U2 - How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb

'It started out to be a rock 'n' roll album, pure and simple. We were very excited that Edge wasn't sitting at the piano or twiddling a piece of technology, because he is one of the great guitarists. Halfway through, we got bored, because it turns out you can only go so far with rifferama. We wanted more dimension. Now you've got punk rock starting points that go through Phil Spectorland, turn right at Tim Buckley, end up in alleyways and open onto other vistas and cityscapes and rooftops and skies. It's songwriting by accident, by a punk band that wants to play Bach.' Bono

The album that carries U2 into its 25th year--and likely the mixed blessings of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame--is one of its most frank and focused since the days of October and War. But its gestation was anything but simple, in part salvaged from '03 sessions the band deemed subpar. Enter Steve Lillywhite, the band's original producer and sometime collaborator in the decades since, who helped retool the track "Native Son" (originally an antigun screed) into the aggressive iPod anthem "Vertigo" and leaves his distinctive stamp on the muscular "All Because of You." Perhaps weary of ceaseless, fashion-driven reinvention in the wake of monumental success, U2 seem only too happy here to re-embrace their original sonic trademarks in service of more daring, pop-melodic hooks than they've collected in one place in decades. The Eno/Lanois produced "Love and Peace or Else" may shimmer with the duo's electro-production conceits, but it's Edge's lugubrious, postmodern John Lee Hooker guitar swagger that drives it. Elsewhere, Bono's trademark dramaturgy is spotlighted on "City of Blinding Lights," the unabashed romance of "A Man and a Woman," and the confessional "Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own." It may come wrapped in a conundrum--is it nostalgic retrenchment or a sum of the band's endless musical catharsis?--It's also the album where, Fly and MacPhisto be damned, U2 boldly claims its arena titan mantle with apologies to no one. --Jerry McCulley




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. Man and a Woman 8. Crumbs from Your Table 9. One Step Closer 10. Original of the Species 11. Yahweh

U2 - The Unforgettable Fire

The Unforgettable Fire was a beautifully out-of-focus record, blurred like an impressionist painting, very unlike a billboard or an advertising slogan. ...... In America there was such a backlash when we put out The Unforgettable Fire. People thought we were the future of album?’
‘We owe Eno and Lanois so much for seeing through to the heart of U2.’

Bono, 1987

An appreciable leap forward in almost every fashion from the group's first trio of albums, The Unforgettable Fire is its first with the production team of Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois. And while they take a strong hand in wrestling U2's music out of the mainstream and into a more individualistic area, it's the songs themselves that demand a more subtle approach. Moody gems such as "A Sort of Homecoming" and the entrancing "Bad" set the table for more explosive fare such as "Pride," "Wire," and the title track. This is the album that made U2 a career act, showing that their music could grow by leaps and bounds, even at the hand of another, without sacrificing its soul. --Daniel Durchholz

The Unforgettable Fire finds U2 caught between the taut angry rock of War and the kinetic, spiritual energy of The Joshua Tree. That's not a bad place to be, but like any crossroads it has its moments of indecision. "Pride (In the Name of Love)," "Wire", and the heroic "Bad" rank with their finest work. "4th of July" and "Elvis Presley and America" do not; hence this album's unstable foothold in their canon. Its strengths make it a must for fans, but its weaknesses make War, Joshua Tree, or Achtung Baby a better place to start. --Michael Ruby

U2 - Joshua Tree

A lot of the songs were ones that were recorded in Larry’s spare bedroom or Adam’s living room. When the red light’s on we often don’t respond to it. When we’re just left to be, left to make music our own way, well some of the tracks are almost like demos. We had to fight to make them work and there were a lot of songs left over. It could have gone off in a number of different directions. We wanted the idea of a one-piece record, not a side-one, side-two thing.

Bono, March 1987



This year marks the 20th anniversary of The Joshua Tree, the album which saw U2 become `Rock's Hottest Ticket.' U2's biggest selling album to date, entered the US album charts at No.7 and reached No. 1 three weeks later. It was U2's first album to reach No.1 in the United States. In 1999, The Joshua Tree was awarded the RIAA's highest certification, Diamond, with 10 million units sold. The album and sleeve cover also placed No. 1 in Rolling Stone magazine's annual Music Awards chosen by readers. Critics at Rolling Stone made it No. 2 album of the year. U2 also won Album Of The Year and Best Rock Performance By A Group Or Duo at the Grammy Awards for The Joshua Tree.

