"Exclusive (Stuck in a Moment Acoustic)" - U2

Digital EP

Track Listing:

Background Information

In 2003, fans saw the first signs of U2’s future plans with Apple’s iTunes Store as they began to release exclusive tracks through the digital store. This release was the first featured exclusive recording by U2 released in the iTunes store. The artwork used is artwork that had been planned for the commercial release of “The Hands that Built America” but plans for that single were eventually cancelled. The artwork for that release was used here, without any text.

Although packaged together on the iTunes service for the first time in this configuration, the tracks were far from hard to find. “Stuck in a Moment (Acoustic)” was mixed by Steve Lillywhite, and was available on the Canadian “Stuck in a Moment” single in 2001, as well as the “Walk On” single in Europe and Australia that same year. It was also available in 2002 on the Target exclusive EP, “7: Rare and Remixed” in the USA. The two live tracks included here were recorded in Boston, MA on June 6, 2001. This concert from the Elevation tour was filmed for a DVD release. The tracks were both previously released on the Best Buy exclusive EP “Three Tracks Live from Boston” and are both featured in the DVD “Elevation 2001: Live from Boston”. This exclusive audio release through iTunes, was entirely made up of tracks that had been released on other “exclusive” CDs released in the USA.

The release was made only through the iTunes USA store, and was not available in international stores. It has not been made available to the “iTunes Plus” program which allowed users to upgrade the quality of their downloads, and the only version that exists is the initial released version at 128kbps. The iTunes store launched in April 2003 with the release of iTunes 4.0 in the US only, and this exclusive EP was available when the service first launched on April 28, 2003. During the announcement of the iTunes store, Steve Jobs played a video during his presentation which featured a couple of interview segments with Bono. “Of course I’m interested in iTunes,” Bono states. “Technology has been at the very, very heart of rock and roll going back to Jimi Hendrix stepping on a fuzzbox. At the start of the 21st century, new technologies are emerging and people are going to be able to get closer to the music, and closer to the people who make it through these new technologies. And I welcome them.” Later Bono is seen holding an iPod, and he adds: “I do not want to have a doctorate, a Ph.D. in button-pushing to be able to get to the Clash. Apple people have been making objects that we – musicians, and not just musicians but filmmakers, creative people – have been using for a long time, because you’re friendly, because you get it. So there’s a nice rhyme in the fact that you have been coming up with the solution that will help us in the pursuit of our work. Thank you.”

After the first week of downloads, three of the top six most downloaded songs from Apple’s iTunes store were these tracks from this exclusive EP. The tracks remained in the top 10 for several weeks.

The iTunes store also launched with a full slate of U2 albums, but without the compilation CDs. Some of the albums were incomplete at the time of launch, most likely due to rights issues associated with tracks containing samples. For example “Zooropa” did not come with “Daddy’s Gonna Pay for Your Crashed Car”. And there was a selection of singles available, including “Please”, “One”, “Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses” and “Electrical Storm”. Upon the initial launch the service was for Macintosh users only, and a PC version came later in October of the same year.

Liner Notes

No traditional liner notes in this digital release.

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