U2 have described How to Re-Assemble an Atomic Bomb, their new B-side collection, as a “shadow album” of “unreleased gems”. It’s certainly far sparklier than their freshly remastered edition of How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, the bombastic tour-de-force that turns 20 this year.
How to Re-Assemble captures the band in forward motion, trying new things and unafraid of making mistakes. That’s in contrast to the more official version of the group that we hear on Atomic Bomb proper – the sound of musicians seemingly terrified of forsaking their biggest-band-in-the-world status and so playing it safe to a fault.
Looser and more experimental, the new compilation pings cheerfully between classic U2 moments such as Picture of You and I Don’t Wanna See You Smile and the wigged-out curios Treason and Evidence of Life, where Bono embarks with notable chipperness on a new career as keyboardist.
As is inevitable with out-take albums, it’s a bit glued together and rough at the edges, but even U2 agnostics will find lots to like about tunes that are concerned with artistic expression rather than giving the vast U2 audience more of what it likes. Hold on to your mirror shades and the tiny beanie hat you’re under no circumstances removing for a track-by-track breakdown.
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1: Picture of You (X+W)
The making of Atomic Bomb was a drawn-out process even by the standards of U2, whose albums tend to come together first slowly and then in a scramble for the finish line. A case in point is Picture of You. Written because Bono wanted the words “How to dismantle an atomic bomb” to feature somewhere on the LP of the same name, Picture of You was initially called Xanax & Wine, then rerecorded as Fast Cars and bunged on Atomic Bomb as a bonus cut. This version catches the composition mid-evolution: it’s nearly a minute longer than the final edit, and Edge’s guitar has more bite. It’s still a great song, Bono’s vocal zoning in with relish on its catchy “All I want is a picture of you” hook.
2: Evidence of Life
A thumping bass gives way to a psychedelic keyboard played by Bono, followed by the Edge’s “depressed Bee Gees” backing vocals. Evidence of Life is great fun – a contrast with the lugubrious tone of How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. The bridge features spiky guitar from the Edge, although U2 lose momentum as they slow down for an undercooked Bono chorus (“We need evidence of ... liiiiife). Edge rescues it with his gorgeous falsetto, helping the melody really take off in its final 30 seconds.
3: Luckiest Man in the World
The guitar at the start sounds like The Killers’ Mr Brightside (released the previous year), but the soaring spirit of Luckiest Man in the World is 100 per cent Joshua Tree and U2’s spiritual-but-somehow-not-preachy pomp. The song has had a long and complicated history: initially titled Mercy, it was among several tracks that leaked in 2004; originally pencilled in as Atomic Bomb’s closer, it was then ditched for length reasons. Retitled Luckiest Man in the World and trimmed by 20 seconds or so, it’s in the tradition of U2 anthems celebrating love and resilience and steeped in the sacramental imagery that is a Bono speciality (“I was drinking some wine, and it turned to blood / what’s the use of religion if you’re already good?”).
4: Treason
A veer into left field with this trip-hop-fuelled number that has its origins in a session featuring Bono, Dave Stewart of Eurythmics and the former NWA beatmaster and gangsta-rap icon Dr Dre at Dre’s studio in Los Angeles. Treason is a rumpled call back to the wonky dance music of U2’s 1997 Pop era – a once-scorned chapter in the band’s history that fans have recently come back around to. With its satisfyingly shuffling groove and funky guitar, the song would have stood out on the sombre Atomic Bomb like a clown suit at a wake.
5: I Don’t Wanna See You Smile
A cause celebre for some U2 fans, this track was originally called Smile and released in a digital box set bundled with Apple’s U2 edition iPod from 2004. It’s an epic belter with a great shimmering Edge riff, lashings of acoustic guitar and Bono’s cracking-with-emotion voice – a power ballad to remind the world why U2 meant so much to so many for so long.
6: Country Mile
U2 go epic with a blistering opening guitar and Bono and Edge’s intermingled voices on a gospel-style chorus. This song, believed to have been extensively rerecorded for the 2024 reissue, sparkles with life. After several years in the songwriting doldrums, and coming off an acclaimed residency at the Las Vegas Sphere, U2 are perhaps set to soar again.
7: Happiness
In 2003 Franz Ferdinand and Futureheads were reviving the taut pop-funk of Talking Heads and Gang of Four, and U2 were taking notes. Behold the band’s “landfill indie” moment as Bono barks out “Yeah, yeah, yeah” and the Edge sets controls for the heart of the student disco. It’s fine, but other artists have done it so much better.
8: Are You Gonna Wait Forever?
U2 go shoegaze with big billowing guitars and an instrumental hook that sounds like a cousin twice removed of the goth-pop classic She Sells Sanctuary, by The Cult. Far too glammy to have sat comfortably with the pensive Atomic Bomb – though a bauble fans will be delighted to discover.
9: Theme from The Batman
Bono and Edge would stumble into a $75 million omnishambles when scoring the disastrous 2010 Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark. Several years earlier, Edge was already fine-tuning his superhero chops with the theme to the 2008 Batman cartoon. Notably understated, it resembles a moody art-pop remake of the “Na-na-na ... Batman!” banger from the 1960s – and is precisely the sort of weird widget you’d expect to find wedged down the back of an odds’n’sods anniversary compilation.
10: All Because of You 2
The original All Because of You, the fourth and final single from Atomic Bomb, divides U2 fans to this day: many regard it as too mawkish even by the band’s standards. There is some interesting course correction on this beefier take, which upholsters the yodelling vocals with crunching guitars and a rumbling rhythm section. Bono does sound as if he’d rather be sermonising than singing – but, for neither the first nor the last time, his bandmates rescue him from his worst instincts.
