"NME Readers Poll Winners '84" - Various Artists
Promotional Release
U2 Related Content:
- "Wire" (Celtic Dub Mix) - U2 (04:35)
Full Track Listing:
- Hard Rain – Bronski Beat
- Ivo (New Version) – Cocteau Twins
- What She Said (Live) – The Smiths
- Wire (Dub Mix) (4:31) – U2
Background Information
The May 25, 1985 issue of NME Magazine carried a cover mounted 7-Inch vinyl record. The title touted it as the “Vinyl Exclusive of the Year”. If the vinyl had been ripped off there was a big “Ripped Off” where the vinyl would have been located on the cover. The vinyl contained four tracks, winners of the NME Reader’s Poll for the year 1984. The vinyl came in a plain white sleeve, and were taped to the magazine. The poll results themselves were published in an earlier issue of the magazine, on February 23, 1985. In the poll, readers voted Bono as Best Male Singer. The Cocteau Twins had won Best Album, Bronski Beat had been named Best New Act, and The Smiths had been named Best Group, as well as Best Songwriters, and Best Instrumentalist.
All four of these acts appeared on the vinyl. Each act had one song on the release. U2’s contribution was a remix of “Wire” called the “Dub Mix” on the original release. No credits beyond the producer are listed on the album. Over the years the mix was interchangeably called the “Celtic Dub Mix” and in 2009 the 25th anniversary edition version of “The Unforgettable Fire” was released, and it included this mix on CD for the first time, and also called it the “Celtic Dub Mix”. In the liner notes for that release Edge comments on the mix: ““Wire (Celtic Dub Remix)” – Another François Kevorkian mix. This one apparently has a Celtic aspect. I don’t really know what it is, but it sounds great.”
The confusion over the name of the mix comes from the fact that the label of the vinyl only lists it as the “Dub Mix” where the cover of the magazine it had been attached to (see scans below) refers to the mix as “A Celtic dub mix from Bono and the boys.”
NME in the mid-80s had a large print run, and many of these EPs were pressed, making this a relatively easy single to find.
Liner Notes
Wire (Celtic Dub Mix):
Produced by Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois.
From the 2009 Release of “The Unforgettable Fire”:
Track on 7” vinyl given away free with NME, May 1985
Produced by Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois
Remix produced by François Kevorkian
Remix engineering by Frank Filipetti