U2 Three, Debut Album 2nd Re-release Vintage Vinyl 12" , CBS 12-7951 U2-3, Rare

$

75

Note the following: A Side; Made in England on the label ring, but not on the bottom. Also has CBS 12-7951  A2  DDCS followed by a hand drawn heart with  an arrow thru it stamped in wax ring area. No one mentions this, but it is there. B Side: Has stamped in wax ring area, CBS. U2-3  13-1  BANG  BONO  ADAM  THE EDGE  LARRY.        Also has, Made in England stamped on label bottom, not on the ring. It has the CBS sleeve, not the black sleeve. Please excuse the lamp reflection in the pictures, only way to get enough light to show etchings on wax ring.  Sleeve rated Very Good  Record rated Very Good  Reissue in CBS sleeve. 
Sunburst label with "Made in England" at bottom and without "CBS inc".  Band members names inscribed on b side only. Ireland misspelled on label.   Three was produced as a 12 inch and subsequently a 7 inch, with an initial run of 1,000 individually numbered copies. It has been reissued four times since then, but it remains a hard item to track down and wasn't released on CD until 2008 as part of the bonus disc with the reissue of Boy, U2's first album. The track order was determined by a listener poll on Dave Fanning's radio show. Callers chose "Out of Control" to be the A-side of the record, with "Boy/Girl" and "Stories for Boys" as runners-up, constituting the B-side of the record. 
REFERENCE ONE:  About the 12" version:  U2 - Three - First release, 1000 copies made, is numbered with sticker on CBS sleeve. Band members names inscribed on both sides of the vinyl in the dead wax. Ireland spelled correctly on label, "Made in England" on bottom. 
All reissues were re-released without sticker and with Ireland misspelled (Irelnad) on CBS sunburst label: 
U-2* - Three - Early reissue in CBS sleeve. Band members names inscribed on both sides and “Made in England” on label bottom.  U-2* - Three - Reissue in CBS sleeve. Band members names inscribed on side B only and “Made in England” on label bottom.  U-2* - Three - Another reissue in CBS sleeve. Band members names inscribed on side B only. No “Made in England” on bottom, but on the side at the end of the circle linings.  U-2* - Out Of Control - Later reissue in black die-cut sleeve. Band members names inscribed on side B only. No “Made in England” on bottom, but on the label side at the end of the circle linings. "CBS Inc." on label bottom.  U-2* - Three - Another later reissue in black die-cut sleeve. Band members names inscribed on side B only. No “Made in England” on bottom, and no “Made in England” on the label side at the end of the circle linings. "CBS Inc." on label bottom.  U-2* - Three - Last reissue in black die-cut sleeve. Band members names inscribed on side B only. No “Made in England” on bottom, and no “Made in England” on the label side at the end of the circle linings. Also no "CBS Inc." on label bottom.  U-2* - Three - A-side: "Made In England" on label rim. "CBS Inc" on bottom of label. B-Side: No "Made In England" and No 'CBS Inc" 
REFERENCE TWO: “Three” was U2’s first single, released in Ireland on September 26, 1979 on both 7-Inch and 12-Inch vinyl. The first 12-Inch pressing was a limited edition of 1000 copies in a generic CBS Records sleeve. Each sleeve was stickered and hand-numbered in either blue or black ink. The 7-Inch single was released in a picture sleeve. Both formats featured “Out of Control” on Side A, with “Stories for Boys” and “Boy/Girl” on Side B.
The 12-Inch single went on to be re-pressed a number of times. These later pressings were in generic sleeves but were not numbered. The re-pressings became somewhat of a collector’s nightmare, with numerous subtle changes spread across each release. Most of the differences can be found on the center label of the record, or where the band members’ names are etched into the run-off area of the vinyl. On the original 12-Inch pressing, “Ireland” is spelled correctly and “Made in England” appears at the bottom of the label; “U2” is in a bold typeface; “stereo” is fully capitalized; and there is no “CBS inc.” on the bottom of the label. In addition, the band members’ names appear on both sides of the vinyl in the deadwax.
The second pressing introduced a misspelling, with “Ireland” becoming “Irelnad.” In addition, the font used for “U2” is less bold and “stereo” is no longer in all caps. These changes would persist on all subsequent re-pressings. The third and fourth pressings both change one additional item from the second pressing. The third pressing has the band members’ names on only one side of the vinyl (the b-side) in the deadwax. The fourth pressing once again has the band members’ names on both sides of the vinyl, but removes “Made in England” from the bottom of the center label. The fifth pressing saw the return of “Made in England” to the center label, but it was moved to the side, while the “CBS inc.” text was removed altogether.
The sixth and seventh pressings switched from the generic CBS Records sleeve to simple black generic sleeves, while the center labels on the vinyl continued to see changes. The sixth pressing keeps “Made in England” on the side of the label but returns “CBS inc.” to the bottom of the label. And finally, “Made in England” is removed again on the seventh pressing, while “CBS inc.” stays on the bottom of the label.