New Release: Last Night on Earth Remastered

Original Story by Aaron J. Sams (2024-05-01)

The third single from Pop to be remastered will be “Last Night on Earth”. Starting Friday, May 3, “Last Night on Earth” will be available on digital store fronts and streaming services.


IMAGE: Last Night on Earth Single (Remastered 2024)

The tracks included are the same tracks available commercially in 1997 on CD, cassette and vinyl. The release is the latest in the “To Love and Only Love“ collection of digital singles U2 are releasing throughout 2024.

  • “Last Night on Earth” (Single Version / Remastered 2024) – U2 (04:15)
  • “Pop Muzik” (Pop Mart Mix / Remastered 2024) – U2 (08:51)
  • “Happiness is a Warm Gun” (The Gun Mix / Remastered 2024) – U2 (04:46)
  • “Last Night on Earth” (First Night in Hell Mix / Remastered 2024) – U2 (05:51)
  • “Numb” (The Soul Assassins Mix / Remastered 2024) – U2 (03:57)
  • “Happiness is a Warm Gun” (The Danny Saber Mix) – U2 (04:51)

“Last Night on Earth” hadn’t been finished to the band’s satisfaction for the album Pop and the band felt they had rushed to finish it. Once the PopMart tour had started, having rehearsed and played the song extensively live, U2 booked time at Signature Sound Studio in San Diego, and recorded a new version of the song which is used here on the single. The new parts of the song included new vocals by Bono and The Edge and a rearranged / rerecorded bridge segment of the song. (The band would also re-record “Please” and “If God Will Send His Angels” for those respective singles.) Included as extra tracks on the single? Two remixes of The Beatles’ “Happiness is a Warm Gun” which U2 had recorded for the Robert Altman six episode television series Gun. The band’s cover of M’s “Pop Muzik” also makes an appearance, based on a remix of the original they had been using to enter the show. There’s an instrumental remix of the title track, and a remix of “Numb” to round out the extras.

“Last Night on Earth” reached #10 in the UK, #57 in the US on the Billboard Hot 100, and #13 at home in Ireland.

The new remastered version of the single is the next single of a 12-part series of single reissues in 2024. To date, three of the twelve have been released. The series is called “To Love and Only Love“ and is being promoted with video uploads, unique T-shirts and a playlist at Spotify and YouTube. (That playlist also includes “Stay” and “Lemon” which are not part of the 12 being released this year.)

The “Last Night on Earth” single has not been available on most streaming services to date. U2 have slowly been working their way through their discography to offer up these newly cleaned up versions on streaming, making more of their back catalog available to those who use these services. These tracks are available to subscribers to these services as part of their subscription fee, and also available free to customers on services such as Spotify and Google Music. (You’ll be able to have a listen below once these are released.) These are not new remixes or new songs, all of this material has been released commercially in 1997. A digital version was made available in “The Complete U2” digital box set in 2004, but that material has been unavailable for a number of years at this point.

The cover photo of The Edge was photographed by Rankin. On the original single it was tinted orange or green, and on the promo single. It is the orange version used here for the cover of the new digital release. Our original discography entry for “Last Night on Earth” can be found here.

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