"Near the Island" (1990)
Demo Song
Background Information
“Near the Island” is a working title of a song developed for Achtung Baby.
As part of the album remastering project in 2008 – 2011, U2 went back into the archive and dug up a number of older songs that had never been completed. In some cases these were released as they were in their original form, but in other cases, they went back in and altered the originals, adding vocals and in some cases additional music, usually under the supervision of Declan Gaffney. “Near the Island” is one of the tracks that dates back to the Achtung Baby album in 1991. This is not one of the tracks that have had additional recording tweaks made to it. The song is an instrumental. In some early press and promotional material this song was called “Near the Island / Night Train from Rostock”.