U2 by Kurt Iswarienko
The U2 compilation was curated and produced by The Edge.
U2 have been in the studio intermittently for the past two years reimagining select tracks from their back catalogue for a new collection entitled Songs Of Surrender.
“Music allows you to time travel, and we became curious to find out what it would be like to bring our early songs back with us to the present day and give them the benefit, or otherwise, of a 21st century reimagining,” The Edge has said.
“What started out as an experiment quickly developed into a personal obsession as so many of our songs yielded to a new interpretation. Intimacy replaced post punk urgency. New tempos, new keys, and in some cases new chords and new lyrics arrived. A great song, it turns out is kind of indestructible.”
“The process of selecting which songs to revisit started with a series of demos. I looked at how a song would hang together if all but the bare essential elements were taken away. The other main aim was to find ways to bring intimacy into the songs, as most of them were originally written with live concert performance in mind.”
“Reviewing these sketch recordings with producer Bob Ezrin, it was very easy to see the ones that worked straight off the bat and those that needed more work. We all got into the sensibility of less is more.”
A new, 2023 version of Pride (In The Name Of Love) in streaming online now ahead of the album’s release on March 17th.
