Since 1982, U2 has released several packs of reissued 7-inch vinyl records. These include everything from their early singles to the Joshua Tree albums in 1988. This is a guide to the releases of these packs.

4 U2 PLAY

In 1982, U2’s first 7-inch singles were reissued in a special pack. It featured a blister pack with five slots, containing four 7-inch singles and an insert with the pack’s name. The initial sets included U2 Three, Another Day, 11 O’Clock Tick Tock and I Will Follow.

First edition. 1982
Second edition. 1984
Third edition. 1986

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The labels are red with black text, and while the vinyl is mostly black, there were also color vinyl pressings. The most common is Yellow, followed by Orange with fewer copies; White is very rare, and Brown is extremely scarce.

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In 1984, another edition was released featuring the same singles, but with sunburst labels (yellow/orange gradient).

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Finally, the 1986 edition was released, featuring red labels with the CBS logo in white

In this third edition, single “Another Day” was replaced by “New Year’s Day”

U2 PAC II

The four singles released here are A Day Without Me, Fire, Gloria and A Celebration, covering the single missed from Boy, and the singles from the October era.

First edition. 1983
Second edition. 1986

Label from 1983 edition. Sunburst labels

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Label from 1986 edition. Red and White logo CBS

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U2 PAC 3

The first single was the single version of “Pride” packaged with “4th of July” on the b-side. The second single contained the outtakes from “The Unforgettable Fire” single, “Love Comes Tumbling”, “60 Seconds in Kingdom Come”, and “The Three Sunrises” but did not contain the single track itself. The third single featured two songs from War, the album version of “Sunday Bloody Sunday” and the edit version of “Two Hearts Beat as One”. Finally the last single contained “Boomerang I” on one side and “Boomerang II” on the other.

Release: 1985

Label Red and White logo CBS

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U2 THE JOSHUA TREE SINGLES

This was a limited edition package of four 7-inch singles containing the four singles released from the album The Joshua Tree, With or Without You, I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For, Where the Streets Have No Name (UK edition) and In God’s Country (US edition). They are packaged together in a plastic sleeve. Each single is the same as the commercial release, and contains an individual UPC number on the back of the sleeves. An outer band holds the package together and identifies these as “The Joshua Tree Singles” and provides the catalog number U2 PK1 for the set.