Early U2 Singles

[Gavin]

This is probably old news by now, but since I haven't seen this posted here, I thought I'd put it up for anyone who's interested. On November 23, 2004, iTunes and U2 released a digital box set called "The Complete U2." If bought in its entirety, it costs $149.99 and has an enormous amount of material that I'm enormously uninterested in. But, it does have all the early singles and b-sides, some very rare, most never available on CD or in digital format. The cool thing about the box set is you can pick and choose most of the songs for $.99 each. For $15 I made a CD of all the early pre-War singles of any interest. Here's how it went down:

First single 1979
1) Out of Control (Original Version not on Boy)
2) Stories for Boys (Original Version not on Boy)
3) Boy/Girl (Not on anything since)

Second Single 1980
1) Another Day (Not on anything since)
2) Twilight (Original version not on Boy)

Third Single 1980
1) 11 O'Clock Tick Tock (Not on anything since; produced by Martin Hannett-for all you Factory Heads)
2) Touch (Not on anything since-also Hannett)

Fourth Single 1980
I skipped "A Day Without Me," and "I WIll Follow," as they are the same versions on Boy, but I bought...
1) Things to Make and Do (Not on anything since)

Fifth Single 1980
I skipped "I Will Follow," again the album version, but I bought...
1) Boy/Girl (Live from London, September 22, 1980), and...
2) Out of Control (Live from Boston, March 6, 1981)

Sixth Single 1981
I skipped "Fire," as it's on October, but I bought...
1) J. Swallow (Not on anything since)
2) 11 O'Clock Tick Tock/The Ocean (Live from Boston, March 6, 1981)
3) Cry/The Electric Co. (Live from Boston, March 6, 1981)

Seventh Single 1981
I skipped this one; October version of "Gloria," and live version of "I WIll Follow," I didn't care about.

Eighth Single 1982
1) A Celebration (Not on anything since)
2) Trash, Trampoline, and the Party Girl (Released on Best Of 1980-1990 B-Sides disc)

And that pretty much brings us to War, and the end of my enthusiasm. Hope this helped someone.

Gavin

[Jason²]

Actually "A Celebration" has been released on CD. It's on the Now 1982 CD - in 2000 the NOW series release a CD for each decade and they included "A Celebration" on the 1982 edition. <A HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00000JNKK/qid=1119170456/sr=8-6/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i6_xgl15/103-9931934-0590209?v=glance&s=music&n=507846">Here's</A> a link to it on Amazon. Yours truly shelled out the $28 simply because I have wanted that freaking song on CD for almost as long as I've been aware who U2 are!

[Surly]

[quote][i]Originally posted by Jason²[/i]
<br>Actually "A Celebration" has been released on CD. It's on the Now 1982 CD - in 2000 the NOW series release a CD for each decade and they included "A Celebration" on the 1982 edition. <A HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00000JNKK/qid=1119170456/sr=8-6/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i6_xgl15/103-9931934-0590209?v=glance&s=music&n=507846">Here's</A> a link to it on Amazon. Yours truly shelled out the $28 simply because I have wanted that freaking song on CD for almost as long as I've been aware who U2 are!
[/quote]

I did the exact same thing! That CD did have one other song I needed, though - "Just What I Always Wanted" by Mari Wilson. I got lukcy, though - I bought it (relatively) cheap at a HMV going out of business sale in NYC a couple of years ago.

[Frau_Blucher]

Pretty impressive and expert recommendation Gavin! It's like a how-to guide to putting together the Early U2 Kit. Kudos.

[Grunch]

Thanks Gavin, you saved lots of us lots of work, and even clued me in to some stuff I did not have. Thanks for the footwork.

[skinnytie]

Thanks, Gavin, this is certainly news to me. It's upsetting to see U2 would lend their hard to get stuff strictly through iTunes, but since there is that "special" U2 iPod, I guess there's a trade-off somewhere.
Incidentally, since you stopped at the "War" era, I'd recommend the b-side of "New Year's Day", "Treasure (or Whatever Happened to Pete the Chop). I don't know if you're familiar with it or not, but not only is it my favorite b-side by U2, it's my favorite song by them as well. Worth checking out.

