton, were re-energized by the simplified process of recording All That You Can't Leave Behind, Mullen said. The album focuses on the band's live musicianship rather than the electronic add-ons that characterized the band's sound on its three most recent albums, Achtung Baby (1991), Zooropa (1993) and Pop (1997).

"We went into the record like it was Tamla-Motown," Mullen said. "It was an exciting record to make, and it should be exciting to take on the road."

Bono said his band wasn't worried about competing with rap-metal bands and teen-pop acts. "We are the men," he said. "They are the boys."

"Beautiful Day," the first single from All That You Can't Leave Behind, recalls the band's '80s sound and is beginning to get airplay on rock radio.

"The sky falls/ And you feel like it's a beautiful day. ... Don't let it get away," Bono shouts in the song's chorus, over the Edge's echoing guitar and rich keyboard chords.

In March, U2 released two new songs, "The Ground Beneath Her Feet" and "Stateless", for the soundtrack to the movie "Million Dollar Hotel," which Bono co-wrote. Neither song will be included on the band's new album.n