U2 have announced a new album of “reimagined and rerecorded” songs that will be released on St Patrick’s Day.
In a letter to fans the band′s guitarist, The Edge, says they had been looking at bringing their old tracks into the present day with a 21st-century reimagining. “When a song becomes well known, it’s always associated with a particular voice. I can’t imagine Tangled Up in Blue without the reedy timbre of Bob Dylan or All the Time in the World without the unique voice of Louis Armstrong,” he writes. “So what happens when a voice develops and experience and maturity give it additional resonance?”
Most of U2′s songs, he adds, were “written and recorded when we were a bunch of very young men”, and the songs have changed to “mean something quite different to us now. Some have grown with us, some we have outgrown, but we have not lost sight of what propelled us to write those songs in the first place. The essence of those songs is still in us. But how to reconnect with that essence when we have moved on and grown so much?”
He explains, “Once we surrendered our reverence for the original version, each song started to open up to a new authentic voice of this time, of the people we are now, and particularly the singer that Bono has become. I hope you like our new direction.”
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The band confirmed on Twitter that they will be releasing the 40-track album, called Songs of Surrender, on March 17th. A teaser video included with the post includes a new version of Beautiful Day, their 2000 hit single.
The new album, whose announcement was reported by NME, follows the publication of Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story, a memoir by the band’s frontman, Bono. There is speculation that the songs that feature in the book, which Bono turned into a stage show that he performed in Dublin in November, could indicate which tracks will feature on the upcoming release.
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