[rewind]

The iTunes set is mostly comprehensive, but it doesn't include "Wire (Dub)" from an old NME 7" sampler included with the magazine.

[Gavin]

Thanks for all the feedback guys. It was fun putting the disc together. And skinnytie, thanks for the informed recommendation on the Treasure B-Side. I'll definately check it out. I love all this stuff back when the boys were young and strong and could still write songs like Out of Control. They were truly a force to be reckoned with.
Gavin

[rewind]

Actually, Martin Hannett's version of "11 O'Clock Tick Tock" has been released since, twice. First in 1991 on "Martin: The Work of Record Producer Martin Hannett" (original 3:45 version), then in 1998 on another Hannett retrospective, "And Here Is The Young Man" (4:03 version, apparently not available anywhere else. The version on the b-side of the "Pride" 12" was 4:10.)

[MikeP]

Thanks for the comprehensive list Gavin. I went and purchased 10 of them (live versions excepted). No way am I going to pay for all the other filler and duplication from the complete set!

[marie3]

I had no idea that this was out. Another Day is an extrememly hard so to find. I have it on a rare double cd from Europe and it is not the best quality. I am going to order it now! Thanks.[;)]

[korova1]

Yeah, Wire (Dub) from NME is amazing. It gets no respect but for some reason I really like that version... probably because I have to dig out the single every three-four years to hear it! I used to put it on tapes I made for friends... memories.

[Tom Enright]

Sort of off the topic. Does anybody know why Under A Blood Red Sky hasn't been released on DVD? It was such a great live concert and an important point in U2's career.

[FreeWave]

[quote][i]Originally posted by Tom Enright[/i]
<br>Sort of off the topic. Does anybody know why Under A Blood Red Sky hasn't been released on DVD? It was such a great live concert and an important point in U2's career.
[/quote]

Not sure why. I've got a laserdisc transfer of it so it is available out there somewhere.

[schwenko]

[quote]Originally posted by Gavin
[br]This is probably old news by now, but since I haven't seen this posted here, I thought I'd put it up for anyone who's interested. On November 23, 2004, iTunes and U2 released a digital box set called "The Complete U2." If bought in its entirety, it costs $149.99 and has an enormous amount of material that I'm enormously uninterested in. But, it does have all the early singles and b-sides, some very rare, most never available on CD or in digital format. The cool thing about the box set is you can pick and choose most of the songs for $.99 each. For $15 I made a CD of all the early pre-War singles of any interest. Here's how it went down:

First single 1979
1) Out of Control (Original Version not on Boy)
2) Stories for Boys (Original Version not on Boy)
3) Boy/Girl (Not on anything since)

Second Single 1980
1) Another Day (Not on anything since)
2) Twilight (Original version not on Boy)

Third Single 1980
1) 11 O'Clock Tick Tock (Not on anything since; produced by Martin Hannett-for all you Factory Heads)
2) Touch (Not on anything since-also Hannett)

Fourth Single 1980
I skipped "A Day Without Me," and "I WIll Follow," as they are the same versions on Boy, but I bought...
1) Things to Make and Do (Not on anything since)

Fifth Single 1980
I skipped "I Will Follow," again the album version, but I bought...
1) Boy/Girl (Live from London, September 22, 1980), and...
2) Out of Control (Live from Boston, March 6, 1981)

Sixth Single 1981
I skipped "Fire," as it's on October, but I bought...
1) J. Swallow (Not on anything since)
2) 11 O'Clock Tick Tock/The Ocean (Live from Boston, March 6, 1981)
3) Cry/The Electric Co. (Live from Boston, March 6, 1981)

Seventh Single 1981
I skipped this one; October version of "Gloria," and live version of "I WIll Follow," I didn't care about.

Eighth Single 1982
1) A Celebration (Not on anything since)
2) Trash, Trampoline, and the Party Girl (Released on Best Of 1980-1990 B-Sides disc)

And that pretty much brings us to War, and the end of my enthusiasm. Hope this helped someone.

Gavin
[/quote]

I checked the recently released 2CD remastered Boy and October albums. As far as I can tell, all the above mentioned songs/versions are now available on them, with the exception of Out of Control/live in Boston.
Could someone double-check me?