In 2004 Apple's iTunes store released a "Digital Box Set" of U2 Recordings entitled The Complete U2. The set was made available only through the iTunes music store for download. Included within the set were several rare recordings grouped as albums. These "Digital Albums" were accompanied by new artwork designed by Four5One, the creative design firm which has done most of U2's albums throughout the years. These cover images were released in an accompanying "PDF" file along with information a...
In 2004 Apple's iTunes store released a "Digital Box Set" of U2 Recordings entitled The Complete U2. The set was made available only through the iTunes music store for download. Included within the set were several rare recordings grouped as albums. These "Digital Albums" were accompanied by new artwork designed by Four5One, the creative design firm which has done most of U2's albums throughout the years. These cover images were released in an accompanying "PDF" file along with information about the full set of songs in the "Digital Box Set". It is not known at this time if Apple plans on releasing these "Digital Albums" separate from the box set - at this time they are only available when one purchases The Complete U2. The tracks could be downloaded in Apple's AAC format for compressed music.
The Unreleased & Rare album features several tracks that have never appeared on any other commercial U2 release. From the All That You Can't Leave Behind recording sessions we get the tracks "Levitate", "Flower Child" and "Love You Like Mad". From the How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb sessions we get the tracks "Smile", "Xanax and Wine", "Native Son" and alternate versions of "All Because of You", "Yahweh" and "Sometimes You Can't Make it On Your Own". From The Joshua Tree sessions we get the track "Beautiful Ghost / Introduction to Songs of Experience". The other songs appearing in this set have appeared on other recordings, and can be found in our By Songs section.
Several of these songs would eventually become other songs on releases. "Xanax and Wine" became "Fast Cars", and "Native Son" became "Vertigo" upon further work. Other songs have recognizable parts as well. The song "Beautiful Ghost" is an early instrumental track from 1987 which Bono reads William Blake's "Introduction to Songs of Experience" over top of. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
