Songs of Surrender Preview Available November 1
Original Story by Aaron J Sams (2022-10-22)
We are able to provide a bit more information about the upcoming Songs of Surrender album, specifically when we might hear some of it. The album, completed by U2, features 40 older U2 songs recreated during the lockdowns. We can now confirm that we will be getting to hear some of those tracks on November 1. The audiobook, which is being released on November 1 will include clips of these newly imagined U2 songs. The audio runs for just over twenty hours in total, and will begin streaming on November 1. The audiobook will include clips of newly recorded reimagined versions of U2 songs including ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’, ‘One’, ‘With or Without You’, ‘Beautiful Day’ and more, glimpsed for the first time on Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story.” Other music featured on the audiobook will include snippets by Patti Smith, Verdi, The Clash, Johnny Cash, Mozart, and also classic versions of U2 songs. If that’s not enough, the audiobook will be narrated by Bono.
From the sounds of it these will just be short edits of the new tracks, but it will give a preview of the new songs. The full album of 40 songs is expected to be released shortly after the book, and there may be a surprise release of this album done digitally. We have been told that the album has been pressed, and will be four discs, and is ready to ship to stores.
We have been waiting for more information on Songs of Surrender for a while now since first sharing information about it earlier this year. Last Sunday, Bono mentioned it by name at an event at the Cheltenham Book Festival which was the first official mention of the album existing. Copies of Surrender have also started to ship and in the back of the book, Bono speaks about the Songs of Surrender album:
“Thanks to my band mates and our publishing house, Universal Music Publishing Group, for permission to quote from our songs, and, in some case some of you had noticed, yes, I have sometimes been rewriting some of the lyrics. During lockdown we were able to reimagine forty U2 tracks for the Songs of Surrender collection, which gave me a chance to live inside those songs again as I wrote this memoir.” A release date for the Songs of Surrender album has not been announced. Asked last week about it, Bono would only say it was coming soon. When our previously reliable sources first mentioned it to us in March, they mentioned the band were aiming for a date of November 18, 2022. If we get any additional information we will pass it along ASAP.
The audiobook has a confirmed time of 1226 minutes. The ISBN number of the digital version of the book is 9781984841650. The audiobook will be available from Apple Books, Audible, Barnes & Noble, Google Play, Kobo, Audiobooks.com, and other online digital retailers. Some local bookshops pair with online services as well, if you wish to shop local and support your independent book seller. Some stores in the US pair with a service called LibroFM for digital audiobooks. The audiobook will also be available through some libraries. A heads up though, Bono will only narrate the English version of the audiobook, and will not narrate the translations.
As well as digital copies available to stream, there are physical versions being offered for sale.
In Germany, the German version is offered on “multimedia CD”. Rather than a normal audio-CD, this will feature compressed audio files to fit onto a smaller number of discs. These audio files will require a system that can play them back and may not be playable in all CD systems. The German translation is being read by Mark Bremer.
A version in English, unabridged, is being offered via Penguin Audio in the UK. Unlike the German version, this is still being listed as an Audio CD in listings. (ISBN: 978-1786145222) The number of discs has not been announced, but at 1226, you would need to spread the audio over 16 CDs to fit it all in. More information should be available closer to the date of release. A North American version was also announced when the book was originally announced in May (ISBN: 978-1984841643) but most retailers have now removed listings for this or are listing it as delayed.
Special thanks to Babette, Agus and Jay for information used in this article.
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