Iris promo - is it real?

[sleus]

Hi all,

I came across this Iris promo cd. Don't own it myself though, so I'm not sure whether this is a cd or cd-r.
Please see the 2 attachments.
Does anyone know if it's legit?

best,
Alex

[morgan1098]

That has to be a bootleg. The band photo is from the NLOTH era. And since when are promos released as an "EU Special Edition"?

[bobni]

It's being sold at a Dutch eBay variant, look at the bids on the right side of the screen.
People are apparently willing to drop loads of money on a fake release!
http://www.marktplaats.nl/a/cd-s-en-dvd-s/cd-s-pop/m966194934-u2-iris-hold-me-close-3-track-promo-cdr.html?c=8c285449651fa109c354bbabe740c1b&previousPage=lr

I thought the Every Breaking Wave remixes promo was a strange release but this one's even weirder!

[Aaron]

It's fake.  All of these promos popping up are fakes.

The only promos (singles anyway) that I know about are the UK and France versions of Joey Ramone (France Only), Every Breaking Wave (UK and France) and Song for Someone (UK and France).  The others are all fake.  And because they are bringing such high prices, more and more people seem to be getting in on it and trying to get some interest.  Really getting frustrating.

[Aaron]

There's a third one as well.  On ebay all can be found being sold from one seller.  I put a picture up on twitter here which includes the third as well.  "Sleep Like a Baby (Sandstorm Mix)" SIGH. 

https://twitter.com/u2w/status/646459370482626560

[sleus]

Thanks for your opinion.
A lot of people seem to think this is legitimate, considering the amount of money they want to pay for it.

Regarding the homemade mixes: this reminds me a bit of the fruit bootlegs during Melon. Some were ok, most were awful.
In my opinion of course.

[bobni]

Aaron,
What about the Dutch promo's of Every Breaking Wave (the only one with the beach photograph) and The Miracle? Holland tends to get its own promo's sometimes or am I wrong?

[morgan1098]

It's also worth noting that the legitimate promos generally have boring track lists... maybe a radio edit or an album track. If I see promos with live tracks and numerous remixes that no one has ever heard of, that's a pretty good sign they're fake. I'm talkin' to you "Sleep Like a Baby (Sandstorm Mix)"!!!

[Aaron]

A huge part of the problem is the fact that the legitimate promos are few and far between, so to get them people have to jump quickly.  And are willing to pay large sums to do so.

These Mexican ones aren't the best done ones.  But the recent fakes claiming to be from the Netherlands (White CD in a slimline jewel case, with the ISRC numbers printed on the CD) are pretty good looking and hard to tell that they are fakes.  And there's some beautiful fakes out of Korea, that claim to be a EU pressed promo with a nice insert, etc.  Those CDs from the Netherlands looked pretty good and commanded a large price, but now they are showing up on ebay and none are getting close to the price as they once did.  Word is out that they are fakes, so no one is interested any more.  (I think I realized they were suspicious when an "Ordinary Love" promo came out almost a year after the single was promoted.  But probably should have been tipped off that the rights society was spelled wrong - an error they later fixed after I pointed it out on another forum!!)

[Brad]

FWIW, DJ Sandstorm is a real DJ. He did a pretty good, but unauthorized, remix of Electrical Storm years ago.

The remix of Sleep Like a Baby was actually done by DJ Sandstorm, also unauthorized I think. I assume whoever threw together this fake promo CD just ripped his remix off of YouTube.

http://www.djsandstorm.com/index.php/article/remix_u2_sleep_like_a_baby_sandstorm_drum_bass_mix

[Aaron]

That's the mix. 

[bobni]

A Dutch radio channel (3FM) has a weekly item in which DJ Sandstorm mixes a well known track. None of these remixes are official as it's only intended as an item for a specific radio show. Turning these remixes into promo cd's is just wrong........

Sandstorm is also responsible for the so called Yearmix where all the top (dance) tracks of a specific year are mixed into a one hour megamix. The megamix is only broadcasted through radio a couple of times at the end of the year but never gets an official cd/digital release due to copyright issues. Same goes for all the remixes he did on other 'loose' tracks throughout the year.

[morgan1098]

FWIW, DJ Sandstorm is a real DJ. He did a pretty good, but unauthorized, remix of Electrical Storm years ago.

The remix of Sleep Like a Baby was actually done by DJ Sandstorm, also unauthorized I think. I assume whoever threw together this fake promo CD just ripped his remix off of YouTube.

http://www.djsandstorm.com/index.php/article/remix_u2_sleep_like_a_baby_sandstorm_drum_bass_mix

Not to go off on a rabbit trail but this brings up a question that I've never seen a definitive answer to... Is the RAC Remix of "Magnificent" official?  Like DJ Sandstorm, RAC is a legitimate enterprise (they have a remix on New Order's new CD single), but as far as I know the Magnificent remix was only on the RAC web site for a while.

I think it's official in the sense that I don't think you can use Autotune to radically and convincingly alter vocals like that, to the point that the melody is completely different. And therefore I must assume that RAC was given access to an alternate vocal track. All just a theory, of course, but I'd love to know for sure.

[Brad]

I can't quote you a source right off hand, but the RAC remix was definitely commissioned and he had the individual song stems provided by the band to work with.

I have read a couple of interviews with him, and he has stated that he only does commissioned work and requires the bands to send him stems to build his mixes from. He did do a lot of pitch-bending with the vocal track.

I'm not sure how it worked out that he self-released the track rather than it ending up on a U2 single, but at least the band didn't tell him to bury it. It's certainly different from all of the dance remixes of Magnificent that were released.

[morgan1098]

Thanks Brad! That's what I figured. I wish it would have turned up on a CD single because it's certainly more interesting and enjoyable than a lot of the remixes that were released. But I'm happy to now be able to consider if officially official.