U2 Reissue “Boy” on White Vinyl for RSDBF

Original Story by Aaron J. Sams (2020-10-07)

Boy is being released for the Black Friday Record Store Day event. The event, held November 27, 2020, is used to get shoppers into independent record stores, and involves the production and sale of limited edition records. U2 has been participating in Record Store Day events since the Black Friday event in 2010.

The record this year celebrates the 40th anniversary of the Boy album. The original album was released on October 20, 1980 in most of the world, although it was not released until March 1981 in North America.

There will be 10,000 copies of this new pressing according to the Record Store Day site, and the record will include a double-sided poster as well as a lyrics / credit insert. The vinyl will be 180g. It will use the 2008 master of the album, which was done under the direction of The Edge. The catalog number for this release is 0749627. The cover used will be the Peter Rowen cover.

Some have noted that the release is listed as “RSD First.” That designation means that the release comes out first on Record Store Day, but can be released later to other outlets. However, U2’s releases for RSD in the recent years such as “11 O’Clock Tick Tock” and “Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me” have also been categorized as “RSD First” and to date none have been reissued post-Record Store Day, so this does not mean this will be reissued later, just that the band can.

This is the first new issue of Boy on vinyl since 2008, when it was remastered and issued on black vinyl. That version of the album has been kept in print, and can still be ordered from distributors, and has not gone out of print.

Boy is the latest release in a series of coloured and specialty issues of U2’s albums. Over the last few years the band has reissued many of the albums.

Boy (White vinyl)
October (Cream vinyl)
The Unforgettable Fire (Wine vinyl)
The Joshua Tree (Gold vinyl, Red vinyl tour VIP Gift)
Zooropa (Blue vinyl)
Pop (Orange vinyl)
How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (Red vinyl)
No Line on the Horizon (Clear vinyl)
Songs of Innocence (White vinyl)
Songs of Experience (Blue vinyl)

The albums not yet released in a coloured vinyl format include the following:

War
Under a Blood Red Sky
Wide Awake in America
Rattle and Hum
Achtung Baby
All That You Can’t Leave Behind

Both War and Achtung Baby were listed on some advance information from Universal for a Spring 2020 release, but those releases were later cancelled. The planned colours for these was not known. Expect to see them at some point in the future. The upcoming vinyl release of All That You Can’t Leave Behind will be on black vinyl on October 30, but is the first time it will be released as a double 12-inch.

How do these other coloured vinyl compare for numbers? We were told Zooropa was pressed in blue vinyl at 25,000 copies worldwide. And while we don’t have exact numbers for the other releases, we do know that most of the pressings have been in similar quantities, including the red vinyl version of The Joshua Tree pressed at 20,000 copies and given out as VIP gifts at stops on “The Joshua Tree Tour 2019” in Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore.

At 10,000 copies of Boy this release should be widely available on Black Friday. Only two releases were done for past Record Store Day events in greater numbers. “Three” was released with 17,000 copies pressed, and “The Blackout” was released with 20,000 copies pressed. For those interested in numbers of past pressings of items for Record Store Day, those can be found in our Record Store Day discography section . Most U2 releases have been between 5000 – 7000 copies. This is only the second time U2 have released a full length album for a Record Store Day event. In 2015, they released Songs of Innocence on limited black vinyl, the wider commercial release in 2014 had been in white vinyl.

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