To mark the 20th anniversary of U2’s critically-acclaimed eight-time Grammy-winning album How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb, Island Records and UMR today announce the release of a shadow album titled How To Re-Assemble An Atomic Bomb, which includes new, unreleased songs discovered in the archive of the original album recording sessions. Set for a standalone release on 29th November 2024, the first songs to be made available from How To Re-Assemble An Atomic Bomb are ‘Country Mile’ and ‘Picture Of You (X + W)’.
To further celebrate the anniversary of this seminal album, How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb has now been remastered for the first time, a process which saw the band go back to the vault to revisit those early ‘00s recording sessions, a period of intense creativity for U2 in the studio, as well as a time of deep personal and artistic reflection following the passing of Bono’s father Bob in 2001. This special 20th anniversary edition – out 22nd November – will include the bonus track ‘Fast Cars’. How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb (Re-Assemble Edition) – featuring both How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb + How To Re-Assemble An Atomic Bomb – will be available as a dual digital release on 22nd November.
How To Re-Assemble An Atomic Bomb is a collection of ten songs taken from the original recording sessions for ‘How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb’ – U2’s critically acclaimed, recently rediscovered in the band’s archive and now released for the first time as a standalone album. This shadow album includes new, never-before-heard or previously released songs – ‘Treason’, ‘Evidence Of Life’, ‘Country Mile’ and ‘Happiness’; plus a song called ‘Luckiest Man In The World’ – familiar to fans under its working title ‘Mercy’, an early demo of which was leaked online almost 20 years ago – which now gets its official release; as well as five newly remastered songs – ‘Picture Of You (X+W)’, ‘I Don’t Wanna See You Smile’, ‘Are We Gonna Wait Forever?’, ‘Theme From The Batman’ and ‘All Because Of You 2’ – all collected together for the first time to mark the 20th anniversary of ‘How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb’.
How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb is U2’s eleventh studio album. Released by Island Records / Interscope on 22nd November 2004, it went to No. 1 in 34 countries around the world, including Ireland, the UK and the US. Described by Bono at the time as “our first rock album”, How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb was recorded at the band’s studio in Hanover Quay, Dublin and the South of France, and produced by Steve Lilywhite, with additional production from Chris Thomas, Flood, Jacknife Lee, Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois, Nellee Hooper and Carl Glanville. The 11 tracks included the songs ‘Vertigo’ and ‘Sometimes You Can’t Make It on Your Own’, both of which debuted at No. 1 in the UK charts, the first time a U2 album produced two chart topping singles. How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb and its singles won a total of eight Grammy Awards, sweeping all of the categories in which the band were nominated, with ‘Vertigo’ alone winning three in 2005, including Best Rock Song. The band were the night’s big winners in 2006, taking home the Grammy for Album of the Year, as well as Song of the Year for ‘Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own’ and Best Rock Song for ‘City of Blinding Lights’, with Steve Lilywhite also winning Producer of the Year.
The tracklisting for How To Re-Assemble An Atomic Bomb is:
1. Picture Of You (X+W)
2. Evidence Of Life
3. Luckiest Man In The World
4. Treason
5. I Don’t Wanna See You Smile
6. Country Mile
7. Happiness
8. Are We Gonna Wait Forever?
9. Theme From The Batman
10. All Because Of You 2
The tracklisting for the remastered How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb 20th Anniversary Reissue is:
1. Vertigo
2. Miracle Drug
3. Sometimes You Can’t Make It on Your Own
4. Love and Peace or Else
5. City of Blinding Lights
6. All Because of You
7. A Man and a Woman
8. Crumbs from Your Table
9. One Step Closer
10. Original of the Species
11. Yahweh
12. Fast Cars
The remastered How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb (20th Anniversary Edition) will be released in the following formats on 22nd November: Vinyl 8LP Super Deluxe Collectors Boxset (Limited Edition); Vinyl 2LP; Exclusive D2C 2LP Black & Red Ink Spot Vinyl (Limited Edition); 5CD Super Deluxe Collectors Boxset (Limited Edition); CD; and Exclusive Red & Black Cassette (Limited Edition). The digital releases include HTDAAB remastered (12 tracks); and HTDAAB & HTRAAB (22 tracks). How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb (Re-Assemble Edition) – featuring both How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb + How To Re-Assemble An Atomic Bomb – will be available as a dual digital release on 22nd November.
