U2 Releasing 'How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb' Shadow Album

To mark the 20th anniversary of U2’s critically-acclaimed eight-time Grammy-winning album How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb, Interscope Records has announced the release of a shadow album titled How To Re-Assemble An Atomic Bomb, which includes new, unreleased songs discovered in the archive of the original album recording sessions. Set for a standalone release on November 29th 2024, 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, as well as a time of deep personal and artistic reflection following the passing of Bono’s father Bob in 2001. This special 20th anniversary edition – out November 22nd - will include the bonus track ‘Fast Cars’. See below for a complete list of formats. How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb (Re-Assemble Edition) – featuring both How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb + How To Re-Assemble An Atomic Bomb - will be available as a dual digital release on November 22nd.

The Edge said of How To Re-Assemble An Atomic Bomb – “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. 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 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 - which now gets its official release; as well as five newly remastered songs - ‘Picture Of You (X+W)’, ‘I Don't Wanna See You Smile’, ‘Are We Gonna Wait Forever?’, ‘Theme From The Batman’ and ‘All Because Of You 2’ - all collected together for the first time to mark the 20th anniversary of ‘How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb’.

How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb is U2’s eleventh studio album. Released by Island Records / Interscope on November 22nd 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 11 tracks included the songs ‘Vertigo’ and ‘Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own’, both of which debuted at No. 1 in the UK charts, the first time a U2 album produced two chart topping singles. How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb and its singles won a total of eight Grammy Awards, sweeping all of the categories in which the band were nominated, with ‘Vertigo’ alone winning three in 2005, including Best Rock Song. The band were the night’s big winners in 2006, taking home the Grammy for Album of the Year, as well as Song of the Year for ‘Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own’ and Best Rock Song for ‘City of Blinding Lights’, with Steve Lilywhite also winning Producer of the Year. 

How To Re-Assemble An Atomic Bomb Tracklisting

1.       Picture Of You (X+W)

2.       Evidence Of Life

3.       Luckiest Man In The World

4.       Treason

5.       I Don't Wanna See You Smile

6.       Country Mile

7.       Happiness

8.       Are We Gonna Wait Forever?

9.       Theme From The Batman

10.     All Because Of You 2

How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb 20th Anniversary Reissue Tracklisting

1.       Vertigo         

2.       Miracle Drug

3.       Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own                     

4.       Love and Peace or Else   

5.       City of Blinding Lights                     

6.       All Because of You           

7.       A Man and a Woman                      

8.       Crumbs from Your Table                

9.       One Step Closer    

10.     Original of the Species      

11.     Yahweh

12.     Fast Cars

The remastered How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb (20th Anniversary Edition) will be released in the following formats on November 22nd: Vinyl 8LP Super Deluxe Collectors Boxset (Limited Edition); Vinyl 2LP; Exclusive D2C 2LP Black & Red Ink Spot Vinyl (Limited Edition); 5CD Super Deluxe Collectors Boxset (Limited Edition); CD; and Exclusive Red & Black Cassette (Limited Edition). The digital releases include HTDAAB remastered (12 tracks); and HTDAAB & HTRAAB (22 tracks). How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb (Re-Assemble Edition) – featuring both How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb + How To Re-Assemble An Atomic Bomb - will be available as a dual digital release on November 22nd.

How To Re-Assemble An Atomic Bomb will be exclusively available in physical format for Record Store Day Black Friday as a Limited Edition Black & Red Marble 1LP Vinyl; and as a standalone 10 track digital release. Out November 29th.

Photo credit: Anton Corbijn

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