"Duals" - U2

Fan Club Album

Track Listing:

Background Information

Duals was the eighth CD released to members of the U2 Fan Club, and the sixth since the establishment of U2.com as the official club portal. As the title implies, it was a collection of songs that U2 had performed with other artists. The disc was packaged in a standard card sleeve, which fit inside a larger card sleeve that also housed a booklet with liner notes and a fold-out poster.

While the concept might have sounded good on paper, unfortunately, most of the duets on Duals were already widely available, including tracks from U2’s studio albums. As a result, Duals quickly became one of the most controversial and poorly received of the fan club CDs, to the point that some fans started petitions for a better fan gift.

The CD was first announced on August 23, 2010 on U2.com. Little was explained at the time beyond the concept of a “duets” album. On December 23, 2010 an mp3 from the upcoming album was made available through U2.com as a Christmas present to subscribers. It was a full version of “Amazing Grace” segueing into “Where the Streets Have No Name.” This was later cut into two pieces for inclusion on the CD. On February 7, 2011 the track listing was finally announced, resulting in a host of critical responses from the U2 fan community online. On March 16, an e-mail was sent announcing that the CD would ship “soon,” but it wasn’t until April 15 (a full eight months after the initial announcement) that copies began to reach fans.

Several tracks on the CD were readily available on U2’s past albums and singles. “The Wanderer” is from Zooropa, “Miss Sarajevo” is from Original Soundtracks 1, “When Love Comes to Town” is from Rattle and Hum, “The Saints are Coming” is from the U218 Singles compilation, “Falling at Your Feet” is from the Million Dollar Hotel soundtrack, “Drunk Chicken/America” was included on the reissued 2CD version of The Joshua Tree, and “Slow Dancing” was a b-side to “If God Will Send His Angels.” In addition, “One” had been released as a single with Mary J. Blige, “I’m Not Your Baby” had appeared on The End of Violence soundtrack and Sinead O’Connor’s Collaborations album, “The Ballad of Ronnie Drew” had been released as a charity single in Ireland, and “Stuck in a Moment” was included on The 25th Anniversary Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Concerts compilation.

That left only four tracks of new material on the CD. However, in the case of the “Amazing Grace/Where the Streets Have No Name” tracks with the Soweto Gospel Choir, U2’s performance was simply pulled from the recently released U2360 at the Rose Bowl DVD with the Soweto Gospel Choir’s performance mixed in after the fact. “Stranded (Haiti Mon Amour) (Hybrid Mix)” was not a big departure from previously released versions of the song. And “Sunday Bloody Sunday (Live from Auckland),” while making its CD debut here, had been featured previously as a streaming track on U2.com.

Liner Notes

Where the Streets Have No Name (U2 and Soweto Gospel Choir):
Music and lyrics by U2. Produced by Declan Gaffney. U2 recorded in Pasadena by Declan Gaffney. Soweto Gospel Choir recorded in South Africa by Richard Mitchell. Choir arranged by Lucas Bok and Diniloxolo Ndlakuse. Mixed by Declan Gaffney at Artillery Studios, London. Assisted by Kristian Donaldson. Keyboards by Terry Lawless.

The Wanderer (U2 and Johnny Cash):
Music by U2, lyrics by Bono. Produced by Flood, Brian Eno and The Edge. Recorded and mixed by Flood and Robbie Adams. Assisted by Willie Mannion. Backing vocals by The Edge. Additional synthesisers by Brian Eno. Background loops by Flood.

Falling at Your Feet (Bono, Danny Lanois, Larry Mullen):
Music and lyrics by Bono and Danny Lanois. Produced by Danny Lanois and Hal Wilner. Enginered and mixed by Eric Liljestrand. Percussion by Larry Mullen.

Miss Sarajevo (Passengers and Luciano Pavarotti):
Music and lyrics by Passengers (Brian Eno, Bono, Adam Clayton, The Edge, Larry Mullen Jr) Produced by U2 and Brian Eno. Engineered by Danton Supple. Assisted by Rob Kirwan. Additional engineering by Ruadhri Cushnan. Mixed by Jeremy Wheatley. String arrangement by Craig Armstrong.

Slow Dancing (U2 and Willie Nelson):
Music by U2, lyrics by Bono and The Edge. Produced by Flood. Recorded by Mark “Spike” Stent. Assisted by Rob Kirwan. Mixing and chorus vocals by Brian Eno. Mickey Raphael on harmonica.

The Saints Are Coming (U2 and Green Day):
Music and lyrics by Richard Jobson and Stuart Adamson. Produced by Rick Rubin. Recorded by Greg Fidelman. Wurlitzer electric piano by Terry Lawless. Mixed by Chris Lord-Alge.

Sunday Bloody Sunday (Live from Auckland) (U2 and Jay-Z):
Music and lyrics by U2. Additional lryics by Jay-Z. Recorded by Alastair McMillan at Mt. Smart Stadium, Auckland on 25th November 2010. Mixed by Declan Gaffney at 301 Studios, Australia. Assisted by Jordan Power. “Get Up, Stand Up”, written by Bob Marley, Peter Tosh.

