"The Singles Collection" - U2
Singles Collection (Not Official)
Track Listing:
- "Fire" (Studio Version) - U2 (03:52)
- "J. Swallow" (Studio Version) - U2 (02:20)
- "11 O'Clock Tick Tock" (Live from Boston, MA, Mar. 6, 1981 - Encore - Fade In) - U2 (04:53)
- "The Ocean" (Live from Boston, MA, Mar. 6, 1981 - Encore - Fade Out) - U2 (02:12)
- "Cry / The Electric Co." (Live from Boston, MA, Mar. 6, 1981 - Fade In / Out) - U2 (04:54)
- "New Year's Day" (Studio Version) - U2 (05:35)
- "Treasure (Whatever Happened to Pete the Chop)" (Studio Version) - U2 (03:24)
- "Fire" (Live from Werchter, Jul. 4, 1982 - Fade In / Out) - U2 (03:45)
- "I Threw a Brick Through a Window / A Day Without Me" (Live from Werchter, Jul. 4, 1982 - Fade In/Out) - U2 (06:58)
- "Sunday Bloody Sunday" (Studio Version) - U2 (04:39)
- "Two Hearts Beat as One" (Club Version) - U2 (05:43)
- "New Year's Day" (USA Remix) - U2 (04:31)
- "Pride (In the Name of Love)" (Extended Single Version) - U2 (04:42)
- "Boomerang I" (Studio Version) - U2 (02:48)
- "Boomerang II" (Studio Version) - U2 (04:50)
- "4th of July" (Long Version) - U2 (02:39)
- "The Three Sunrises" (Studio Version) - U2 (03:53)
- "The Unforgettable Fire" (Studio Version) - U2 (04:55)
- "A Sort of Homecoming" (Live from London, Nov. 15, 1984) - U2 (04:07)
- "Love Comes Tumbling" (Studio Version - No False Start) - U2 (04:46)
- "Bass Trap" (Studio Version) - U2 (05:15)
- "With or Without You" (Studio Version) - U2 (04:55)
- "Luminous Times (Hold on to Love)" (Studio Version) - U2 (04:35)
- "Walk to the Water" (Studio Version) - U2 (04:49)
- "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" (Studio Version) - U2 (04:37)
- "Spanish Eyes" (Studio Version) - U2 (03:16)
- "Deep in the Heart" (Studio Version) - U2 (04:31)
- "Where the Streets Have No Name" (Single Version) - U2 (04:50)
- "Race Against Time" (Studio Version) - U2 (04:03)
- "Silver and Gold" (Studio Version) - U2 (04:38)
- "Sweetest Thing" (Studio Version 1987) - U2 (03:04)
- "Desire" (Studio Version) - U2 (02:59)
- "Hallelujah (Here She Comes)" (Studio Version Long) - U2 (04:15)
- "Desire" (Hollywood Remix - Short) - U2 (05:23)
- "Angel of Harlem" (Studio Version) - U2 (03:49)
- "A Room at the Heartbreak Hotel" (Studio Version) - U2 (05:30)
- "Love Rescue Me" (Live from London, Oct. 16, 1988) - U2 (05:22)
- "All I Want is You" (Edit) - U2 (04:16)
- "Unchained Melody" (Studio Version) - U2 (04:56)
- "Everlasting Love" (Studio Version) - U2 (03:21)
- "All I Want is You" (Studio Version) - U2 (06:30)
- "When Love Comes to Town" (Edit) - U2 and BB King (03:33)
- "Dancing Barefoot" (Studio Version - Short) - U2 (04:14)
- "When Love Comes to Town" (Live from the Kingdom Mix - Short) - U2 and BB King (07:29)
- "God Part II" (Hard Metal Dance Mix) - U2 (04:46)
Background Information
In 1992, someone, it’s not entirely clear who, put together this boxed set of U2 recordings. We do know that the box was numbered, and that packed within were 12 CD singles, which covered from “Fire”, up to and including “All I Want is You”. The CD singles contained within are a mix of the German and Austrian pressings of CDs. Based on the numbering on the box, it is suggested that only 9999 copies were produced. Still other copies were released with no limited numbering.
At the same time there was a similar set put together for Morrissey, using the same box, and with a similar insert. In the case of the Morrissey box the CDs contained within the box were the UK pressings. The Morrissey set was released in November 1992 and is recognized as not being an official release. Over the years it has been suggested that this U2 set was pressed by a legitimate store using their inventory of singles, but the fact the singles all come from different countries between the two boxes leads to some question there. It has also been suggested that this item is a bootleg produced in Italy, and is indeed not official in any way except for the CD singles themselves.
The Edge was interviewed in 1993 and discussed this box set:
We heard of this boxed set of cd singles being sold for some astronomical price – a legal anomaly – by this enterprising man who had bought up all the cd singles he could find, repackaged them in a box and was charging three times what they cost him. U2 fans who didn’t have the full set were buying it. They were singles that we had tried to maintain a low price for because our idea for the singles was that it was a way of looking after the real U2 fans who were going to buy everything that we produced. We made sure that whatever it was, it was good value and always tried to put one if not two original new songs on it.
The box is a nice box set, and the CDs contained within are legitimate. None of the markings on the box indicate any label, any catalog number or any copyright information.