Spider-Music II - New Single Tonight.

Keep your eye on the Spider-Man on Broadway official site for the release info of the new single "Rise Again 1" featuring Reeve Carney, Bono and The Edge. Thanks to our friends at u2tour.de for tipping off to this one. The single should be released digitally tonight at 8pm EST for Americans and should be available within a couple of days worldwide. No details of a CD single at this point.

Update: Now available on iTunes: http://tinyurl.com/3gdoxwu

Spider-Music

Amazon is now listing Music from Spider-Man Turn Off the Dark for a June 14 release. Producer Steve Lillywhite also tweets that Bono, Edge, and the cast will be performing "the first single" from the soundtrack album on the American Idol finale Wednesday (5/25) night, though there has so far been no official announcement regarding a single release.

Duals spotted in Wild...

From our friend DGH on the East Coast in the US, we've found out that Duals has started arriving in homes. He's sent along the photo below.

It appears from the track listings that there isn't much to get excited about. Not even any new edits, and instead of using the single edits of tracks it looks like material off of albums, is from the albums themselves.

The Wanderer has had the DJ Alarm edited from the end of the track. And if you add the two tracks together from u2 with the Soweto Gospel Choir it is a bit longer than the Christmas track from u2.com but I assume that's just a little crossfading to make the transition less jarring between the two.

I don't have my copy in hand yet, but will go through the tracks a little closer when I do.

Bono with Swizz Beatz and Kanye West

From: OMG via @u2

Swizz Beatz has collaborated with rapper Kanye West and U2 frontman Bono on a track for his new album. The song, which is named Skyscrapers, will appear on the producer's upcoming second record Haute Living.

"It’s me, Bono, and Kanye on this one song called Skyscrapers," Beatz told Paper magazine about the project. "I recorded with Kanye in the studio and then I recorded with Bono in this actual studio right here.”

Although there's no fixed release date for Haute Living, the album is expected later this year.

Sad To See You Go

U2's current UK/European record label, Mercury Records, has announced that it will no longer produce physical singles and will instead focus on digital downloads. It seems this has been coming for awhile given that sales of physical singles have been sinking and simply aren't profitable any longer, at least on a mass scale. As someone who has been collecting U2 singles for nearly 25 years, I will certainly miss the next round with the new album. This is either going to save me some cash or cost me dearly trying to track down promos. I suppose we shall have to wait and see if Universal imprints in other regions will produce any singles in the future. Interscope did manage to release two singles in the US last time around.

U2 Contribute To Japanese Relief Album

Universal Music is putting together a charity album to raise money for the Red Cross in Japan. The album will reportedly be digital only and will feature a track by U2, though there is currently no word on whether this will be a previously unreleased track. More details when we get them.

U2:Duals Shipping Soon

A subscriber email distributed by U2.com this morning indicates that the oft-maligned U2:Duals will begin shipping this week. Shipping times for the annual subscribers’ gift are reportedly up to two weeks for North America and Europe and three weeks for the rest of the world. Subscribers are also advised to make sure that their address information is up to date. I also see that the annual eBay gouging for the CD has begun. As unpopular as the tracklisting for this release has been, I anticipate demand to be relatively low, so don’t go paying a ridiculous price for one. These CDs can typically be had for under $20 once they start arriving in scalpers' subscribers' mailboxes.