Sun City (album)  

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Sun City was a 1985 album that contained several versions of the Steven Van Zandt-led Artists United Against Apartheid's "Sun City" protest song against apartheid in South Africa as well as other selections in the same vein from that project.

Contents

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History

In addition to the title track, a number of other songs were recorded at the time, completing an album's worth of material. Drummer-musician Keith LeBlanc and journalist Danny Schechter came up with "Revolutionary Situation", an audio-collage set to music that took its title from the words of South Africa's then-interior minister Louis Nel condemning the state of the country. Amid a background of yapping police dogs, sounds of mayhem and revolt in the township, LeBlanc and Schechter mixed in angry declarations by activists like Alan Boesak, Bishop Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela's daughter Zindzi, looped with what was at that time the most recent interview with her father, recorded in 1961.

Inspired by his meetings with several of other artists who volunteered, Bono of U2 went back to his hotel room and wrote the song "Silver and Gold" that very evening. The song was quickly recorded for inclusion on the compilation, with Keith Richards and Ron Wood of The Rolling Stones accompanying him. Ron Wood's guitar work is notable for using Keith's switchblade as a slide. "Silver and Gold" was also issued separately as a promotional single.

Sun City was a modest commercial success, reaching #31 on the Billboard 200 pop albums chart. It did much better in terms of critical reaction, where it reached #5 on the Pazz & Jop Critics Poll for albums for that year. In 1989, Sun City got the final spot on Rolling Stone's list of the best 100 albums of the 1980s.

In 1993, Sun City was issued on CD by Razor & Tie, but after the end of apartheid in 1994, the album eventually went out of print, becoming a highly-sought collectible item.

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Track listing

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Side A

  1. "Sun City" (Steven Van Zandt) – Artists Against Apartheid, featuring Zak Starkey, Ringo Starr - 7:26
  2. "No More Apartheid" (Peter Gabriel) – Peter Gabriel and L. Shankar - 7:07
  3. "Revolutionary Situation" - Rap Artists from Artists Against Apartheid, compiled and edited by Keith Le Blanc and The News Dissector – 6:07
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Side B

  1. "Sun City (Version II)" – Artists Against Apartheid - 5:42
  2. "Let Me See Your I.D." – Rap and Jazz Artists from Artists Against Apartheid, featuring Gil Scott-Heron, Miles Davis, Grandmaster Melle Mel, Peter Wolf, Sonny Okosuns, Malopoets, Duke Bootee, Ray Baretto, Peter Garrett - 7:29
  3. "The Struggle Continues" – Jazz Artists from Artists Against Apartheid, featuring Miles Davis, Stanley Jordan, Herbie Hancock, Sonny Okosuns, Ron Carter, Tony Williams, Richard Scher - 7:01
  4. "Silver and Gold" (Bono) – Bono with Keith Richards and Ron Wood - 4:41
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Bonus track

  1. "Sun City (The Last Remix)" – Artists Against Apartheid - 9:35 (only on Razor & Tie CD re-issue; previously only available on the 12" single)
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Personnel



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