They are one of the richest bands on the planet, but it seems U2 still haven't found enough of the green stuff to keep them happy.
The millionaire supergroup was last night accused of pulling a "con" by selling their fans re-packaged, re-mastered and re-released albums that are on offer for as much as €50.
The band has just launched new versions of their first three classic albums: 'Boy', 'October' and 'War'.
The albums are available in basic one-disc editions priced at €12.99, a "deluxe" two-disc set with "b-sides, live tracks and rarities" for €29.99, and a 'Boy' box set, which contains a "deluxe" CD and a t-shirt and costs €49.99.
The three re-released U2 albums are also available on vinyl. And some of the "rarities" on the deluxe, second CDs are re-worked versions of old fan favourites.
Of the 12 songs on the second disc of 'War', over half are remixes, with three new workings of 'Two Hearts Beat As One' and four of the classic 'New Year's Day'.
Despite the fact that the band says all three albums have been re-mastered and brushed up from audio tapes that are over 25 years old, music fans yesterday criticised what they saw as the latest big-name music rip-off.
"That's a rip-off, definitely a rip-off," said Jamie Farley, from Enniskillen. "I wouldn't buy it because it was a different version. If it was out years ago and I bought it then, I definitely wouldn't buy it now."
And even die-hard fans were left disillusioned by what they saw as a new attempt at "cashing in" on old material.
"Basically, I'm a bit disappointed because I think it's a con," said a "major" U2 fan who did not wish to be named. "As a big fan, I don't see what the point or the bonus is in buying it. I think it's a money spinner. Re-mastered means nothing, really," he continued.
"I'm a musician and I make records; and re-mastered, to the average punter, means sweet FA.
"If you're sitting in Windmill Lane studios and you have the speakers at full blare, of course you're going to hear a difference, but if you play it on the car stereo or at home, the average Joe won't know the difference."
The original versions of the three albums were pulled from shelves earlier this year and the band have already released a re-mastered version of 'The Joshua Tree' -- the only copies of which left in stock in HMV on Grafton Street, Dublin, now sell for €40.
"It's typical marketing," said Scheherezade Suria from Barcelona. "Most bands repackage the CDs and sell them off. I didn't know U2 did it but I'm not surprised."
However, sales of the re-packaged albums were reported to be brisk at the Dublin store yesterday.
"Combined, the three albums are our best seller today," said assistant manager Chris Keena. "That's the way a lot of artists are re-releasing stuff now. They release a greatest hits collection with an extra track."
haha the old Belfast Telegraph. Always critical of all things Irish and U2. They have a case to argue I suppose, especially with that War disc. It's only a 'rip off' and a money spinner if you buy the fecking things so why buy if your'e just gonna cry
i was just reading one of the newests news stories about how u2 is being "greedy" by re-releasing their first 3 albums..
WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE PEOPLE TALKING ABOUT???
U2 is simply giving people a choice, they can either buy them or not. U2 has made some incredible music. They chose this path of career not only to make great music but to also make a living... some people have to make a living you know lol.
I just don't see how people bash u2 for putting these CDs out. If these three CDs sell 100000 copies in each country I believe it will still be seen as a huge success. ANDDDDD... Thirty years from now (if and when technology advances) if I were u2, I'd re-issue AGAIN!
It's like Coca-cola.. They sell millions and millions but noone bashes them for continuing to make more and more and more for over 50 something years.. move on
I just read somewhere that the Japanese deluxe version of Boy has two tracks not seen on any of the other editions, 'Bad Weed Blues' and 'Side Split'.
...if anyone has them, could he/she be so kind and send me a pm ?
I don't think that these tracks exist. From what I've seen so far, the Japan release is identical to the rest of the world. I think this is an error on HMV Japan...
It's like Coca-cola.. They sell millions and millions but noone bashes them for continuing to make more and more and more for over 50 something years.. move on
Indeed, but Coca-Cola don't, I guess, announce re-releases or a new design for the label on the bottle or the can lol...
