BURNING THE GROUND EXCLUSIVE 1983
“Sunday Bloody Sunday” is a song by Irish rock band U2. It is the opening track from their 1983 album War and was released as the album’s third single on 11 March 1983 in Germany and the Netherlands. “Sunday Bloody Sunday” is noted for its militaristic drumbeat, harsh guitar, and melodic harmonies. One of U2’s most overtly political songs, its lyrics describe the horror felt by an observer of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, mainly focusing on the Bloody Sunday incident in Derry where British troops shot and killed unarmed civil rights protesters and bystanders. At the same time, the lyrics reject hate and revenge as a response, as noted in the line “There’s many lost, but tell me who has won.” Along with “New Year’s Day,” the song helped U2 reach a wider listening audience. It was generally well received by critics on the album’s release.
The song has remained a staple of U2’s live concerts. During its earliest performances, the song created controversy. Lead singer Bono reasserted the song’s anti-sectarian-violence message to his audience for many years. Today, it is considered one of U2’s signature songs, and is one of the band’s most performed tracks. Critics rate it among the best political protest songs, and it has been covered by over a dozen artists. It was named the 272nd-greatest song by Rolling Stone on their list of “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
SIDE A:
Sunday Bloody Sunday 4:34
SIDE B:
Two Hearts Beat As One (U.S. Remix) 5:41
Engineer [Assisted By At Remix] – Glenn Rosenstein
Engineer [Remix] – John Potoker
Remix – Francois Kevorkian*
New Year’s Day (U.S. Remix) 4:29
Engineer [Remix] – John Potoker
Remix – Francois Kevorkian*
VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint
RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: Island Records – 600.820
Format: Vinyl, 12″, Maxi-Single, 45 RPM
Country: Netherlands
Released: 1983
Genre: Rock
Style: Pop Rock
CREDITS:
Photography By [Band] – Anton Corbijn
Photography By [Boy] – Ian Finlay (2)
Producer – Steve Lillywhite
Written-By – U2
NOTES:
Tracks B1 & B2 remixed at Sigma Sound N.Y.C.
Find the 12″ on DISCOGS
VINYL RESTORATION BY:
-DjPaulT
burningtheground.net
EQUIPMENT USED:
Turntable: Pro-Ject Debut Carbon (DC)
Cartridge: Ortofon 2M
Stylus: Ortofon 2M Bronze
Isolation: Auralex Acoustics ISO-Tone Turntable Isolation Platform
Platter: Pro-Ject Acryl-It platter
Stabilizer: Pro-Ject Record Puck
Phono Pre-amp: Bellari VP130 Tube Phono Preamp
Tube: Tung-Sol 12AX7ECC803-S Gold Electron Tube
Soundcard: ESI Juli@
Record Cleaning: VPI HW 16.5 Record Cleaning Machine
Artwork Scans: Epson Workforce WF-7610 Professional Printer/Scanner
SOFTWARE USED:
Recording/Editing: Adobe Audition 3.0 (Recording)
Down Sampling: iZotope RX Advanced 2, ocenaudio
Artwork Editor: Adobe Photoshop CS5
Click Removal: Manual
FLAC/MP3 Conversion: dBpoweramp
M3U Playlist: Playlist Creator
RESTORATION NOTES:
All vinyl rips are recorded @ 32bit/float
FLAC (Level Eight)
MP3 (320kbps)
Artwork scanned at 600dpi
Thank you!
I just stopped to visit for the first time in a while. I was thinking about some MP3s of remixes from U2’s “War” that I remembered having, and here they are!! And in beautiful vinyl flacs as well. Thank you so much. The remix of New Year’s Day is especially cool… Many years ago, I heard a different remix of “Two Hearts” that I taped from the radio. It began with the line in the song, “Heart, heart, beat as one” sung acapella twice, then went into a great remix. I’ve never been able to find that one.
🙂
Hey Paul, I just wanted to thank you for the great single in full 24-96 to boot. It sounds more balanced and crankable 🙂
Wow, fantastic! Thank you DjPaulT!
love it
Such a great 80’s classic… Alternative Rock at it’s best. Thanks for posting
You’re welcome Memoryboy 🙂
not especially fond of U2
but great beat lead to great song !
(wish there was a 12′ remix of this)
highly under-rated drummer…
thanks Dj Paul
You’re welcome Lulu 🙂
Awesome song, no doubt. Bittersweet. It was some sort of tradition over here in the Eighties and Nineties to play Sunday Bloody Sunday at midnight at parties and in discotheques. Loved it and still love it.
Thanks Song_and_Dance 🙂
thanks paul,
always preferred the earlier u2 to the recent stuff.
have this on cd-single already, but still nice to see it.
too bad u2 didn’t remix sunday bloody sunday, but the
two hearts beat as and new years day remixes are great.
later
-1
This got released on CD Single???
Such an awesome song, one of my favourite U2 tracks, albeit sad the subject matter behind it.
In Germany and to honest it sounds very flat.
Yeah, I have the CD (Austrian though). It’s part of the early 90’s push to get popular 80’s maxis out on CD so people could buy them again… Sadly, unlike the earlier wave in ’88 (which mostly was about material from independent labels like Mute that eg. Intercord had access to) they’re not flat transfers of the original distribution copy, but official run-of-the-mill five-minutes “CD-mastering” jobs.
They nevertheless sound several orders of magnitude better than the later muddy and hyper-compressed “remasters”.
Yeah great post! I’d love to hear more of U2’s material that is only available on vinyl. Stuff like the Lemon Remixes especially the 2×12″ with Momo’s Beats. Or the 3D Dance Mixes would make a great transition from these SBS remixes to Lemon.
Great record, all songs here are classics.
Thanks Joey 🙂
Muchas Gracias amigo Paul!!! great mixes. Any chance to upload Saturday At Midnight by Cheap Trick. Thank you.
See what I can do Guss.
Thanks Paul. Brings back memories.
You’re welcome Omar 🙂
Hello Paul,
Thank you so much for helping the world in your own special way by selecting music with a message that can bring us all together (hopefully in peace). I’ve seen U2 in concert several times and Sunday Bloody Sunday always finds a new meaning and message in each concert! Thanks again.
Cheers!!
You’re welcome Jon. I believe that music heals in times of difficulty. Sadly it is becoming a weekly event.
Thank you!