"The Very Best of the Tube" - Various Artists

Compilation Album

U2 Related Content:

"New Year's Day" (Special Mix) - U2 (04:19)

CD-ROM Content:

"New Year's Day" (Live from Newcastle, Mar. 16, 1983) - U2 (04:44)

Full Track Listing:

Disc One:

New Year’s Day (Studio) – U2 (4:17)
The Jam – The Jam (3:22)
Need You Tonight – INXS (3:02)
Love Cats – The Cure (3:39)
Passenger – Siouxsie and the Banshees (4:07)
Wasteland – The Mission (3:56)
Real Wild Child – Iggy Pop (3:35)
The Cutter – Echo and the Bunnymen (3:54)
Big Area – Then Jericho (4:46)
No Mercy – The Stranglers (3:31)
Rat Trap – Boomtown Rats (5:08)
Fields of Fire – Big Country (3:28)
Shout to the Top – Style Council (3:23)
Everyday I Write the Book – Elvis Costello (3:52)
Pulling Mussels – Squeeze (3:58)
Love is a Wonderful Colour – Icicle Works (4:10)
Rattlesnakes – Lloyd Cole & Commotions (3:25)
Let My People Go – Rainmakers (3:35)
Never Never – Assembly (3:42)
Holding Back the Years – Simply Red (4:31)

Disc Two:

Relax – Frankie Goes to Hollywood (3:55)
Hungry Like the Wolf – Duran Duran (3:23)
Time – Culture Club (3:42)
The Lebanon – Human League (3:42)
Oblivious – Aztec Camera (3:09)
Situation – Yazoo (2:23)
Love Machine – Wham (3:22)
Dancing With Tears in My Eyes – Ultravox (4:04)
Change – Tears for Fears (4:17)
Playhouse – Paul Young (4:46)
Pretty in Pink – Psychedelic Furs (3:57)
Modern Girl – Meatloaf (4:24)
Some Guys Have all the Luck – Robert Palmer (3:07)
If You Let Me Stay – Terrance Trent D’Arby (3:14)
Politics of Dancing – Re-Flex (3:45)
Middle of the Road – The Pretenders (4:13)
Boys are Back in Town – Thin Lizzy (4:28)
CDRom Section which includes footage of U2 performing on The Tube (4:44)

Background Information

“The Tube” was a British television show, which aired on Channel 4 that first aired in 1982. The show was produced in Newcastle upon Tyne and ran on the air from November 1982, until being cancelled in April 1987. The show was a showcase for many emerging 1980s bands, and featured live performances from 3-4 bands each week when other musical TV shows in the UK featured performances that were mimed.

U2’s performance on The Tube was taped live on March 16, 1983, in the Tyne Tees Studio in Newcastle. The full set performed that night was “Gloria”, “New Year’s Day”, “Sunday Bloody Sunday”, “40” and “I Will Follow”.

This audio compilation features a compilation of artists who had appeared on The Tube over the period that the show aired, however, in most cases it is not the live performances of the songs that appear on this CD. The U2 track that opens the compilation is “New Year’s Day” but instead of being a live performance from the television broadcast, it is instead the 4:17 version of “New Year’s Day” that had been released in the 1980s on various single pressings, and would also feature in 1998 on “The Best of 1980 – 1990”.

However, video of U2 performing on “The Tube” is also included at the end of the second disc. This is a low quality quicktime video of only one song from that performance, “New Year’s Day”.

Liner Notes

New Year’s Day:
Written by Adam Clayton, Bono, Larry Mullen, The Edge.

New Year’s Day Video:
Written by Adam Clayton, Bono, Larry Mullen, The Edge. Video footage courtesy of Granada Visual. 1982 Tyne Tees Television.