The New Zealand Connection

by Dennis Crow

When it comes to U2 rarities, never has so much come from so little. I say this lovingly about the large amount of U2 collectibles from the tiny Island nation of New Zealand, population less than 4 million! Indeed, if you simply had bothered to just collect all of the original New Zealand pressings, and nothing else, you would have a collection of probably 20 items. Yet these records would be worth in excess of $1200!

Many collectors don't realize that New Zealand was issuing 7" singles starting with "I Will Follow", right through the release of the Unforgettable Fire releases.

The first single, "I Will Follow," really started things off with a bang. This single featured a unique picture sleeve (see photo at left), at least for a 7" release, as it was the same picture as that of the European LP release of Boy. This single featured a super-heavy duty paper picture sleeve, bordering on cardboard status!

Next up were the singles of "A Celebration and "Fire", nothing special about these releases as they featured the standard B-sides and, just a "Festival" Records Company sleeve. I say this jokingly, because with probably not more than a few thousand copies made, they still go for good money provided they're in top condition.

Then came "Gloria," which gives "I Will Follow" a run for the money as New Zealand's top rarity. This single featured a "wrap around"-type design picture sleeve. What this means is that the sleeve was simply a black and white 14" x 7" printed piece of heavy paper folded in half, and not joined at the sides. This may not sound too interesting, but the unique photo they used for this picture sleeve helps rank this single, and I.W.F. as Top 5 status of worldwide commercial U2 7" releases! Although I have yet to see one, it is widely rumored that a "bootleg" repress of this sleeve seems to have popped up in the early 90's. The difference I hear is that the fake is on fairly glossy paper versus the matte finish of the original. Even this is quite rare, as certainly original pressings of the vinyl needed to be matched with the fake sleeve. I believe that a few hundred original pressings of the vinyl single were pressed up in quantities over and above what was made of the original sleeve. Ten years later, some enterprising, but highly dishonest individual bought up all of these singles he could find, and added the bogus sleeve.

Like most other countries, "New Years Day" and "Two Hearts..." also made it out of New Zealand, but once again featured just Record Company sleeves. These singles in mint condition will fetch about $25.

No 7" singles were forthcoming from the Under a Blood Red Sky LP, or any other country aside from the USA. The Unforgettable Fire did find " Pride" being released featuring the traditional "MLK" picture sleeve. Next up was a very interesting and unique song combination of "The Unforgettable Fire" b/w "MLK." Australia was the only other country to release this combination which will fetch about $45+ for the New Zealand version. Confusing the situation, just a few months later, New Zealand once again issued "The Unforgettable Fire" as an A-side single, but this time backing it with a version of "A Sort of Homecoming" (live). This release coincided with the 12" EP issue of "The Unforgettable Fire." Neither of the last two 7" singles mentioned featured a picture sleeve.

Personally, I believe this is the last New Zealand released single actually manufactured in that country. While it is widely thought that "One Tree Hill" was a New Zealand-manufactured release due to the theme of the song (New Zealand's own Greg Carroll), I'm fairly sure it was actually manufactured in Australia for distribution in New Zealand (and export). There is one exception to this rule, in that a very, very small run of New Zealand-made picture sleeves were produced and mated up with Australian-made vinyl singles. These picture sleeves feature a different catalog number (878302-7) than the normal K-338 of the vinyl single. (see photo below)

Including myself, I only know of a few others who have this variation, all of which I believe were purchased from New Zealand dealers. This one is so rare in fact, that many Kiwi collectors have failed to find it, or believe it exists! I'm pretty sure that this rare variation actually was released some time after the original 1988 all-Aussie manufactured single. I say this because the New Zealand picture sleeve version is distributed by Polygram and not Festival records. My memory may be off, but I don't believe Polygram came onto the scene until the 1990 time frame. A lyric sheet was not issued with this release. Also, at or about 1990, I distinctly remember a flood of Aussie "One Tree Hill" singles out in the market many months after it's original release. These singles also did NOT contain the lyric insert. It may well be that at this same time, the Kiwis made up a few hundred of their own sleeves for distribution in New Zealand, and added the Aussie pressed single.

This is not surprising, as all of The Joshua Tree 7" singles distributed in New Zealand were made in Australia. Releases prior to this were easy to determine the country of origin as the label design's had obvious differences between the two countries. The reason for the consolidation is up for debate, but most likely was done for economic consideration. Festival records, which manufactured and distributed for Island records, surely felt that there was no need to manufacture records in two locations with the ongoing decline of vinyl.

This brings us to the 12" releases. To my knowledge, and collection, there were only three 12" singles manufactured and released in New Zealand. Two of these are nice additions to any collection. The three singles were "Two Hearts...," "Pride" and "The Unforgettable Fire" EP. "Two Hearts..." led it off, and was limited to only 1,000 copies.

The artwork was no different than the UK, Euro, Japan version, but did feature a small circular printed area on the top of the sleeve, which said "Limited Edition of 1,000". Within this area was a small round sticker which was stamped with the actual limited edition number. Promo copies also exist, but feature just a promo sticker on the record label to tell them apart.

Next up was "Pride" but this featured nothing different than any other release. Surprisingly the special version of "Pride" with the blue "MLK" sleeve and different song lineup apparently wasn't issued in New Zealand. I say this because it did come out in Australia, which -- with few exceptions -- mirrored the New Zealand releases.

That leaves us with "The Unforgettable Fire" EP, which on the outside looks like no big deal other than the misspelling of the word "Unforgetable" on the back side of the picture sleeve. (Personally, I don't know if any NZ copies exist with the misspelling on the front like the Aussie first press.) Once you take this record for a spin, you'll find you have a major gem of a collectible on your hands. For some unknown reason the master tapes used for the Aussie / New Zealand release had different versions of two songs not found on any other pressing! These songs were "A Sort of Homecoming" (live) and "Love Comes a Tumblin." "A Sort of Homecoming" features all of the Edge's backing vocals, which for some reason, are for the most part chopped out of the common UK / Euro release. I really can't understand this, as the Edge's contribution really adds to this song, not to mention that I think he has a better voice than Bono anyway! Maybe here lies the answer for this mystery tape not getting universal exposure? (LOL, please no nastygrams.) It is not known if the 7" version of "A Sort of Homecoming" (live) is the same as the 12", as this collector's turntable is broke! (More than likely it is....)

Then there is "Love Comes a Tumblin" which I really think is a completely different studio take!. The Edge's guitar and Bono's intro vocal / lyrics are on a completely different page from the common release. It's possible that this is a different edit, but I still think this is one that wasn't suppose to get out of the can. A cassingle also exists of this release.

Just like the 7" singles, all of the 12" singles distributed in New Zealand for The Joshua Tree and beyond came from Australian pressing plants.

As for LP's, I never went the distance and purchased any New Zealand issues. If there was anything special about them I'd have scooped them up. One item which was listed in last year's Record Collector "Top 30" article was a copy of Rattle & Hum New Zealand, on brown and black swirl vinyl, value $800! I kind of wonder as to whether someone involved in the Record Collector article may not have been the owner of this record? This "collectible" occurred when virgin (brown) and recycled (black) vinyl were not properly blended together during the pressing operation, causing the "swirl" effect. Most likely this "effect" is not easy to see, and if you can, quite ugly. A value of $800 is in my opinion beyond humorous.

Since I have no New Zealand LP's in my collection, I can only theorize that The Joshua Tree and Rattle & Hum were also manufactured in Australia.

I hope this article was informative. If any of you Aussie or Kiwi collectors have an further information / corrections to expand on this article, please forward them on to @U2.