It's a beautiful day, or at least it will be on October 30, when U2 will celebrate the 20th anniversary of their acclaimed album All That You Can't Leave Behind.
It was the album that put the band back on the charts and heralded something of a return to form after some experimental excursions in the mid-to-late '90s. The Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno-produced album won seven Grammy Awards including Best Rock Album, Song of the Year ("Beautiful Day") and, for the only time in history, two consecutive Record of the Year nods ("Beautiful Day" in 2001 and "Walk On" in 2002). "Beautiful, Day," "Elevation," "Stuck in a Moment That You Can't Get Out Of" and "Walk On" all became sizable worldwide hits, all reaching the Top 5 in the U.K. (with the first three going straight to No. 1 in their native Ireland), and All That You Can't Leave Behind remains one of their biggest-selling albums.
For its anniversary, the album has been remastered and expanded as a 5-CD affair that includes nearly every contemporaneous release from the period, though comparatively little previously unreleased content. This super deluxe set also features 19 tracks across two discs from the Live From Boston, recorded at the Fleet Center during the Elevation Tour and previously only available on DVD.
The set also includes a disc of B-sides and session material, and a further disc of hard-to-find or unreleased remixes. Among these bonus tracks are "Levitate," Flower Child," and "Love You Like Mad," three tracks that make their wide-release physical media debut here. Prior to this set, they were only available on an iTunes-exclusive bonus album or a fan club-only CD pressing of that collections. The new 20th Anniversary box set will also feature the soundtrack stray cut "Stateless," and a wealth of non-album tracks, including the Johnny Cash cover "Don't Take Your Guns To Town."
As we've come to expect from U2, the design of the box promises to be impressive. The package includes a hardback collection of Anton Corbijn photographs entitled Walk On: A Travelogue by Anton Corbijn with handwritten notes by Corbijn; a booklet of photos, lyrics and credits; and a double-sided poster - all housed in a deluxe slipcase.
U2 will also release the 20th anniversary set in a number of other formats. For the casual listener, there will be standalone 1-CD and 2-LP configurations that feature the new remaster with the bonus track "The Ground Beneath Her Feet." A 2-CD deluxe edition will pair the remastered album and "Ground" with 13 selected (and sometimes edited) highlights from the Boston show. The 11-LP super deluxe set contains all the material from the 5-CD, presented in eight sleeves: one for the remastered album, another for the B-Sides and Demos disc, and a further one for the 19-track Boston set. The remixes will be spread across 5 discs, each in its own sleeve. A digital download card will also be enclosed.
To preview the box set, U2 has released a special acoustic version of "Stuck In A Moment That You Can't Get Out Of." You can listen here and keep scrolling for pre-order links and full track listings for all the configurations.
U2, All That You Can't Leave Behind: 20th Anniversary Edition (Island/UMe, 2020)
1-CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Your Local Record Shop
2-LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Your Local Record Shop
2-CD Deluxe: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Your Local Record Shop
5-CD Super Deluxe: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Your Local Record Shop
11-LP Super Deluxe: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Your Local Record Shop
Disc 1: Original album remastered (originally released as Island CD CIDU-212, 2000)
- Beautiful Day
- Stuck In a Moment You Can't Get Out Of
- Elevation
- Walk On
- Kite
- In a Little While
- Wild Honey
- Peace On Earth
- When I Look At The World
- New York
- Grace
- The Ground Beneath Her Feet
Track 12 originally released on Japanese, Australian, Irish, and U.K. pressings
Disc 2: B-Sides and Demos
- Levitate
- Summer Rain
- Stateless
- Always
- Love You Like Mad
- Big Girls Are Best
- Don't Take Your Guns To Town (A Tribute To Johnny Cash, Dublin / 1999)
- Stuck In a Moment You Can't Get Out Of (Acoustic Version)
- Flower Child
Tracks 1, 5, and 9 released on digital compilation Unreleased & Rare, a part of the iTunes release Digital Box Set: The Complete U2, Island Records, 2004. Re-released on fan club-exclusive album Medium, Rare & Remastered, U2DotCom CD U2.com-4, 2009
Tracks 2 and 4 originally released on Beautiful Day, Island Records CD single CID-766, 2000
Track 3 originally released on The Million Dollar Hotel (Music From the Motion Picture), Island Records CD CID-8094, 2000
Track 6 originally released on Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of, Island Records CD single CIDX-770, 2000
Track 7 originally released on Elevation, Island Records CD single CIDX-780, 2000
Track 8 originally released on Walk On, Island CD single, CIDX-788, 2000
Discs 3 and 4: Live From The Fleet Center, Boston, MA, USA - 2001
* track is included on 2CD edition
** edited track is included on 2CD edition
- Elevation *
- Beautiful Day **
- Until The End Of The World
- Stuck In a Moment You Can't Get Out Of **
- Kite **
- Gone
- New York
- I Will Follow **
- Sunday Bloody Sunday **
- In a Little While
- Desire *
- Stay (Faraway, So Close!) *
- Bad/"40" *
- Where The Streets Have No Name **
- Bullet The Blue Sky
- With Or Without You **
- The Fly **
- Wake Up Dead Man
- Walk On **
Discs 3-4 released on DVD as Elevation 2001 / U2 Live From Boston, Island Records 586-543-9, 2001.
