"Irish Music 1990" - Various Artists
Promotional Release
U2 Related Content:
- "Desire" (Studio Version) - U2 (02:59)
- "Put 'em Under Pressure" (Mind Your House Mix - Edit) - Republic of Ireland Football Squad (03:55)
Background Information
When U2 were involved in Mother Records, one of the projects was a compilation of Irish Music in 1990, which featured a number of Irish artists from the Mother Records label, Irish artists signed to other labels, and included a mix of rock and traditional music. The CD had 18 tracks, and two are related to U2. Although an Irish release, the CD was pressed in the UK.
The album contains the regular version of “Desire”, taken from the album Rattle and Hum. The song had been the most successful single off of that album. It also contains the song “Put ‘Em Under Pressure” released by The Republic of Ireland Football Squad. That song had been issued as a single in May 1990 as the official song of the Irish national football team’s 1990 FIFA world cup campaign. Larry Mullen helped produce the record for the squad, and had writing credits on the song. The song itself borrows heavily from the Horslips song “Dearg Doom”, which in return had borrowed from an old Irish fight song. A group of fans gathered at Windmill Lane where the record was recorded provide some of the backing vocals and are credited as the Windmill Carpark Choir on the single itself. The song was released on U2’s “Son Records,” an imprint of Mother, and held the number one position in the Irish charts for 13 weeks.
While “Desire” is the more common version of the song found on the album and single, the edit of “Put ‘Em Under Pressure” is a slightly different edit than the version found on the single, and indeed is an edit of the “Mind Your House Mix” of the song. The edit is at the beginning of the track, and the version on this promotional compilation features a short three second edit at the start of the track, which cuts out some of the music appearing on the single version of the song. The song is also mastered so that the volume levels are much lower on this compilation CD, than they are on the single itself. The edit on the CD is actually 03:55 in length, and the version on the single is 03:58. The album artwork and CD here on the Mother Records compilation lists the song at 03:42 in error.
U2’s Mother Records label started releasing singles in 1984, and albums in 1989. This was the first full compilation released on the Mother Records label, and it was the first album length compilation release in 1990 for the label. The compilation did feature a number of Mother Records artists including An Emotional Fish, The Golden Horde, and Hothouse Flowers. This album was not commercially released, and was only distributed for promotion.
Liner Notes
Desire – U2
Written by U2
Put ‘Em Under Pressure – The Republic of Ireland Football Squad
Written by Mullen, Woods / Donnelly, Dearg Doom by Horslips.