"Songs of Innocence" - U2

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Background Information

Songs of Innocence is the 13th studio album by U2. The album was released officially on September 9, 2014 just moments after it was first announced at the Apple keynote address to launch the Apple watch and the iPhone 6. The band performed at the keynote and afterward made the album available for free to 500 million iTunes users worldwide before they ever left the stage. The album was an exclusive to Apple iTunes customers and Beats Music users until the physical release of the album in October 2014. Apple CEO Tim Cook told the audience that it was the largest album release of all time, and as the Apple exclusive ended, Apple revealed that 81 million customers had experienced the new U2 album during the period the album was available for free, through streaming or trying a single song, and the album itself was downloaded in its entirety 26 million times. In the first six days Apple had announced over 33 million customers had accessed the album.

The delivery by Apple was not without some controversy. Many fans were initially unable to find the album to download, as it appeared to have been already purchased in your account and you had to nudge it to download. Other non-fans were upset that they found the album in their list of purchased tracks, and some with auto downloads enabled actually woke to find the album downloaded to their devices. To address the complaints from upset users, Apple released a software tool to remove the album from a users account on September 15, six days after launch.

The album was recorded at Electric Lady Studios and Pull Studios in New York. The band also worked in The Church Studios and Assault and Battery in London UK. Additional work was completed in Shangri-La and The Woodshed in Los Angeles CA, and at Strathmore House in Dublin. The album started as a companion album to “No Line on the Horizon” recorded with Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, and was first announced to be called “Songs of Ascent” by Bono shortly after the release of that other album. The album never materialized in the Fall of 2009 as Bono had promised, nor had the single he promised, “Every Breaking Wave” although it would be performed live 3 times on the U2360 tour in 2010.

By mid-2010, U2 had started working with Danger Mouse on recordings, and that was to be the continuation of “Songs of Ascent”. During this time they also spoke about other albums they had worked on with producers such as David Guetta, RedOne and will.i.am. The project with Danger Mouse was the project that went ahead, although it was delayed a number of times, almost seeing release in late 2010 and again in early 2011. In 2013 the album was finished, but at the last minute the band held back. In May 2013, U2 started work at Electric Lady Studios in New York, and hit a rich vein of songwriting, and this lead to “Songs of Innocence”. When Danger Mouse had to depart due to other committments, the band worked with Paul Epworth in London (The Church) and later Ryan Tedder to finish the album. Long time collaborators Flood and Declan Gaffney are also listed as producers in the album credits. During the sessions with Danger Mouse the band also completed the song “Ordinary Love” for the Mandela soundtrack.

The cover of the album first seen on iTunes, was that of a vinyl record in a plain white diecut sleeve. The album had a white label, and the image was done up to look like a promotional white label vinyl pressing that many DJs would use. The cover on iTunes has a large “U2” stamped and a note saying “LP” handwritten on the sleeve. The label itself listed Artist, Title, Format and Date with the information filled in beside each piece. The sun symbol, taken from Larry Mullen’s shoulder tattoo was on the left hand side of the label. The version of the cover used on Beats for streaming of the album was very similar, only the U2 on the label was hand written not stamped, there was no mention of the format, and the labels for each line were not present so the label didn’t list “artist, format” etc. Also the sun pattern was larger and was to the right of the label. The white label package cover was created by the MAD Agency in London working with Steve Averill and Shaughn McGrath from AmpVisual.

The final cover for the album was first seen a few weeks after the iTunes release, on September 19. The photo shows a shirtless Larry Mullen holding his son Aaron. Larry is turned so that his shoulder tattoo is prominant on the cover. The cover was photographed by Glen Luchford, and Bono has revealed he was also part of the photography session with his sons. In most regions the cover is used without any text. The stretchwrap outside the album would contain a sticker that read “Son gs of Innocence”. However, in Canada, the stickers were actually affixed to the cover of the digipack, and to the outside of the jewel case versions of the album. On September 25, u2wanderer.org broke the news of the full tracklisting of the deluxe version of the album, as well as the track times.

