What they’ve done instead is offer fans a “digital box” (coming on 3 December) that includes Uber Remixes, Unter Remixes and B-Sides with “22 tracks never before available digitally”. THAT’S IT for physical editions.Īdmittedly, it’s hard to see how they can top the editions a decade ago (there was also a 6CD+4DVD super deluxe for around the £85 mark), but an obvious thing to do might have been to offer some of this content again, perhaps in a more compact and cheaper CD-based package. Although there is a blue & red limited edition variant with a slipcase. This time around there is a 2LP black vinyl edition of the album which comes with an eight-page booklet and a poster. The reason for mentioning this is because U2 have just announced some 30th anniversary editions of the Achtung Baby album and the contrast to the activity ten years ago is stark. The 2011 17-disc ‘über deluxe’ of U2’s Achtung Baby (click image to enlarge) Prices have risen over the years and there were never any real bargains available. The U2 über deluxe took longer to go out of print. Despite this, The Smiths box sold our very quickly (it was limited to 4000 units worldwide) and I never managed to get my hands on a copy (well I did briefly, under strict supervision in Warner’s offices!). That’s a lot of money for a music box set today, and ten years ago it seemed crazy. These box sets were released within one month of each other and both retailed at over £200 (The Smiths set was £220 and U2 was £260). Photo above taken by Paul Sinclair in 2011 at Warner’s London offices (click image to enlarge) The packaging was very over the top for the U2 set, with magnetic ’tiles’ on the top, hidden drawers, enamel badges, ‘The Fly’ sunglasses, numbered lithograph, copies of the Propaganda magazine and more. The latter was a 20th anniversary edition and contained six CDs, four DVDs, a 2LP version of the album and five singles pressed on transparent vinyl in special oversized wallets. One of these was The Smiths Complete – a gigantic box which contained eight CDs, 11 vinyl LPs and 25 seven-inch singles – and the other was the ‘über deluxe’ of U2’s 1991 album Achtung Baby. Although 2011 is probably best remembered as the year of Pink Floyd’s ‘Immersion’ box sets, there were two mega-boxes which were ahead of their time and helped define a new era of ‘super deluxe edition’ box sets.
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