"4U2Play" - U2

Pack

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Background Information

The “4U2Play” pack of vinyls was first pressed in November 1982, well after the initial singles had been released. Initially the version released were released on coloured vinyl in varying mixtures of white, yellow, and orange, as well as black vinyl. The initial sets included “U23”, “Another Day”, “11 O’Clock Tick Tock” and “I Will Follow”. All of the initial pressings had solid red labels with black print.

The pack was later reissued, and later sets had either the orange / yellow CBS labels, or the red with white CBS logo labels. In some cases you will find a set that has both of these labels mixed in the set. Somewhere along the line in these repressings “Another Day” was replaced with “New Year’s Day”, although it is reported that some sets also contained “A Day Without Me” as well. All of the singles released in “4U2Play” are reissues, even if they were the initial pressing of this set. “New Year’s Day” started being used as a replacement, after the labels had switched to the sunburst label.

Each issue of the pack, contained four vinyl in picture sleeves. Each of these is held in an outer plastic sleeve which lays flat to show off all four vinyl sleeves. Across the top of the pack is another compartment which is used to hold a paper label for the set. Two metal lined holes are included for hanging and displaying the singles from a wall. A second release was also released called “U2 Pac II”, and contained the singles for “A Day Without Me”, “Fire”, “Gloria” and “A Celebration”. These packs were a way to get the early singles into the hands of fans leading up to, and after the success of “War”. A third release was done after the release of “The Unforgettable Fire” but instead of using repressings of commercial singles, came up with unique singles.

The set was produced initially in colored vinyl. “U23” was pressed in white, yellow, orange, and some mispressings exist in brown. “I Will Follow” was released in white, yellow, orange, and mispressings exist in brown. “Another Day” was pressed in white, orange and yellow with mispressings in brown. “11 O’Clock Tick Tock” was pressed in yellow and orange vinyl. The coloured vinyl was released inside of the sleeves, so it was difficult to tell what vinyl you had during purchase. Not all of the sets were released with a solid colour (i.e. all four vinyl were yellow). For one, 11 O’Clock Tick Tock was pressed only in yellow and orange vinyl. I have seen sets where you would receive one of each colour including black, others where you would get three yellow and an orange, sets where you get two of one colour and two of another. There doesn’t appear to be any specific packaging order for these coloured vinyl releases.
We do mention a mispressing of many of these on brown vinyl. These are actually likely copies made during the switch over from one colour vinyl to the next (specifically white) where some residue of the original vinyl remains, leaving a discoloured white opaque vinyl instead of the pure white. There are no reports of brown copies of “11 O’Clock Tick Tock” as no white copies of that vinyl have been reported either.

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