I bought the U2 album Live Under A Blood Red Sky the day it was released in 1983. Years later when I was buying CDs and no longer had my original vinyl, I noticed The Electric Co was different. It was missing a part I really liked, Bono ad libbing phrases from America and Send in The Clowns. I found out that the band didn't have legal clearance to use Stephen Sondheim's songs and were required to edit the ad libbed parts from their song. The CD of Blood Red Sky I bought in 1987 (weird, it came in a digipak inside the long box) had an edit of The Electric Co where you could tell parts had been omitted, and Bono sang "I love the crowd..." to the tune of Send in the Clowns. Well, I picked up the 2008 remaster today, curious to see if the unedited song would have been reinstated on the reissue, but it seems this version is edited even more. You don't even hear the "I love the crowd..." part. So my question is, are CD pressings with the unedited Electric Co common outside of the US? According to the info on Wikipedia all pressings outside of US have the song in its full form. Does anyone on this board have a CD pressing with the unedited Electric Co? I wonder how common they really are. I'd like to try to find a copy but I'm wondering how I'll know it's got the unedited song.
^^yes my original vinyl was unedited. But my understanding is that even prior to the "mainstream" CD era (1987 and on...) vinyls and cassettes were edited.
Here are some pics of my copy with the unedited "Electric Co.". Look for a European copy with "Distributed in Europe by RCA/Ariola-Ariola RCA" on the back. This can help identify an early pressing, as RCA/Ariola became BMG in 1986. Later issues have "Distributed in Europe By BMG" on the back. IIRC those later Euro copies were edited. This one has SONOPRESS 610 559 A in the matrix.
I think the first Japanese VHS and Laserdisc releases have the unedited version of the song as well. I'll give my old LD a listen tonight.
If I remember correctly, my Canadian VHS is unedited. It's certainly longer than my 90s cd or the remaster.
I spent a long time finding the unedited CD -- not all the non-US versions are the right one -- the didgipak from Japan (Barry D.) above is edited. You need the Sonopress pressing that was mentioned. There are other threads that give more info.
I have two CD's (one being the digipak as mentioned) and they are both edited. My original CD (non-digipak / probably a long-box) was probably in the late 1980's, best guess - so that edit was around since early CD's were created. LP's from the time period as a crapshoot as well....I believe that you just have to look for 5:18 as the running time on the label and you are golden - I assume early copies are like this and then later repressings got the edit.
I'd forgotten about this - I had the 'Island Masters' version that had the edited Electric Co. There was a copy on amazon UK for 49p. I thought I would give it a go!
It can be tricky to find the unedited Electric Co on CD w/ respect to the European releases. As far as I know, all of the initial CD releases in Australia - on Festival/Island, catalog #D19177 - have the unedited Electric Co. Might go about a search that way.
I only have one CD issue of this and was slightly bemused today reading the OP (played just last night), as I have the unedited Sonopress version pictured / mentioned above, so guess I’m lucky with this one = Pure Luck.
It's very tricky as many copies will have the unedited time and have the edited track. Took me ages to find the uncut LP. The old video releases as mentioned above should be uncut. I've been looking for the Japanese Laserdisc for ages.
Just had a listen to the Sonopress cd (35.26 mins) along with a Vinyl variant (unedited) etched 1/2 ‘Graeme / Precision’. https://www.discogs.com/U2-Under-A-Blood-Red-Sky-Live/release/395327 End of Vinyl side one may have more applause as I can hear a step level change more noticeable to the left channel, so some of the applause could be used again for the beginning of side two on the vinyl (would require a needle-drop). If edited Cd’s do have a longer running time perhaps they have more applause somewhere. Page 1 post #16 on this thread; http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/u2-live-under-a-blood-red-sky.160947/
My cassette had the unedited version. I was unaware of this issue until I recently plucked a cd copy from a dollar bin and immediately noticed the missing bits even though I hadn't heard my cassette in close to 30 years. So I poked around here and found the older thread. However, I have to confess I don't care enough to hunt down an unedited cd or lp.
My first press Japanese laserdisc doesn't have the "America" or "Clowns" snippet. I doubt any home video version does have those two snippets as the album has a different version from a Rockpalast performance, not the Red Rocks performance that the entire live home video is culled from. I long ago sold off my US longbox cd release when the deluxe version came out. I don't even remember if it was edited or not. I guess my thinking was my original vinyl is unedited (which it apparently isn't) so I was safe if I ever had a hankering for clown snippets. My (first) US vinyl pressing which I personally bought the first month the EP was released has the "America" snippet but no Clowns snippet (its "crowds"). The matrix on the vinyl closely matches this entry on Discogs however mine has slightly different and likely earlier identifiers in the runout "1-1" and "1-2(2 is scratched out)." U2 - Live Under A Blood Red Sky
There are edited and unedited Vinyl versions US and Non US Pressings. I believe all the USA CD's are edited. On the European, just having CD 113 is not a sure bet. I bought an Australasia CD that is unedited. CD is Island Records – 818 008-2, Phonogram – 818 008-2.
I believe that there is a version of the Japanese Laser Disc that is unedited. There are US VHS's that are unedited. I don't have the sku numbers. Sorry
From my collection, there are at least 2 early CDN vinyl issues with the unedited version (or maybe just one with label variants). I was also shocked to find the vinyl remaster from about 10 years ago was edited as well.
EAC and TT Dynamic Range (offline) readings; U2 – Under A Blood Red Sky – Island 610 559 CID113 (Ariola Eurodisc GmbH) Matrix: SONOPRESS 610 559 A EAC Levels: 85.2 / 65.4 / 76.4 / 85.3 / 97.5 / 84.6 / 70.5 / 68.9 DR: 13 / 12 / 13 / 14 / 13 / 12 / 11 / 12 DR: 14
U2 had to pay a 50,000$ penalty to the Stephen Sondheim estate at a time when money was tight. I believe they have a long, bad memory of it. so they avoid it at all cost. U2 Live at Red Rocks: Under a Blood Red Sky - Wikipedia
Oops, just so confusion can be avoided DR14 is the highest value across the disc (complete wav file) whereas the mean value is DR12.