The iTunes and Beats version of the album were 11 tracks. On September 28 and 29th, Amoeba Records in California started selling 12-inch vinyl copies with the same 11 tracks in a white sleeve and with a white label reminiscent of the iTunes artwork at all three of their stores. When speaking to a store representative she confirmed that they had 20-30 copies per store, and most were sold out by the time they opened on the 29th. The release was a special limited pressing on vinyl sold in stores so that the album would be eligible for the 2015 Grammy Awards, as the release of the album for free would not be eligible. Later on the 29th a store in Long Island NY announced it too had copies, and posted a picture with 13 copies, however their version did not have the second UPC sticker that copies bought at Amoeba had. Another store in New York claimed to have two copies but this has never been confirmed. Finally U2.com also had a contest to give away 12 copies of this vinyl. Within days, copies were on eBay selling for over $1200. Looney Tunes, the store in Long Island suggested only 300 copies were pressed, and that the pressign were made by a company called United Record Pressing in Nashville.

A single disc version of the album was sold commercially with the same 11 tracks on these earlier releases. A two-disc version was also sold at the same time called the “Deluxe Edition”. A two-disc 12-inch vinyl record was also made available with 12 tracks. On the deluxe edition, U2 included two new songs “Lucifer’s Hands” and “The Crystal Ballroom”, two alternate versions “The Troubles (Alternate Version)” and “Sleep Like a Baby Tonight (Alternate Perspective Mix by Tchad Blake)” and a six song acoustic session, released as one single track on physical releases, but split into individual songs for digital releases which contained “Every Breaking Wave”, “California (There is No End to Love)”, “Raised by Wolves”, “Cedarwood Road”, “Song for Someone” and “The Miracle (of Joey Ramone) (Busker Verison)”. Also included as a hidden bonus track was “Invisible”, this time the full studio version. On the 12-inch vinyl the bonus track was “The Crystal Ballroom (12-inch Mix)” which was also streamed for subscribers of U2.com on October 9. The bonus disc leaked on the internet on October 8 as copies of the album started shipping to customers in Europe. The release date for the album was October 10 in Germany, Ireland and Australia, October 13 in the UK, and October 14 in Canada, Mexico and the USA. Japan would have to wait until October 22 for a commercial release. The release in Japan would be different than that released elsewhere, “Invisible” was released as a separate track from “Sleep Like a Baby Tonight (Alternate Perspective Mix by Tchad Blake)” and the silence between the two tracks is not present, and “The Crystal Ballroom (12-inch Mix)” was a Japan only release on the deluxe CD version.

On October 13 (Pacific Time) the album was released as a free offering from iTunes. At that time they made available a second album called “Songs of Innocence +” which was the bonus disc released elsewhere. Although unable to offer all of the bonus tracks until November 18, 2014, they were able to make the acoustic sessions with the exception of “The Miracle” on that date. They also on that date started to stream a video for “The Miracle (of Joey Ramone)” to visitors in the iTunes store that was very reminiscent of the Apple advertisement for the album. This video was not available for sale.

The first single from the album was “The Miracle (of Joey Ramone)” which was performed at the Apple keynote address before we even knew a new album would be available. The single was released promotionally only with promotional releases to radio through mostly digital transfers. A small number of promotional CDs were pressed in smaller markets such as France and Denmark. The song was used in advertising for iTunes, and also had a music video produced. “Invisible” which is a hidden track on the deluxe version of the album was also released as a single in February 2014. This song was released for a 24 hour window for free, with Bank of America donating money to (RED) for every download of the song. That version released was titled “Invisible (RED) Edit” and was a minute shorter than the full length version found on the album “Songs of Innocence”. The single that followed “The Miracle (of Joey Ramone)” was “Every Breaking Wave”. Bono once hyped the song for the first single of the next album to follow “No Line on the Horizon”, and it was heavily used in the promotion of the album, but again only promotional releases were available and there was no commercial single. The final single from the album was “Song for Someone” which was released as a streaming single on Spotify, and for sale in some European digital storefronts.

Live in concert a number of the songs from “Songs of Innocence” have been performed live. “Every Breaking Wave” made its debut during the U2360 tour during 2010 stops in Europe. It was played a total of three times during those shows. It has also been featured in promotional stops to promote “Songs of Innocence”. “The Miracle (of Joey Ramone)” was first performed at the introduction to the album at the Apple keynote in September 2010. This keynote address was made available as a podcast, and included the performance of “The Miracle (of Joey Ramone)”. It too has appeared in promotional stops to promote “Songs of Innocence”. “Song for Someone” and “Cedarwood Road” have also been performed live in concert to promote the album, making their debut at a performance on BBC Radio Two. Finally, “Invisible” was performed on the initial airing of Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show in early 2014. The band performed the song at the top of the Rockerfeller Center in New York. That performance is captured on DVD in the “For Your Consideration” DVD of this first episode of the Tonight Show produced for Emmy consideration.

