"Zooropa" - U2

Remastered Album (2018 Master)

Track Listing:

Background Information

In 2018 a new master of Zooropa was released. This remaster was directed by The Edge, with remastering engineering completed by Scott Sedillo and the audio master transfer directed by Declan Gaffney. Director of production for this release was Nadine King. Due to the shortness of the Zooropa album, two bonus tracks are added. The two tracks are “Lemon (The Perfecto Mix)” (B-Side to “Lemon”) and “Numb (Gimme Some More Dignity Mix)” (From the “Melon” CD for Propaganda). The notes on where these are from are taken from the lyrics included in the new package, which are on the back of one of two inner sleeves included with the vinyl.

Initially the remaster was released on black vinyl. That release on July 27, 2018, saw Zooropa released along with remastered versions of The Best of 1980 – 1990 and Achtung Baby. All three were produced on two 12-inch vinyl records, pressed at 180gram weight. A few months later, on October 12, 2018, the new remaster was released on coloured vinyl for the first time ever, as part of Album Day in the UK. The release was available through HMV, and was limited to one copy per person. On November 23, 2018, the blue vinyl was also released in other countries. A third release, this time on yellow vinyl with a new foil cover, was done on October 20, 2023, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the album, and to coincide with U2’s concerts at Sphere in Las Vegas.

Although the sound was tweaked slightly for the 2011 release of Achtung Baby, the Zooropa album was not properly remastered at that time. Nor was it released as a standalone item, being available only in the deluxe releases of Achtung Baby. What is changed with the new Zooropa mix? All of the tracks are louder, and more dynamics are present between the high and low volumes in comparison to the 2011 release as part of the Achtung Baby release. The album tracks themselves are the exact same length as the ones on the 2011 release, although both of the bonus tracks are slightly longer. On the new release, “Lemon (The Perfecto Mix)” is 8:57.542, and on the 2011 release it was 8:56.536. The track starts about 0.065s earlier and has 1.06s of silence added at the end. “Numb (Gimme Some More Dignity Mix)” is 8:51.417, just over 4 seconds longer than the 2011 version at 8:47.065. Here the 2011 version starts later, by about 0.436s, there is a bit of additional audio information in this extended start, but it is mostly silence. There is also an extended section of silence of just over 4s adding to the track time. One interesting change to note with the new master, although the overall track length of the album version of “Lemon” is the same with both mixes, in the new remaster, “Lemon” has been sped up slightly by about 0.3s overall. This results in a small amount of additional silence at the end of the track, as well as playing slightly faster than the 2011 mix. This means it also plays slightly faster than the original 1993 mix.

Both the release on black and blue vinyl are accompanied by a digital download card which will allow users to download the tracks included on the vinyl, including the two bonus tracks in wave format. The downloads are through “The Sound of Vinyl” website, and the downloads are in 44.1/16-bit quality.

The black vinyl release was sold worldwide, but was pressed in Germany. The front sticker on the release gives the catalog number 00602557970821, but on the spine of the sleeve it gives the catalog number U292018 instead. On the back cover both numbers are listed, with the longer number being at the bottom in the small credits, and the other number being above the UPC. On the discs themselves the number is U29 5797080.

The blue vinyl release was initially sold in HMV in the UK (priced at £29.99.) The pressing in the UK was released early to coincide with the 70th birthday of the album, being celebrated as National Album Day in the UK. A coloured release of The Joshua Tree on gold vinyl was also released at that time. In November, the blue vinyl was released as an exclusive release to one retailer in different countries, including Target in the USA, FNAC in France, Sunrise in Canada, and CeDe in Germany. The pressing is the same as the black vinyl, and includes the two bonus tracks, but the catalog information is new on this blue vinyl pressing, with a catalog number of 00602567891291 on the front sticker and a UPC of 6 02567 89129 1. The catalog numbers on the inside labels of the vinyl are U29 5797080 / U29 5797081 which is the same as the black pressings of the vinyl. The vinyl was made available for early order through U2.Com on October 11, 2018, and it began shipping on the following day to some who ordered.

Liner Notes

Original Release:

Post Production Co-Ordinator: Cheryl Engels / Partial Productions Inc.
Mastering by Arnie Acosta / A & M Mastering Studios, LA
Digital Editing by Stewart Whitmore / A & M Mastering Studios, LA

2018 Album Remaster:
Directed by The Edge
Remastering Engineering by Scott Sedillo at Bernie Grundman Mastering
Audio Master Transfer Director: Declan Gaffney
Project Production Manager on Behalf of Island Records / UMC: Lisa Power
Archive Manager: Rebecca Coffey

Artwork

Album cover design by Works Associates (Dublin)
Art direction by Steve Averill.
Design and Computer treatments by Brian Williams
Baby illustration by Shaughn McGrath.
Original baby illustration by Charlie Whisker.
Original photo of Johnny Cash by Alan Messer
Original images taken from Zooropa ’93 video footage.
Directed by Maurice Linnane. Produced by Ned O’Hanlon

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