A blast from the past

We at U2log.com are once again excited to bring our readers some goodies to keep you company through the holiday season and into the new year.

This year we are happy to share with you a rare gem from our 1/4″ reel tape vault; radio ads announcing the upcoming release of Achtung Baby. One cannot help but to wonder what the media onslaught will look like next year as the boys get ready for the release of the next album.

This download (bittorrent) will be available for a limited time only.

Happy Holidays!

Daily U2 News Digest for 2008-12-23

	8:40pm	U2 – Los Angeles Times
	3:57am	How U2′s $25 Million Payday from Live Nation Will Affect the Company – Seeking Alpha
	4:49am	Planetarium light show features music of U2 – Carson Times
	6:52am	U2′s Bono invests £100m in Palm smartphones – Telegraph.co.uk
	9:17am	Bookmarked a link on Delicious. Do we really need a music version of Hulu? | Media | guardian.co.uk
	11:07am	A Christmas Special for U2.Com Subscribers – U2 France
	12:01pm	Posted a tweet on Twitter. Plugging WordPress
	12:03pm	U2′s album oblivious to downturn, arriving in five big versions – Prefixmag
	3:52pm	Last-minute gifts? Give ’em Cash, Elton, U2 – Oshkosh Northwestern
	4:23pm	U2 To Release Deluxe Versions of New Album – Exclaim!
	4:28pm	New U2 album due in March – SheKnows.com
	5:46pm	Arts, Briefly Springsteen and U2 Deliver Even More Cds – New York Times

(RED)Wire music launch

Check out (RED)Wire music launch party today for U2′s cover of Greg Lake’s ‘ I believe in Father Christmas’.

(RED)Wire is (RED)’s new digital music magazine designed to help eliminate AIDS in Africa.

Continue reading »

U2′s new album set for ‘early 2009′ release

U2.com reveals the new album won’t see the light of day until next year. The band has decided to continue working on the 50 to 60 new songs they’ve written.

Bono: ‘I’m always the one who underestimates how easy it is to simply ‘put out the songs now’, if it was just up to me they’d be out already! But early next year people will be able to start hearing what we’ve been doing. We want 2009 to be our year, so we’re going to start making an impression very early on …’

Up till now many fans had assumed a 2008 release in time for Christmas. Says Bono: “It has to be our most innovative, our most challenging … or what’s the point?”

Read more at U2.com.

The Edge: ‘It’s totally frantic’

Q magazine talks to – a very busy – The Edge about U2′s new album. The guitarist sheds some light on the album’s sound and confirms some of the song titles that have floated around the web for some time.

“‘We wanted to give it some variety. There is some dark, heavy stuff but there are also some lighter things. Some we’ve really had to sweat to get and some just came so easily.” Work-in-progress highlights include “f—k-off live rocker” “Breathe”; “For Your Love,” which Edge says is one of his best-ever riffs; and the aforementioned “Get On Your Boots” (“Eddie Cochran with barbershop harmonies”). Other notable tracks include the eight-minute-long “Moment Of Surrender” and “No Line On The Horizon,” inspired by a distortion box called Death By Audio recommended by ex-Secret Machines guitarist Ben Curtis.”

The article suggests the band is still unsure whether to release the album pre- or post Christmas.

Read the full story at U2france.com.

Do you hear what I hear?

As in years past we at U2log.com are excited to keep our tradition alive by bringing you some goodies to keep you company through the holiday season and into the new year.

This year we are pleased to share with you some rare gems from our vinyl vault. But before we open the vault we would like to present you with the following message.

It was 20 years ago today:

• Vicki Iovine introduces A Very Special Christmas, taken from a US cassette promo.
• An edited version of Christmas (Baby Please Come Home), taken from that same promo.

From the vinyl vault:

• I Will Follow (Special Edited DJ Version), from a UK 7″ promo.
• An edited version of Fire, from a UK 7″ promo.
• An edited version of Gloria, from a UK 7″ promo.
• An insanely rare edited version of Gloria, from an Argentine 7″ promo.

These downloads will be available for a limited time only. A big thank you goes out to our friend Rajiv Udani for providing some of these rarities!

Merry Christmas!

Bono: “Maybe the rock will have to go…”

Can we have a hallelujah on that? Oh, there’s more to it: “Maybe the rock has to get a lot harder.” Hmm.

Rock. Hard place. Stuck? Bono’s talked to Jo Whiley on BBC 1 over Christmas, the audio of which you can listen to on the BBC website. Well, you could, if the damn link to the mp3 was working. Luckily Atu2blog.com’s transcribed the most newsworthy bits of the hour-long show. (update: BBC download is now working.)

“[...] our band has certainly reached the end of where we’ve been at for the last couple of albums. I want to see what else we can do with it, take it to the next level; I think that’s what we’ve got to do.”

We’re pretty sure the next level will sound just like U2.

Merry Christmas, Boston!

Tonight’s show in Boston had U2 feeling a little ho-ho-ho, and it was all Santa’s doing. Early in the show, Bono spotted a fan dressed as Santa Claus, which inspired the U2 frontman to sing a snippet of “Baby Please Come Home” during “Beautiful Day,” shout out Christmas caroles and messages (Jingle bells, war is over), and then tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas: 5 million people to sign up for the One campaign, a fire truck, more time to spend with his children, and for The Edge to get a train set.

Santa was later pulled on stage, as was Elvis, during “Mysterious Way.” The strange trio — the U2 singer being the strangest one of them all — danced around the ellipse while wishing the audience “Merry Christmas.”

Larry Shares Experience as Irish Musician for Charity

Larry Mullen has contributed to a new book that chronicles the history of Irish music. “From the Cradle to the Stage” by RTE radio presenter Alan Swan is being produced for the Irish charity Fighting Blindness.

According to a press release, Irish musicians share their memories of what helped shape their success in the book, which is due to published by Christmas 2003. Presumably, interested readers will be able to order the book (priced at Euro 19.99) from Fighting Blindness’ web site closer to its publication date.

Larry the Grinch?

ShowBiz Ireland reports that U2 had its annual Christmas party last Friday at the Clarence Hotel. All members of the band except Larry Mullen Jr. showed up to celebrate the holidays with the staff of Principle Management.