U2 have shared two new songs called ‘Country Mile’ and ‘Picture Of You (X + W)’ taken from their original sessions for ‘How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb’ – listen to them below.
In celebration of their iconic 11th studio album, the Irish rock band have announced their release of a shadow album titled ‘How To Re-Assemble An Atomic Bomb’.
The forthcoming record – available to pre-order here – will include new, unreleased songs dug up from the archive of the original album’s sessions.
Along with the new project, ‘How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb’ has been remastered for the first time for a special 20th anniversary edition – including bonus track ‘Fast Cars’.
The ‘Re-Assemble Edition’ – featuring both ‘How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb’ and ‘How To Re-Assemble An Atomic Bomb’ will be available as a dual digital release on November 22.
The first two tasters of the new project are out now, which you can check out below along with further release details.
The remastered ‘How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb’ will also be released in physical formats on November 22 which you can explore here. ‘How To Re-Assemble An Atomic Bomb’, meanwhile, will be exclusively available in physical format for Record Store Day Black Friday as a limited edition black and red marble 1LP vinyl, and as a standalone 10 track digital release on November 29.
The band have selected 10 “unreleased gems” from the era of recording the album to share with fans. Speaking in a press statement about the new anniversary edition of the album, The Edge shared: “The sessions for ‘How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb’ were such a creative period for the band, we were exploring so many song ideas in the studio. We were inspired to revisit our early music influences, and it was a time of deep personal introspection for Bono who was attempting to process – dismantle – the death of his father.
“For this anniversary edition I went into my personal archive to see if there were any unreleased gems and I hit the jackpot. We chose ten that really spoke to us. Although at the time we left these songs to one side, with the benefit of hindsight we recognise that our initial instincts about them being contenders for the album were right, we were onto something.
The guitarist concluded: “What you’re getting on this shadow album is that raw energy of discovery, the visceral impact of the music, a sonic narrative, a moment in time, the exploration and interaction of four musicians playing together in a room… this is the pure U2 drop.”
The tracklisting for ‘How To Re-Assemble An Atomic Bomb’ is:
‘Picture Of You (X+W)’
‘Evidence Of Life’
‘Luckiest Man In The World’
‘Treason’
‘I Don’t Wanna See You Smile’
‘Country Mile’
‘Happiness’
‘Are We Gonna Wait Forever?’
‘Theme From The Batman’
‘All Because Of You 2’
The tracklisting for the remastered ‘How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb’ 20th anniversary reissue is:
‘Vertigo’
‘Miracle Drug’
‘Sometimes You Can’t Make It on Your Own’
‘Love and Peace or Else’
‘City of Blinding Lights’
‘All Because of You’
‘A Man and a Woman’
‘Crumbs from Your Table’
‘One Step Closer’
‘Original of the Species’
‘Yahweh’
‘Fast Cars’
‘How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb’ features some of U2’s biggest songs of the early 2000s, including ‘Vertigo’, ‘All Because Of You’, ‘Miracle Drug’ and ‘City Of Blinding Lights’.
Amongst the new collection of songs is a track called ‘Luckiest Man In The World’, which may be familiar to super fans under its working title of ‘Mercy’ – an early demo of which was leaked online almost 20 years ago.
This is hardly the first time the Irish rock legends have announced an album reissue. In 2019 they released ‘The Unforgettable Fire’ from 1984 and ‘How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb’ on coloured vinyl. The following year there was a remastered edition of 2000’s ‘All That You Can’t Leave Behind’ to mark the album’s 20th anniversary.
In spring of this year, U2 also shared a digital re-release of ‘Discothèque’ as part of a new series of “deep dives”, and a new selection of b-sides and mixes.
The news comes after U2 recently announced a new concert movie that was filmed during their residency at the Sphere Las Vegas.
Titled V-U2, the concert film was directed by the band’s guitarist The Edge and Morleigh Steinberg over the course of their historic residency at the Sphere Las Vegas.
Elsewhere, this time last year the group said they have some “amazing new songs” in the can, teasing that they will be “ready soon”.
Seemingly referencing their newly unearthed tracks, Bono and The Edge told Zane Lowe in a behind-the-scenes tour of the Sphere in a video for Apple Music: “There’s a lot that we have ready and some that need a little dusting off, but will be ready soon. I tell you, we’ve got some amazing new songs. Really exciting.”