Atomic Bomb to be Reissued on Vinyl?

Original Story by Aaron J. Sams (2017-03-02)

Amazon in the USA is now listing an import listing for How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb on 12-inch vinyl with a release date of April 28, 2017. The album has been out of print in the vinyl format since the original pressing in 2004 sold out. There is a listing for Amazon in the UK, and that lists the release date as March 31, 2017, but they are not currently taking orders for the vinyl. There is not an active listing currently on Amazon for Canada.

Currently Universal is only keeping a handful of U2 releases in print in the vinyl format. U218 Singles has been recently reissued on vinyl, and Universal appears to be keeping copies of the remastered albums of Boy, October, War, The Joshua Tree, and The Unforgettable Fire in stock. In many cases, these are difficult to determine from the original. In the case of U218 Singles the only noticeable difference on the outside is a smaller Island / Mercury logo on the back of the repressing. Songs of Innocence, the most recent release, can still be found at retailers but these appear to be stock from the original pressing in 2014, and not a new version.

This had made the albums that are out of print of interest to collectors, and the original pressings can fetch good money at auction. This in turns leads to an active bootleg market for these vinyl items.

Collectors have to beware as there are reports of new pressings of Achtung Baby and Zooropa on a variety of different colour vinyl bootleg pressings including blue, gold, green, orange, purple, red, white and even on transparent vinyl. How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb has been reported in a variety of bootleg colours including yellow, brown, and green. These coloured pressings, however, are not legitimate pressings by Universal and have not been authorized by U2 or by Universal Records. These pressings are recent bootlegs that have started circulation over the last couple of years. A number of early singles are also being bootlegged in this manner. Even October has been bootlegged in grey, blue and transparent vinyl. (Before anyone asks, yes, the 4-disc set released in 2011 for Achtung Baby in blue and black vinyl was official).

April 22, 2017 does mark Record Store Day, and is a time when many acts do dig into their back catalogs to release new versions. The choice of How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb would be a strange one for that day with the current focus on The Joshua Tree, but perhaps could be the start of reissuing some of these earlier titles on vinyl. U2 and Universal do routinely issue the back catalog in new ways, as seen by the recent Kiosk Collection and Italian Collection, which recently reissued the discography on CD and DVD. We will keep you up to date with information about this pressing as we get more information.

Many thanks to James for the heads up!

IMAGE: Original pressing of HTDAAB on Vinyl

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