Disc 5: Remixes (*previously unreleased)
- Elevation (Paul Van Dyk Remix)
- Elevation (Influx Remix)
- New York (Carnegie's Deli Remix) *
- New York (Superman Kicks Ativan Remix) *
- Beautiful Day (Quincey & Sonance Remix)
- Beautiful Day (The Perfecto Mix)
- In A Little While (Nightmares On Wax Remix)
- Walk On (Wyclef Jean Remix) *
- When I Look At The World (Picante Remix) *
- Elevation (Escalation Mix)
- Elevation (Quincey & Sonance Remix)
Track 1 originally released on Elevation (Paul Van Dyk Remixes), Island Records 12" single 12-ELE-2, 2001
Tracks 2, 10, and 11 originally released on Elevation, Island Records CD single CIDZ-780, 2001
Tracks 5 and 6 originally released on Beautiful Day (Remixes), Interscope Records 12" single INTR-10254-1, 2000
Track 7 originally released on Cafe del mar: The Best of -- Compiled by Jose Padilla, Cafe del mar Music CD 01-2003-28, 2003
Jim says
This album hasn't aged well, at least for me, Bono started his talk-singing here & never looked back! The live tracks may be worth streaming but that's about it.
Randy says
Love this band, and I have a soft spot for this album. I worked at PolyGram/Universal when it was released. However, the price is a little steep for what you get. There's just not enough material, or at least truly unearthed material to justify the cost. For that price it should come with some sort of video content. After ordering the Prince, Bob Mould, New Order, The Replacements, and Rolling Stones (Steel Wheels Live), I can't bring myself to pay up for this.
Curiously the upcoming sets for Tears For Fears, Shania Twain, and now U2 are all from Universal, and all these artists were very visual with plenty of content that can be added to enhance these sets. Feels like a misstep to omit the video content.
Guy Smiley says
Given the Universal fire, I’m surprised there’s this much material around to release at all.
Will the live tracks all be unedited on the 5 CD set? Not sure I really need this, but I am at least tempted. Only if the live stuff is unedited on the big box though.
Sam Stone says
Hi there, Guy. Thanks for reading! Yes, the 5-CD will have the more complete 19-track set with the same track listing as the old DVD released in 2001 (it's worth noting, though, that U2 played other songs on their Boston 2001 run that aren't present on the DVD or in the box).
Here are the track lengths for the tracks in the 5-CD, according to U2Songs:
1. Elevation (05:09)
2. Beautiful Day (04:43)
3. Until the End of the World (05:15)
4. Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of (05:40)
5. Kite (05:25)
6. Gone (04:55)
7. New York (05:51)
8. I Will Follow (05:59)
9. Sunday Bloody Sunday (07:23)
10. In A Little While (06:54)
11. Desire (03:06)
12. Stay (Faraway, So Close!) (04:50)
13. Bad (06:22)
14. Where the Streets Have No Name (06:31)
15. Bullet the Blue Sky (06:18)
16. With or Without You (05:31)
17. The Fly (07:55)
18. Wake Up Dead Man (01:25)
19. Walk On (06:38)
The sequence on the second disc of the 2-CD set omits tracks 3, 6, 7, 10, 15, and 18. And these are the track lengths according to U2Songs:
1. Elevation (05:09)
2. Beautiful Day (04:46)*
3. Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of (04:47)*
4. Kite (05:22)*
5. I Will Follow (05:09)*
6. Sunday Bloody Sunday (08:05)*
7. Desire (03:06)
8. Stay (Faraway, So Close!) (04:50)
9. Bad (06:22)
10. Where the Streets Have No Name (06:06)*
11. With or Without You (05:28)*
12. The Fly (07:22)*
13. Walk On (06:37)*
JB says
Dumb that Pride and Mysterious Ways are still not on this release. Both played and the original show and cut from the DVD. That would have been a good reason to get this. Incomplete live shows make no sense.