"A Celebration" - U2

Promotional Release

Track Listing:

Background Information

“A Celebration” was released by Island Records in most regions of the world in March 1982. The single was not taken from any album, and was a stand alone 7-Inch record in most countries. The single was backed with “Trash, Trampoline, and the Party Girl” everywhere except Japan where the single was backed with “Fire”, an earlier single that had not been released in Japan. In many countries promotional releases are identical to commercial releases, with the addition of a sticker, or a stamp to the label of the release or to the sleeve. This was the case in France for “A Celebration” where the commercial single was stamped “Echantillon gratuit, vente interdite” for promotional purposes. In Italy some copies of the commercial single were stickered with a sticker that says “campione non vendibile” to mark the single as a promotional item.

In Japan an actual separate promotional single was produced. The commercial single in Japan came with the typical generic label of a sunburst pattern and a palm tree. The single was pressed with the catalog number 7S-69, and the single contained “A Celebration” and “Fire”. It was packaged in a generic sleeve, with a lyrics insert. The promotional version of the single is identical except for the label. Instead of the colourful sunburst pattern it is printed in blue and white, with tree still visible in blue, against a white background. The catalog number remained the same 7S-69, and the lyric sheet packaged with the promotional single was identical. “A Celebration” was the first single released in Japan by Island Records, in conjunction with Polystar.

For more background on “A Celebration” and the release of the commercial single, please see our entry for “A Celebration”.

Liner Notes

Produced by Steve Lillywhite.

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