U2 announce special 'shadow album' How To Re-Assemble An Atomic Bomb

The album includes new, unreleased songs discovered in the archive of the How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb recording sessions

To mark the 20th anniversary of U2’s critically acclaimed eight-time Grammy-winning album How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb, Island Records and UMR have announced the release of a shadow album titled How To Re-Assemble An Atomic Bomb.

The album includes new, unreleased songs discovered in the archive of the original album recording sessions. Set for a standalone release on November 29, the first songs to be made available from How To Re-Assemble An Atomic Bomb are Country Mile and Picture Of You (X + W).

To further celebrate the anniversary of this seminal album, How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb has now been remastered for the first time, a process which saw the band go back to the vault to revisit those early ‘00s recording sessions, a period of intense creativity for U2 in the studio.

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How To Re-Assemble An Atomic Bomb is a collection of ten songs taken from the original recording sessions for How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb - U2’s critically acclaimed, eight-time Grammy-winning album - recently rediscovered in the band’s archive and now released for the first time as a standalone album.

This shadow album includes new, never-before-heard or previously released songs - Treason, Evidence Of Life, Country Mile and Happiness; plus a song called Luckiest Man In The World - familiar to fans under its working title Mercy, an early demo of which was leaked online almost 20 years ago.

“The sessions for ‘How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb’ were such a creative period for the band, we were exploring so many song ideas in the studio,” The Edge said.

“We were inspired to revisit our early music influences, and it was a time of deep personal introspection for Bono who was attempting to process - dismantle - the death of his father. For this anniversary edition, I went into my personal archive to see if there were any unreleased gems and I hit the jackpot.

“We chose ten that really spoke to us. Although at the time we left these songs to one side, with the benefit of hindsight we recognize that our initial instincts about them being contenders for the album were right, we were onto something.

“What you’re getting on this shadow album is that raw energy of discovery, the visceral impact of the music, a sonic narrative, a moment in time, the exploration and interaction of four musicians playing together in a room… this is the pure U2 drop.”

How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb is U2’s eleventh studio album. Released by Island Records / Interscope on November 22, 2004, it went to No. 1 in 34 countries around the world, including Ireland, the UK and the US.

Described by Bono at the time as “our first rock album”, How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb was recorded at the band’s studio in Hanover Quay, Dublin and the South of France, and produced by Steve Lilywhite, with additional production from Chris Thomas, Flood, Jacknife Lee, Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois, Nellee Hooper and Carl Glanville.

The remastered How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb (20th Anniversary Edition) will be released in the following formats on November 22. Pre-order or pre-save How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb (Remastered 20th Anniversary) editions and How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb (Re-Assemble Edition) here.

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