Original Story by Aaron J. Sams (2024-11-07)
For those who have been asking about the radio edits of the newly released demo songs, good news! It appears that these will be released as a commercial offering via Apple Music.
A two track single is being made available on November 8, 2024. It will contain “Country Mile” (Radio Edit) (04:39) and “Picture of You (X+W)” (03:05). Through Apple Music, the two songs in their album versions were only available when pre-ordering the full album. This is the first time they have been released as a separate standalone single.
IMAGE: Single (Radio Edits, 2024)
These edited versions are the versions being heard on radio worldwide, including the band’s own station on SiriusXM, and were used for the first play on RTE.
The “Country Mile” edit is about 20 seconds shorter than the album version, and the radio edit of “Picture of You (X+W)” is about a minute and 13 seconds shorter than the original.
The radio edits will also be available on other digital storefronts beyond Apple Music, but may not be available on every service.
Radio Edits have been around forever, usually sent out to radio stations in the past via vinyl releases, or later on CD. These days, these files are sent to radio stations direct in electronic format, so it is hard for fans to track down a copy.
Didn’t see a listening party in your area? We are told that a few additional listening parties are likely to be announced soon. Keep an eye open. If we get confirmation of anything we’ll pass it along on our social media channels. Keep an eye on X, Facebook, Threads, and Bluesky.
One event has already been announced by Universal in Australia outside of those announced by U2.Com recently.
This year is the 40th anniversary of Band Aid getting together to record the original version of “Do They Know it’s Christmas?” which has gone on to be a Christmas classic. Over the years, new versions of the single were released, for the fifth anniversary, the 20th anniversary, and the 30th anniversary of the song. Bono has been involved in all but one of those, and Adam Clayton was part of the ensemble for that first performance.
The song was recorded on November 25, 1984, and released on December 10, 1984. This year to mark the 40th anniversary, a number of special programs are being prepared by the BBC.
- 2024-11-25 BBC Sounds on Radio 2: Do They Know it’s Christmas: The Song that Changed the World. (One hour radio documentary which looks at the original recording as well as the later versions of the song.)
- 2024-11-25 Zoe Ball Breakfast Show on Radio 2 (6:30-9:30am): Will feature a selection of guests who have been associated with Band Aid over the years, and interviewing listeners about their memories.
- 2024-11-25 Jeremy Vine on Radio 2 (12-2pm): More coverage of the anniversary, and the history of the song.
- 2024-12-01 Zoe Ball on on Radio 2 (12-1am): Do They Know it’s Christmas: The Song that Changed the World. (One hour radio documentary which looks at the original recording as well as the later versions of the song.)
Later in the week BBC Four and BBC iPlayer present a new 75-minute documentary, The Making of Do They Know It’s Christmas? filmed during the making of the song in London. It includes footage shot for the music video, as well as some new footage not before seen. It includes interview footage with Bono and others who participated in the recording session. The exact date has not yet been confirmed.
When the dates are confirmed we will add the television documentary into our calendar, and we are working to get the radio programs listed now. Our original discography entry for “Do They Know it’s Christmas?“ can be found here.
While on the subject of anniversaries the film Reality Bites is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. The film featuring Ben Stiller, Winona Ryder and Ethan Hawke featured a classic soundtrack that was a best selling album in that year. U2 were part of that release, contributing the song “All I Want is You” to the film and the soundtrack. U2 had previously released this single to radio in 1989.
Now for the 30th anniversary, a double LP set is coming out on November 22. The album will be pressed on black vinyl, and “All I Want is You” rounds out the end of the second side. Other tracks on the album include songs by Lisa Loeb and Nine Stories, Crowded House, Lenny Kravitz and World Party. Our discography entry for the original release of Reality Bites can be found here.
The release is on Sony Legacy and has the UPC 198028129916.
Another recent release is Andrea Bocelli’s Duets album. The release, celebrating the 30th anniversary of Bocelli’s first album is a multi-disc set, including new duets, and collecting older duets as well.
The collaboration with Bono here is an older song. Originally featured on his Cieli Di Toscana album in 2001, the song “L’Incontro” isn’t so much a duet as it is Bono introducing the song. Bono reads a spoken word piece over the introduction to the song, before the song kicks fully in. The poem was written by Bocelli for Bono to read. Bono’s poem was recorded at the same studio in Vienna, Austria that U2 were recording the acoustic version of “Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of” while on tour that year.
The mix here has had some tweaks made, but overall the edit is the same as the original. Our discography entry for the original release of “L’Incontro” on Cieli Di Toscana can be found here.
For those looking for a compilation including “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” there are a number of new ones out for this year:
- Now Presents…The 80s (5xLP, Various Colours of Vinyl, Sony / EMI, UK)
- Now That’s What I Call 80s (5xCD, Sony / EMI, UK / Ireland)
- The Very Best of Rock Christmas (4xLP, Various Colours of Vinyl, Polystar, Europe)
- Julemusik 2024 (2xLP, Snowflake Transparent Vinyl, Universal, Denmark)
- Now That’s What I Call Christmas (3xLP, Green Vinyl, Sony, Europe)
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