The tour which followed the release of “Songs of Innocence” was titled The Innocence and Experience Tour, and featured a number of songs off the new album. “The Miracle (of Joey Ramone),” “Every Breaking Wave,” “Cedarwood Road,” “Iris,” “Raised by Wolves,” “Song for Someone,” and “Invisible” were played each night on the tours 76 concerts. Other songs were played less frequently, including “Volcano” with ten performances, “The Troubles” with four performances, “California” and “Lucifer’s Hands” with three performances and “The Crystal Ballroom” with two performances.

Reviews for the album have been generally favorable, with most of the negative reviews choosing to focus on the method of delivery rather than the music itself. The album debuted at #4 in the UK Charts, the first time since 1991 that they had not reached the #1 position. But this lowered chart is generally accepted to have happened due to them giving away 26 million copies of the album worldwide.

A few other songs on “Songs of Innocence” had a life prior to the release of the album. “Return of the Stingray Guitar” was a song that was used to open a number of U2360 tour stops in Europe in 2010. The music from this song dates back to sessions from “The Unforgettable Fire” as mentioned in Eno’s notebooks on the recording of this album. In 2014, the music has been used as the backing track to the song “LUcifer’s Arms”. “North Star” was another song performed a number of times in 2010, and it also featured in “Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon” but was never released. Some echos of this song can be heard in “Song for Someone”. “Glastonbury” was a song U2 performed in 2010 with plans to use it at the Glastonbury festival, but never did. Some elements of the song are now part of the song “Volcano”. “The Troubles” was initially cut with Lykke Li on vocals at a studio in Los Angeles, but the band eventually changed the key of the track, and brought her back to recut her vocals in London. This time she recorded with the band. In between the band worked on alternate takes of the song, including one where Angel Derdoorian, of the band Dirty Projectors contributed vocals, this is the version found on the deluxe release of “Songs of Innocence”.

The album title itself was first announced by Bono in 2009 to be a companion album to “No Line on the Horizon” to be called “Songs of Ascent”. As the album developed the name shifted to “Songs of Innocence” and on the day of release of the new album, Bono announced there will be a follow up album called “Songs of Experience”. Sources have suggested that “SOngs of Ascent” could still be released some day at this stage and that it was a very different project from that we recieved as “Songs of Innocence”.

Liner Notes

The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone):
Music by U2. Lyrics by Bono and The Edge. Produced by Danger Mouse, Paul Epworth and Ryan Tedder. Engineered by Matt Wiggins. Assisted by Adam Durbridge. Additional engineering by Declan Gaffney and Kennie Takahashi. Assisted by Todd Malfalcone and “Classy” Joe VIsciano. Mixed by Matt Wiggins and Declan Gaffney. Assisted by Adam Durbridge. Programming by Paul Epworth and Ryan Tedder. Additional percussion by Paul Epworth. Additional guitar by Bono. Acoustic guitar by Ryan Tedder and Declan Gaffney. Choir: Greg Clark, Carlos Ricketts, Tabitha Fair, Kim Hill, Quiona McCollum, Nicki Richards, Everett Bradley, Bobby Harden and Ada Dyer.

Every Breaking Wave:
Music by U2. Lyrics by Bono and The Edge. Produced by Danger Mouse and Ryan Tedder. Additional production by Declan Gaffney. Assisted by Adam Durbridge. Additional engineering by Kennie Takahashi. Mixed by Tom Elmhirst and Ben Baptie. Keyboards by Ryan Tedder, The Edge, Brian Burton and Declan Gaffney. Dulcimer by Bono.

California (There is No End to Love):
Music by U2. Lyrics by Bono and The Edge. Produced by Declan Gaffney, Paul Epworth and Danger Mouse. Engineered by Declan Gaffney and Matt Wiggins. Assisted by “Classy” Joe Visciano, Joseph Hartwell Jones and Adam Durbridge. Mixed by Declan Gaffney. Programming by Declan Gaffney. Keyboards by Edge, Declan Gaffney, Bono and Paul Epworth. Additional backing vocals by Larry Mullen Jr and Declan Gaffney.

Song for Someone:
Music by U2. Lyrics by Bono and The Edge. Produced by Ryan Tedder and Flood. Engineered by Declan Gaffney. Assisted by Adam Durbridge, Cecil Bartlett and Drew Smith. Mixed by Matt Wiggins. Assisted by Joseph Hartwell Jones. Keyboards by Ryan Tedder, Edge, Flood, Bono and Declan Gaffney.

