"The U2 File" - U2
Promotional Release
Track Listing:
- "I Will Follow" (Studio Version) - U2 (03:37)
- "Gloria" (Studio Version) - U2 (04:13)
- "New Year's Day" (Studio Version) - U2 (05:35)
- "Two Hearts Beat as One" (Studio Version) - U2 (04:03)
- "Pride (In the Name of Love)" (Studio Version) - U2 (03:50)
- "Bad" (Studio Version) - U2 (06:08)
- "With or Without You" (Studio Version) - U2 (04:55)
- "Red Hill Mining Town" (Studio Version) - U2 (04:53)
- "The Electric Co." (Studio Version) - U2 (04:47)
- "Fire" (Studio Version) - U2 (03:52)
- "Sunday Bloody Sunday" (Live from St.Goarshausen, Aug. 20, 1983 - Edit II) - U2 (05:27)
- "40" (Live from St. Goarshausen, Germany, Aug. 20, 1983 - Fade In/Out) - U2 (03:42)
- "A Sort of Homecoming" (Studio Version) - U2 (05:28)
- "The Unforgettable Fire" (Studio Version) - U2 (04:55)
- "Where the Streets Have No Name" (Studio Version) - U2 (05:37)
- "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" (Studio Version) - U2 (04:37)
Background Information
In 1987 to promote the release of The Joshua Tree Island Records worked with distributors in different territories to come up with sampler cassettes, that not only focused on the new album, but also placed a spotlight on U2’s past hits. The label in Australia, Festival Records, put together The U2 File. The name, and indeed the cover logo, were taken from the book of the same name, released by Hot Press magazine.
The release was a simple white cassette, with a copied insert on pink card stock. The release contained eight songs on each side, for about 75 minutes of music. All four planned singles for the release of The Joshua Tree are included (“Red Hill Mining Town”, originally planned to be a single was later never released.) Also included are a mix of songs from earlier albums, including two from Under A Blood Red Sky, “Sunday Bloody Sunday” and “40”. The live crowd noise fades in with “Sunday Bloody Sunday” and cuts off quickly at the end of “40”.
The editing of the tape leaves one song right up against the next with little silence between tracks.