How many unreleased songs does the band have?

[yenlard]

I'm wondering how many songs the band has in its catalog that have never been released due to whatever reason. I'm not talking about partial songs or jams with bono ad libbing some words. I'm thinking about songs that are basically complete and were never put on a album. it would seem there would be many songs out there, but who knows. would the band likely release this material on an inevitable boxed set?

 

[Axver]

The following is a list exclusively of songs for which studio versions exist in circulation but were never put on an album. I am NOT including those from iTunes' Unreleased & Rare since they are now officially released. There are other unreleased songs that the band solely played live or in soundchecks, or that we know were recorded in studio but which are not in circulation. Can list those if you want.

This is off memory, so apologies for any omissions.

Pre-Boy:
Inside Out
Jack In A Box
Tonight
Trevor
False Prophet
Lost On A Silent Planet
Alone In The Light
The Dream Is Over
(plus numerous unreleased demos of Boy songs)

Post-Boy
Be There (1982)
Untitled UF Instrumental (aka Flicker And Fade, 1984)
Seven 30 second snippets of JT sessions songs (one is Rise Up, two are early versions of Walk To The Water and Race Against Time)
She's A Mystery To Me (1987)
Wild Irish Rose (1988)
The complete songs on Axtung Beibi (1990)
Mercy (2004)

And even though it was just played live, I must not neglect to mention that immortal unreleased U2 epic from 1986 ... yes, I'm talking about WOMANFISH.

 

[chocky]

If U2 wanted to milk it, I'd say they could easily issue a 4 CD set with unreleased/alternate tracks something akin to Nirvana's With the Lights Out or Simple Minds' Silver Box.

As well as the stuff Axver mentioned there is:
- a track called 'Poison Glen' that was left off Joshua Tree (recorded around the time of In a Lifetime with Clannad).
- the remaining tracks from A Clockwork Orange
- allegedly 2 songs were recorded with Ollie Olsen in 1989 (during the late night session that gave us the Echo Homo collaboration 'New York, New York')
- several versions of 'Goldeneye' exist (in MacPhisto guise)
- 'We Almost Made it This Time' and 'She's Gonna Blow Your House Down' 1988 versions (being demoed in the outtakes from Rattle & Hum)
- the remaining Rick Rubin and Chris Hughes recordings
- the Spiderman stuff (if it never gets released)
- the long version of 'Van Dieman's Land'
- Bono singing 'The Wanderer'

And they must have a ton of other stuff they discarded along the way.

 

[last unicorn]

how many unreleased songs does the band have?

3251

 

[AndrewCowley]

Very few given how long they spend in the studio!!!

 

[kingofsorrow]

billions

 

[BVS]

Somewhere between 'more than we think' and 'less than Ryan Adams'.

 

[Zoo_Fly]

I always thought 'We(I) Love You', which was played in Antwerp during the Elevation Tour was originally written for ATYCLB or something to that effect. Or was that all just talk? It's been so long that my old noggin can't quite recall the facts properly. If it was in some sort of complete form, I'd say that qualifies just as much as some of the songs we've listed above.

 

[Niceman]

3251

I count 3252, but I count Heaven and Hell.....

 

[The_Edge89]

http://www.u2interference.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=96182