Sorry to dredge up an old topic, but I wanted to post this so the story is there for prosperity.
Previous posts have noted that the rarest U2 release ever was the green 12 inch vinyl of All I Want is You. Maybe 3 or 5 copies were made, and supposedly only for record company executives.
Well, this item certainly exists. And I owned one. Once.
I bought the 12 inch from my local record store in Adelaide, Australia probably in 1989. Just off the shelf - paid $4.99 (or thereabouts), got it home - and it was green vinyl!?
I seem to remember the colour was what they call 'marbled' dark green rather than really light green (I'm stretching my memory here).
It went into my largish U2 collection at the time, I played it a few times, and didn't think much about it. In 1993 I started Uni and to help pay my way through I sold most of my U2 collection
I sold the green vinyl 12 inch for $300. Seemed like a lot of money at the time and I had no idea how rare it was - and this was in the days before internet. If only I could have foreseen the invention of Ebay!
While I remember this time with melancholy, I'm not completely distraught. The money helped me graduate from Uni and now I'm a Uni Professor and earn much more than the worth of my U2 collection.
Anyway, I wanted to post this here so whoever reads it will know that the magical green vinyl exists and was released to the masses (though how many I have no idea). I don't know what happened to my copy. The worst part is the guy I sold it too was a charlatan (for other reasons, he ripped a bunch of people off). Hopefully he received his just desserts eventually.
There were a few record stores in Adelaide and I can't remember which one it was. Big Star is a possibility. I used to get a lot of second hand stuff from Andromeda, but I didn't buy the 12 inch from there. It was brand new, just mixed in with the other copies of the single. Didn't even know it was green vinyl until I got it home.
If you go to www.popsike.com ... and in the search bar type in: u2 ways red ...you will find an even rarer item (2 copies only), with it's full story...and mention of two other still rarer items...of which only one of each exist...and they're utterly genuine.
^ Fixed your link to work (it wouldn't redirect properly)...and you're saying the 'Red pressing' is basically just the Australian / Japanese version of HTDAAB? Is it alternative in any way (track mixes, vocal edits...)?
If that same vinyl pressing had Mercy (the 2003 / 2004 version), Are You Gonna Wait Forever, Neon Lights and some of the earlier than we've heard of tracks replacing the final ones e.g. Sometimes You Can't Make It... (alternative version), Native Son, Yahweh (alternative version), All Because Of You (alternative version), then it'd be pretty rare.
i just can't believe shit like that, or the purple or green All I Want Is You records are actually legit. no way i'd ever buy one without written authenticity from someone in the band/their managers
