U2 have announced a new compilation album of “reimagined and re-recorded” tracks, called Songs Of Surrender.
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The announcement follows fans being sent letters from the band’s guitarist The Edge teasing the new project.
In the letters, the musician told fans: “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. So what happens when a voice develops and experience and maturity give it additional resonance?”
The Edge continued to explain that most of U2’s work “was written and recorded when we were a bunch of very young men” and that the songs had changed over the years to “mean something quite different to us now”. “Some have grown with us,” he wrote. “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?”
Letters from the Edge announcing "Songs of Surrender" have started to appear. See the story here: https://t.co/i1xnQuNrxO
(Many thanks to @daniDpVox and @U2360gradi for sharing!) pic.twitter.com/4jyBmJPaT9— U2Songs.com (@u2songs) January 9, 2023
He added that the band had imagined bringing their old songs into the present day and giving them “a 21st-century reimagining”. “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,” he wrote. “I hope you like our new direction.”
The band have now confirmed the new record, Songs Of Surrender, in a post on their social media accounts. It will feature 40 songs from across their career “reimagined and re-recorded” and will be released on March 17, 2023. An accompanying teaser video has also been released, soundtracked by a new version of their 2000 hit single “Beautiful Day”. Watch it below now.
Songs Of Surrender. 40 Songs. Reimagined and rerecorded. March 17, 2023. #U2SOS40 pic.twitter.com/QmdJ7NIAus
— U2 (@U2) January 10, 2023
Although a tracklist is yet to be confirmed, the songs U2 have re-recorded could be the same as the tracks included in Bono’s 2022 book Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story. The memoir explored the origins of 40 key songs from the band’s discography.
The frontman is also set to embark on a residency at New York’s Beacon Theatre this spring in support of Surrender and described as evenings of “words, music and some mischief”. He previously held a 14-city book tour across the UK, Europe and Ireland.