One (U2 and Mary J. Blige):
Music by U2, lyrics by Bono. Produced by Ron Fair. Pro Tools / Co-Produced by Tal Herzberg. Strings arranged and conducted by Ron Fair. Strings recorded by Allen Sickles. String Players: Endre Genet, Natalie Leggett, Tereza Stanislav, Jackie Brand, Chairlie Bisharat, Joel Derouin, Mario De Leon, Julie Gigante, Josefina Cergara, Tammy Hattwan, Clayton Hansop, Sid Page, Roberto Cain, Phillip Levy, Songa Lee, Alan Grumfeld, Lily Ho Chen, Alyssa Park, Brian Dembrow, Sam Formicola, Matt Funes, Darrin McCann, Marlow Fisher, Andrew Duckles, Steve Erbody, Larry Corbett, David Low, Suzie Katayama, Armen Ksajikian, Paula Hochhalter. Piano and Organ by Ron Fair. Additional electric and acoustic guitar by John Goux. Additional recording and engineered by Mike Eleopolous. Mixed by Jack Joseph Plug. Mix assited by Dean Nelson.

When Love Comes to Town (U2 and BB King):
Music by U2, lyrics by Bono. Produced by Jimmy Iovine. Vocals and guitar by BB King. Backing vocals by Rebecca Evans Russell, Phyllis Duncan and Helen Duncan. Recorded by Dave Ferguson and Cowboy Jack Clement at Sun Studio, Memphis. Mixed by Shelly Yakus with Rob Jacobs at A&M Studios. Assistant engineer: Randy Wine.

Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of (Live at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame) (U2 and Mick Jagger):
Recorded at the 25th Anniversary Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Concert at Madison Square Garden, 30th October 2009. Music by U2 lyrics by Bono and The Edge. Recorded by Jay Vicari for Music Mix Mobile. Mixed by Carl Glanville at Radio City Media Group, New York.

The Ballad of Ronnie Drew (U2, The Dubliners, Kila, A Band of Bowsies):
Music by U2, The Dubliners, Kila. Lyrics by Robert Hunter, Bono, The Edge, and Simon Carmody. Produced by John Reynolds. Engineering and additional production by Alastair McMillan.

I’m Not Your Baby (U2 and Sinéad O’Connor):
Music by U2, lyrics by Bono. Produced by Howie B and Flood. Engineered by Mark ‘Spike’ Stent. Assisted by Rob Kirwan. Mixed by Howie B. Assited by Paul Falcone at the Hit Factory, NY. Vocal Production by Steve Osborne.

Stranded (Haiti Mon Amour) (Hybrid Mix) (Jay-Z, Bono, The Edge, Rihanna):
Writted by Bono, The Edge and Jay-Z. Produced by Kasseem “Swizz Beaz” Dean for Swizz Beatz Productions Inc. and Declan Gaffney. Recorded and mixed by Declan Gaffney. Assited by Florian Lagatta at Gang Studios, Paris. Programmnig by Matt Paul and Declan Gaffney. Keyboards by The Edge, Swizz Beatz and Matt Paul. Guitars by Bono and the Edge. Bass by Tony Russell. Drums by Tony Royster Jr. Piano by Bono and The Edge. Additional vocals by Swizz Beatz and Carline Balan. Backing vocals by the Gang Studio Choir. French translation by Florian Lagatta. Jay-Z vocals recorded by Gimel “Young Guru” Keaton at Roc The Mic, New York. Rihanna vocals recorded by Rob Kinelski at Westlake Studios, Hollywood and Mathieu Lejeune at Chicago Recording Company, Chicago.

Drunk Chicken / America (U2 and Allen Ginsberg):
Music by U2. Featuring an extract from the Allen Ginsberg reading of “America”. Produced by Danny Lanois and Brian Eno. Recorded by Flood. Additional recording and mix by Carl Glanville. Contains a sample from the Allen Ginsberg recording “America”. From the album “Howl and Other Poems” (Fantasy FCD 7713).

Amazing Grace (U2 and Soweto Gospel Choir):
Written by Newton / Walker. Produced by Declan Gaffney. U2 recorded in Pasadena by Declan Gaffney. Soweto Gospel Choir recorded in South Africa by Richard Mithcell. Choir arranged by Lucas Bok and Diniloxolo Ndlakuse. Mixed by Carl Glanville at Radio City Media Group, New York. Additonal mixing by Declan Gaffney at Artillery Studios, London. Assisted by Kristian Donaldson.

Release production: Declan Gaffney.
Project Managers: Jeremy Joseph and Brian Celler.
Project Co-ordinator: Candida Bottaci.

Compilation Mastering: Scott Sedillo at Bernie Grundman Mastering.
Audio Post Production: Cheryl Engels at Partial Productions.

Artwork

Sleeve Design: Shaughn McGrath at AMP Visual.com

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