...I'm not complaining though, I'll probably get hold of the remasters if I get the chance (i.e. money permitting), but I'm not gonna have a go at the band - they make their money from the fans etc. buying their music and their albums, and you could argue with them talking about the upcoming album being different to anything they've done before, they could just be trying to bring their old stuff back to the fore beforehand to perhaps attract new fans in who are only aware of recent stuff like Beautiful Day and Vertigo, before blowing the world away again
They're not forcing anyone to buy it for heaven's sake, so if you don't wanna buy it for whatever reason, don't!
Okay..
The track Angels Too Tied To the Ground. What gives? That's not a War era Bono singing. Sounds like an outatke from myabe post Joshua Tree. What's it doing on the War deluxe?
I find it very frustrating that there are no linwer notes on this song.... Isn't that weird?
The song isn't even mentioned in the booklet at all ! very strange....
I'm not really too bothered if they're money grabbing or whatever. At the end of the day, it's something nice to have in your collection (especially if you get one of the special ones). In that article, the 'major' U2 fan sound a bit of a idiot. I mean, any die hard U2 fan would want to get his hands on whatever he could, wouldn't he?
At least this comes 25 years or more after the original release. Nobody complains when Timbaland or Akon re-release their brand new album after about 7 months with some pathetic little thing added. Suddenly one of the biggest bands in the world releases a remastered version of an early 80's album with a bonus CD (and other things elsewhere) and everyone claims them to be greedy.
Suddenly one of the biggest bands in the world releases a remastered version of an early 80's album with a bonus CD (and other things elsewhere) and everyone claims them to be greedy.
Not fair.
Only the Belfast Telegraph is criticising them, and following Gerard's post, they're always negative.
I finally listened to October in all its remastered glory (as I misplaced it so many times and could never find it). And it seems October benefits the most.
Really? I loved the extra treatment that tracks like I Will Follow, An Cat Dubh and Out of Control get. I'll give October another listen.
statistics There are currently 4,714 topics started on the forums with over 205,245 messages.
More than 13,109 fans are a member of U2start. The average age of the U2start users is 29, only users who submitted their age are included in this figure.
new fan around us The most recent fan who registered is named BonoVox93, welcome to U2start BonoVox93! As a new user you can introduce yourself in the Welcome to U2start y'all forum.
fan of the month Every month we put an U2 fan in the spotlights, the fan of this month is user Ali709. Every fan of the month has an interview with us, you can read our interview with Ali709 here.
latest site news Jeremy, known as haytrain here, is the latest addition to the U2start crew. Jeremy will be a crew member specialised in bootlegs, he will mainly work on maintaining our bootleg collection, making it even better, more r.. (read more)
bootleg of the month Every month we have a bootleg in the spotlights, the current one took place on 2005-05-18 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. You can download this bootleg, read reviews or write your own review here. You can also join the discussion on this bootleg in our forums.
high resolution photos We have 696 high resolution U2 photos available for you, the biggest photo collection you will find. The latest photo we've added is 'October'.
did you know? One night during the Achtung Baby recordings the band were struggling with a track called "Ultra Violet", The Edge came up with two possible parts which sounded both pretty good. They decided to put them together and there suddenly was the song "One", recorded completely in the following couple of hours.
popular songs Where The Streets Have No Name is the most-requested song from the song pages and quite popular. According to the favorite song lists of our users, Bad is the all-time favorite song.
popular concerts According to our user reviews, 1987-07-08 - Brussels, Belgium is the best bootleg we have in our collection. Our users also think that 1993-08-28 - Dublin, Ireland was a great concert since it appears the most in the list of favorite concerts.
news headlines We cover the news of many international U2 websites including U2.com, the most popular headline in the last two weeks was 'U2 fans queue in mysterious ways' from atu2.com.
"With Or Without You, it's a great single.. God almight, I hope it get's into the Top 10, I really do. It's a classic 45."
- Bono