Iris (Hold Me Close):
Music by U2. Lyrics by Bono and The Edge. Produced by Paul Epworth and Ryan Tedder. Additional production by Danger Mouse. Engineered by Declan Gaffney and Matt Wiggins. Assisted by Adam Durbridge and Sean Oakley. Mixed by Declan Gaffney. Assisted by Sean Oakley. Programming by The Edge. Keyboards by The Edge, Bono, Adam Clayton, Ryan Tedder and Declan Gaffney.

Volcano:
Music by U2. Lyrics by Bono and The Edge. Produced by Declan Gaffney. Additional production by Paul Epworth. Engineered by Declan Gaffney and Matt Wiggins. Assisted by Adam Durbridge and “Classy” Joe Visciano. Additional engineering by Ben Baptie and Kennie Takahashi. Mixed by Declan Gaffney. Additional mixing by Ben Baptie. Choral Arrangement by Danger Mouse. Keyboards by The Edge and Declan Gaffney. Claps by Paul Epworth, Declan Gaffney and “Classy” Joe VIsciano. Additional guitar by Bono. Additional acoustic guitar by Declan Gaffney. Choir: Greg Clark, Carlos Ricketts, Tabitha Fair, Kim Hill, Quiona McCollum, Nicki Richards, Everett Bradley, Bobby Harden, Ada Dyer.

Raised by Wolves:
Music by U2. Lyrics by Bono and The Edge. Produced by Declan Gaffney and Danger Mouse. Engineered by Declan Gaffney and Kennie Takahashi. Mixed by Ben Baptie. Programming by Declan Gaffney and Brian Burton. Keyboards by Brian Burton, The Edge, Bono and Declan Gaffney.

Cedarwood Road:
Music by U2. Lyrics by Bono and The Edge. Produced by Danger Mouse and Paul Epworth. Engineered by Declan Gaffney. Additional engineering by Kennie Takahashi and Matt Wiggins. Assisted by Adam Durbridge. Mixed by Tom Elmhirst. Additional mixing by Ben Baptie. Assisted by Adam Durbridge. Keyboards by Declan Gaffney, Paul Epworth, Brian Burton and The Edge. Additional slide guitar by Paul Epworth.

Sleep Like a Baby Tonight:
Music by U2. Lyrics by Bono and The Edge. Produced by Danger Mouse. Engineered by Declan Gaffney and Carl Glanville. Assisted by Chris Heaney. Mixed by Matt Wiggins. Programming by Declan Gaffney. Keyboards by Brian Burton, Leo Pearson and Bono. Additional guitar by Bono.

This is Where You Can Reach Me Now:
Music by U2. Lyrics by Bono and The Edge. Produced by Danger Mouse. Engineered by Declan Gaffney. Assisted by “Classy” Joe Visciano. Additional engineering by Kennie Takahashi. Mixed by Declan Gaffney. Assisted by “Classy” Joe Visciano. Keyboards by Brian Burton, Declan Gaffney, Bono, The Edge. Additional percussion by Brian Burton. Additional backing vocals by Larry Mullen Jr, Declan Gaffney and “Classy” Joe Visciano.

The Troubles:
Music by U2. Lyrics by Bono and The Edge. Produced by Danger Mouse. Featuring Lykke Li. Additional production by Declan Gaffney. Engineered by Declan Gaffney. Additional engineering by Kennie Takahashi, Matt Wiggins and Ben Baptie. Assisted by Joseph Hartwell Jones. Mixed by Tchad Blake at Full Mongrel Wales and Kennie Takashai. Assisted by Todd Malfalcone. Sting arrangement Caroline Dale. Cello by Caroline Dale. Violin by Natalia Bonner. Keyboards by The Edge, Brian Burton, Bono and Declan Gaffney.

Album Producer: Danger Mouse. Produced by Paul Epworth, Ryan Tedder, Declan Gaffney and Flood. Engineered by Declan Gaffney. Mastering by Scott Sedillo at Bernie Grundman Mastering.

Artwork

Designed by Shaughn McGrath with Steve Averill at AMP Visual, Dublin
Creative Director: Jefferson Hack
Creative Agency: MAD London, Christina Hardy and Philipp Humm
Creative Consultants: Gavin Friday and Sharon Blankson

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