The Joshua Tree [VINYL]

Product Information

U2 will celebrate the 30th anniversary of their 1987 album The Joshua Tree this June, with three new editions of the album, including a four-CD super deluxe edition box set.

Without exaggeration, Bono's wrenched wails at this point can almost be described as aurally pleasing as opposed to immoderate and grating, clearly indicating how far this band had come from their primitive Dublin days. This is packaged with The Joshua Tree – Photographs by The Edge, an 84-page hardcover book of never-before seen photography by The Edge, taken during the original Mojave Desert Joshua Tree shoot in 1986. The super deluxe edition box set (which is also available as a 7LP vinyl set) includes a remastered version of the album (update: there is a suggestion, but not official confirmation that they are using the 2007 remaster), 17 tracks performed Live at Madison Square Garden in 1987 (featuring most of the album), a disc of new remixes and a B-sides and outtakes CD. It contain a double page info sheet with lyrics on one side and a pic like a poster to the other side.Sure, the album cemented U2 as the biggest band in the world featuring the massively played 'With Or Without You', 'I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For' and 'Where the Streets Have No Name' but the rest of the album is worth uncovering.

Additionally, there will be a two-CD edition of the 30th anniversary which will feature a colour version of the famous cover shot set on a white background. The Joshua Tree", released in 1987, was their most focused album yet, heavily influenced by spiritual imagery, Irish roots music and mythical America. Although recorded at a fairly low level, this sounds better than the remastered version which although cleaner and more dynamic loses the subtleties of the original mix. Contradictorily, as the desire to play bigger venues and broaden their audience took effect, their music became increasingly distinctive and melodic, not to mention commercially successful, thus alienating those who had invested in them primarily due to their political and social consciousness. In spite of a significant leap forward in terms of realising their true potential, none of the albums they produced during this time would be a definite contender for "classic album" status.From the compelling opening salvo to the more intimate though no less blissful and catchy subsequent tracks, the album flows incredibly well and sustains its most distinctive elements without becoming too bombastic or stately. I've owned a US pressing, two separate Canadian pressings and currently the 2019 German 2 x Vinyl, Reissue, Remastered 30th Anniversary Edition and none is better than this UK early version I now proudly own.

The 7LP vinyl version of this super deluxe edition box features exactly the same audio and exactly the same books and prints as the four-CD set. Its savage beauty and ominous disposition, courtesy of Bono's superb songwriting, is pervasive, but not to the extent that it becomes overwhelming. The Zeppelin-esque 'Bullet The Blue Sky' and the wickedly haunting 'Red Hill Mining Town' and the Joshua tree inspired 'In God's Country' make this album the most celebrated album of the eighties. The text "Recorded and Mixed at Windmill Lane Studios, Dublin" (on back cover) is in the same text block of "Drums, Keyboards. Admittedly, "The Joshua Tree" is the consummation of their biting political edge and art rock inclinations, but the brilliant melodies, tensions and rhythms showcased herein feel more exceptional and remarkable somehow, as if the corresponding cascading guitars and arena-ready choruses were the handiwork of another band entirely.Really lovely pressing - clear vocal/instrument separation, dynamic, quiet floor, and lots of attack. The VINYL of my copy is exactly the same as this BUT the sleeve has 9 (nine) lines of text incl additional credit and asterisk after Red Hill Mining Town. As diverse, challenging and aggressive as their previous records, "The Joshua Tree" had the additional benefit of overt immediacy, lushness and grandiosity that gave each of the 11 songs contained within an undeniable and utterly rewarding cinematic quality. In total 25 audio tracks are previously unreleased (including the live material) and the CDs will come housed in a large format 12-inch double gatefold folio.