"Isles of Wonder" - Various Artists

Compilation Album

U2 Related Content:

Full Track Listing:


Disc One
  • I Still Believe – Frank Turner
  • Jerusalem, Flower of Scotland, Danny Boy, Bread of Heaven – Four Nations Choirs
  • Nimrod – LSO on Track Orchestra & Francois Xavier Roth
  • And I Will Kiss – Underworld ft. Dame Evelyn Glennie and the Pandemonium Drummers
  • Tubular Bells / In Dulci Jubilo – Mike Oldfield
  • Chariots of Fire – LSO
  • Sundowner – Blanck Moss & LSO
  • Bonkers (Radio Edit) – Dizzee Rascal
  • Nimma Nimma – A. R. Rohman ft Jaspreet Jasz
  • Heaven – Emeli Sande
  • Abide with Me – Emeli Sande
  • I Bet Your Look Good on the Dancefloor (LIve) – Arctic Monkeys
  • Come Together (Live) – Arctic Monkeys
  • Caliban’s Dream – Underworld ft. Various
    Disc Two:
  • Galvanize – Chemical Brothers
  • Moon Watcher – High Contrast
  • Always Loved a Film – Instrumental – Underworld
  • Dark & Long (Dark Train) (Remix) – Underworld
  • West End Girls – Pet Shop Boys
  • Minneapolis (High Contrast Remix) – Underworld
  • Reach – High Contrast
  • Ghost Dance – High Contrast
  • Confusion The Waitress (Darren Price & High Contrast Remix) – Underworld
  • Traktor – Wretch 32 ft. L
  • Olympians (High Contrast Remix) – Fuck Buttons
  • Can’t Stop this Fire – High Contrast
  • Moon in Water (Instrumental Remix) – Underworld
  • Crocodile (High Contrast Remix) – Underworld
  • Where the Streets Have No Name (High Contrast Remix) – Underworld
  • For Years – High Contrast
  • Dirty Epic (Darren Price & High Contrast Remix) – Underworld
  • Dark & Long (Darren Price & High Contrast Remix) – Underworld
  • Rez (High Contrast Remix) – Underworld
  • Heroes – David Bowie
  • Galvanize – Chemical Brothers

Background Information

The 2012 Olympic Games was held in London, and the opening ceremonies were held on July 27, 2012. During the parade of athletes U2 was heard twice, once with a remix of “Where the Streets Have No Name” and once with “Beautiful Day”. Little was known about the remix at the time but 24 hours later, it was announced that the music from the opening ceremonies was available for download on iTunes, and that a physical CD would be released containing that music on August 2, 2012. “Where the Streets Have No Name” was included as one of the downloadable tracks, and is on the album. The description on iTunes was “London welcomed the world on July 27, 2012, with the lighting of the Olympic Flame, signalling the official start of the London 2012 Games. Get the music from the Opening Ceremony now, which includes the score (courtesy of artistic director Danny Boyle and music director Underworld) as well as performances from top artists.” The tracks were made available worldwide through iTunes.

The remixer of the U2 track is “High Contrast” also known as Lionel Barrett, who is a well known Welsh DJ and producer. This remix of “Where the Streets Have No Name” is his first known remix of U2. During the ceremonies, Barrett was on twitter, and tweeted “Had to go in on a U2 remix! Yo bono tah for the remix parts!”.

Barrett also described his work on the ceremony itself: “Two and half months ago I got an incredible phone call. It was from Underworld. I have been a huge fan of them for many years and more recently have had the honour of being musical collaborator with them. On this occasion, they rang to ask me to get involved on their current, very epic musical mission…the London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony. I obviously jumped at the chance and moved over to London for the duration, working relentlessly on the part of the show they wanted me to help out on – the Athletes Parade. It was a very specific brief, something as a lone D+B producer I’m not used to doing, but was a wonderful challenge to have. Drum + Bass wasn’t really on the cards for this, it was more just my uplifting, melodic vibe that was needed. It’s been an incredible experience working alongside Underworld and their whole team, for which I can never thank them enough. I’ll post a full report next week.”

Initially the CD was posted with a brownish cover on Amazon.co.uk, but that was a preliminary cover artwork, and the eventual CD release used the same cover that was available through the download on iTunes and other services.

Liner Notes

U2: Where the Streets Have No Name (High Contrast Remix)
Lyrics and Music by U2. Published By: Universal Music Publishing International BV, except Blue Mountain Music Ltd (UK) and Mother Music (Irl). Produced by Brian Eno. Produced by Daniel Lanois. Mixed by Steve Lillywhite. Vocals: Bono. Remixed by High Contrast. Miscellaneous Credits: Recorded by Flood. Additional Engineering Dave Meegan with Pat McCarthy. Mix Engineered by Mark Walis. Assisted by Mary Kettle. (P) 2012 Universal Island Records under exclusive licence to Mercury Records Ltd.

Related Promotional Videos

Related News

Catalog of Releases