U2 - October

I listened to it last week for the first time in ages and I couldn’t believe I was part of it. It’s a huge record. I couldn’t cope with it. I remember the pressures it was made under, I remember writing lyrics on the microphone and at £50 an hour that’s quite a pressure. Lillywhite was pacing up and down the studio... he coped really well. And the ironic thing about October is that there’s a kind of peace about the album even though it was recorded under that pressure.’

Bono, 1982

standard CD and a bonus CD. Bonus CD includes b-sides, live tracks and rarities. Also includes a 32 page booklet with previously unseen photos, full lyrics, new liner notes by Neil McCormick, and explanatory notes on the bonus material by The Edge.

U2 - The Best of 1980-1990

Compilation records don’t deserve the kind of welcome U2’s Best of 80 to 90 received and of course it’s not a qualitative thing, in our heads it was housekeeping, a bit of tidying up for the era conscious... you’d probably call it cleaning up which is eh... fair. I must say the success of the best of and Sweetest Thing has raised the game on our next studio album lest its original title, ‘U2, Love Your Early Stuff’ proved a pronouncement on our new material....’

from Bono’s diary of 1998, published in Q Magazine

One need hear only the first notes of this collection--the Edge's ringing guitar notes ushering in "Pride (In the Name of Love)"-to be taken back to 1984: Ronald Reagan and Maggie Thatcher rule the Western world, the L.A. Olympics is the top sports story, and Ms. Pac-Man reigns at arcades. In rock & roll, there's U2 growing in stature with each new title. Even doubters of the Irish lads have to concede that together they formed the one '80s band with the skill and sense of scale to take over the airwaves and concert stages in a decade of diminished expectations. This 15-song '80s best-of assortment (stick around for the hidden track) spans the decade, reaching back to 1980's "I Will Follow," when Bono and company were peach-fuzzy and earnest as choirboys, and tracking their path through their most glaring misstep, 1988's overblown Rattle and Hum. --Steven Stolder

U2 - Boy

Product Description
A standard CD and a bonus CD. Bonus CD includes b-sides, live tracks and rarities. Also includes a 32 page booklet with previously unseen photos, full lyrics, new liner notes by Paul Morley, and explanatory notes on the bonus material by The Edge.

Boy was the first of three albums to be produced by Steve Lillywhite and was released in October 1980. The original sleeve featured the ‘boy’ Peter Rowan but Warner Bros, fearing controversy, released a different album cover in North America, featuring a stretched and distorted picture of the band.
Other releases of note around the world included the original 12" vinyl of Boy in Japan - but withdrawn after a few months and re-issued on the Polystar label. In several countries, Boy was also re-issued on 5" CD in April 1995 as part of the Island Master series. This Island Masters re-issue featured higher quality paper and extra pictures from the original LP's inner sleeve. On the heels of the UK and Ireland release of Boy, Sweden released a limited blue vinyl pressing, with identical sleeves and catalog number to the UK edition.
Boy was voted Best Album, Best Debut Album, and Best Album Sleeve in the Hot Press Irish National Poll Results. It peaked at No. 52 on the UK album charts and No. 63 on the US album charts. In the US, it was certified platinum by the RIAA.

Under a Blood Red Sky

I think I completely lost myself at various points and became an utter madman. That US festival thing. I climbed to the very top of the stage, it was like hundreds of feet up, and walked across the top of it on the canvas, and the canvas ripped. God! I can’t watch that! I don’t know who that person is. I don’t know who it is climbing up there. I’m afraid of heights anyway.’

Bono, January 1985

Product Description
A Deluxe Edition version featuring the Under a Blood Red Sky CD (Disc 1) and the Live at Red Rocks DVD (Disc 2).

The remastered Under a Blood Red Sky album was originally released in November 1983, and consists of live recordings from three shows on the band’s War Tour through Europe and America. Recorded at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado on 5th June 1983, Live at Red Rocks will be available for the first time on DVD, and will include 5 previously unreleased songs, a director’s commentary, digitally re-graded pictures and a 5.1 mix.

This is the fourth CD as part of the Amazon.com-exclusive U2 deluxe edition box set and fits into the open slot within the packaging.