U2 - The Europa EP (2019) [24bi FLAC]

“The Europa EP” is a three track EP released by U2 for Record Store Day 2019. The EP is a mix of live tracks and remixes, and according to the Record Store Day site, is limited to 5000 copies. The same number was produced for the “Lights of Home” single, and it is less than the 7000 copies produced for “Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me.”

The EP opens with the “Love is All We Have Left” opener used in Europe on the Experience + Innocence tour, overlaid with Charlie Chaplin’s speech from The Great Dictator. This is mixed seamlessly with a live version of “New Year’s Day” recorded in Dublin on November 5, 2018. The second side of the release contains the St Francis Hotel Remix of “New Year’s Day” (the studio version of the mix that inspired the version played live featured on the A-Side) and the Jon Pleased Wimmin Euromantic Mix of “Love is All We Have Left.”

We shared the news of this EP on January 4, 2019. The official announcement of the release was part of the 2019 Record Store Day announcement on February 28, 2019 at 11am Eastern time. The formal announcement read, ““U2 present the The Europa EP: Side A features the previously unreleased opening from the recent eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE European Tour – Charlie Chaplin’s final speech from the movie The Great Dictator, underscored with a unique musical mash up of ‘Love Is All We Have Left’ with 1993 classic ‘Zooropa’ – which leads into a ‘live’ performance of New Year’s Day from Dublin in November 2018. Side B has two ‘Euro’-tinged remixes: St. Francis Hotel’s mix of ‘New Year’s Day’ and Jon Pleased Wimmin’s Euromantic mix of ‘Love Is All We Have Left’. The artwork is an eXPERIENCED Chaplinesque homage to the artwork of the Zooropa Album.”

The EP was be limited to 5000 copies (according to the US Record Store Day site), the same number that was produced for “Lights of Home” and slightly less than “Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me”. The vinyl is on 180 gram black vinyl, and has an embossed cover. It includes a four page colour insert with lyrics and credits, plus an added sticker sheet, which will be 5.8-inch x 8.25-inch sized (148mm x 210mm). The marketing stickers on the release feature both the Record Store Day logo as well as the “Chaplin 130” logo which celebrates the 130th birthday of Charlie Chaplin on April 16, 2019. The logo features Chaplin’s name, with a large 130 below, and the 0 is done to look like Chaplin with his recognizable mustache and hat. The item is not individually numbered.

The European leg of the eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE tour saw “New Year’s Day” replace “American Soul” as the centerpiece of the tour, where a large European Union flag is draped behind the stage. Bono used the song to talk about unity, the European Union, and the pending Brexit changes to that union. The opening track on the EP, which features the instrumentation of the song “Zooropa”, and lyrics from “Love is All We Have Left” played as a video displayed images of conflict throughout Europe from World War II onward, and featured a voice over by Charlie Chaplin taken from the movie The Great Dictator. Bono throughout the show also spoke of Europe in his introductions to “Acrobat” while playing the character MacPhisto, in the beatitudes that followed “Get Out of Your Own Way,” and even in his opening to “City of Blinding Lights” where he hums the “Anthem of Europe,” taken from “Ode to Joy” from Beethoven’s 9th Symphony.

The B-Side of the EP features two remixes of U2 tracks, the first is a studio remix of “New Year’s Day” that was used to build the version played in concert, but regular collaborators St Francis Hotel. The other remix is a remix of “Love is All We Have Left” by Jon Pleased Wimmen titled the “Euromantic Mix”. St Francis Hotel has been working with U2 for a while now, as we detailed in our article, St Francis Hotel and “One Tree Hill”. Jon Pleased Wimmim, aka Jon Cooper is a UK DJ who first started DJing in 1991. Jon Pleased has called the song a “space age lullaby” and has thanked Gavin Friday for “hooking me up.”

The cover of the EP features scenes that were shown on the screen during the opening of the concert while the mash up of “Love is All We Have Left” and “Zooropa” played. These are overlaid with the European flag, blue with yellow stars. Chaplin’s image taken from The Great Dictator is at the centre of the images. The 9×9 grid in the design recalls the similar 9×9 grid that was used for the album Zooropa, which also featured the ring of yellow stars. The label will feature the same image of Chaplin as the cover, but on a red, white and black label.

At this point we do not have any information on a digital release of these tracks. U2 has not included a download card in any of their Record Store Day related releases since “Ordinary Love.” But items like “Red Hill Mining Town” and the Beck Remix of “Lights Of Home” were put onsale in online shops in the days following the Record Store Day event. However, the most recent release, “Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me” did not include a digital download, and has not been placed on sale in digital storefronts. We can confirm there is no download card with this release, but will share any news about a digital format if that information becomes available.

Along with the vinyl, U2.Com also offered some exclusive merchandise in their shop to tie in with this release. Three different screen prints were produced, and three different T-Shirts. In each case these prints and shirts are limited to 150 pieces.