"From the Ground Up: Musical Edition (Edge's Picks)" - U2

Fan Club Album

Track Listing:

Background Information

From the Ground Up: U2.com Music Edition was released as the 2013 subscriber’s gift for the U2.com fan club. It was comprised of a 15-track CD of live recordings from The U2360 Tour (the CD itself was titled Edge’s Picks), as well as a hardback book with photos and text chronicling the tour, titled From the Ground Up. The book itself had been released to the general market earlier in 2012, but the “U2.com Music Edition,” which included the Edge’s Picks CD as well as a unique dust jacket housing the CD, four lithographs (one depicting each band member), and four bookmarks, was exclusive to the fan club.

The package was first announced by U2.com on November 9, 2012. In addition to the basic membership ($50 for new members, $40 for re-subscribers), a “subscription plus” bundle was also offered for $85 (or $75 for renewals). This included not only the 2013 gift, From the Ground Up: U2.com Music Edition, but also the previous year’s gift, the double-CD U22, as well as the two-disc Zoo TV Live set, which had originally been the subscriber gift for 2007 and had not been available since. Those purchasing the “subscription plus” bundle received the Zoo TV Live and U22 sets separately from the 2013 set, with copies arriving as early as December 5th, 2012. The From the Ground Up: U2.com Music Edition package would arrive later that month. Tracking numbers for the 2013 set were mailed out on December 14, 2012, with copies of the book and CD arriving a few days later. This put the fan club gift back in it’s proper December release time frame, after three years of increasingly late fan club gifts.

The book itself contained text by Dylan Jones, and mainly featured photos by Ralph Larmann, although a number of shots by other photographers can be seen throughout. The book is 256 pages in length and focuses on The U2360 Tour. A heavy cardboard dust jacket, printed on both sides, surrounds the book. The dust jacket on the “Music Edition” is different than the one used on the retail version, featuring a different photograph. The inside front cover has an area in which the four lithographs are housed, while the inside back cover has a place to hold the CD. The inner jacket also contains brief commentary by The Edge on each of the CD’s fifteen songs.

The CD contains live tracks, selected by The Edge, recorded during The U2360 Tour. These live tracks were among the 46 eligible for inclusion on the previous year’s fan club album, U22. Between the 22 songs on U22, the fifteen on Edge’s Picks, and six bonus downloads made available during the 2011-2012 timeframe, only three of those original 46 vote-eligible songs remain unreleased as of this writing: “Party Girl,” “Mothers of the Disappeared,” and “Return of the Stingray Guitar.”

Five bonus downloads (again, of songs that were among the original 46 eligible for voting in late 2011, but that were not included on either U22 or Edge’s Picks) were made available in the lead-up to the release of From the Ground Up: U2.Com Music Edition. Subscribers were given immediate access to two tracks, “No Line on the Horizon (Live from Sheffield, August 20, 2009)” and “Spanish Eyes (Live from San Sebastian, September 25, 2010).” Other bonus tracks were issued as the release of the fan club gift drew near. On November 29, 2012, U2.com posted “Desire (Live from Perth, December 19, 2010).” On December 12, “Pride (In the Name of Love) (Live from Gelsenkirchen, August 3, 2009)” was posted, and on December 23, “Angel of Harlem (Live from Paris, July 12, 2009)” was posted. These bonus tracks are further documented under From the Ground Up: Music Edition (Bonus Tracks).”

Liner Notes

Mixed by Declan Gaffney at the Garden, Musikbox and Artillery Studios, London and Hanover Quay, Dublin. Mixing assisted by Mark Binge and Jack McKenna. Keyboards by Terry Lawless: Electrical Storm, In a Little While (Hammond organ), Pride (In the Name of Love). Produced by Declan Gaffney. Project managers: Jeremy Joseph and Brian Celler. Project co-ordinator: Candida Bottaci. Mastering: Pete Maher.

All titles written by U2. “Your Blue Room,” “Miss Sarajevo” written by U2 and Brian Eno. Incorporates elements of “Let’s Dance” (Bowie). Remixes by Redanka and Dirty South, “Beshno Az Ney / Windfall” performed by Sussan Deyhim.

Artwork

Cover Photography: Ralph Larrmann
Lithograph Set and Bookmarks Photography: Ralph Larmann, Eoin McLoughlin, Peter Neill and Brantley Guiterrez.

Design: Shaughn McGrath at AMP Visual, Dublin.
Edited by Martin Wroe.

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