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Joshua Tree (Remastered / Expanded) (Deluxe Edition) (2CD) | 
| Artist: U2
Label: Universal
Category: Music
List Price: £24.99
Buy New: £17.98
You Save: £7.01 (28%)
New (32) Used (3) Collectible (2) from £12.64
Rating:  5 reviews
Sales Rank: 18060
Format: Original Recording Remastered, Extra Tracks, Deluxe Edition
Media: Audio CD
Running Time: 57
Discs: 2
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 5.7 x 5.2 x 0.7
MPN: 001028602
UPC: 602517509474
EAN: 0602517509474
ASIN: B000WZB944
Release Date: December 3, 2007
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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| Tracks:
| • | Luminous Times (Hold On To Love) | | • | Walk To The Water | | • | Spanish Eyes | | • | Deep In The Heart | | • | Silver And Gold | | • | Sweetest Thing | | • | Race Against Time | | • | Where The Streets Have No Name | | • | Silver And Gold - U2, Keith Richards, Ron Wood, Steve Jordan | | • | Beautiful Ghost/Introduction To Songs Of Experience | | • | Wave Of Sorrow (Birdland) | | • | Desert Of Our Love | | • | Rise Up | | • | Drunk Chicken/America - U2, Allen Ginsberg |
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| Customer Reviews:
 Eugene Harington May 16, 2008
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
I bought the vinyl 2LP edition of this album and was very disappointed, not with the music which is superb, but the abject, poor pressing quality of my sample. Audiophile pressing? Give me a break. Certainly, this 2LP set was not pressed at Pallas in Germany or RTI in California or at any of the quality pressing facilities worldwide. It is such a shame that U2's music is treated so badly by Universal. Both of my discs were warped and Disc 1 was pressed off centre.
A word of warning also to prospective purchasers .. the vinyl formulation of these discs would appear not to conform with standard vinyl formulations as used in Europe, the USA or Japan. The point? You will not be able to 'flatten' and will actually damage this LP with any of the [expensive] vinyl LP flattening devices marketed by Axiss Distribution, viz. Air Tight Disc Flatter or a similar device marketed by Furutech which I recently saw at the High End Show in Munich, Germany. My pressings were noisy also.
I am reluctant to try a second copy if this is the best that Universal can offer for a whopping Euro 28.00. And tell me, what is audiophile about packing 2 vinyl LPs in Card Inner Sleeves which expose the vinyl to scuffs and scratches? The real and genuine audiophile specialist labels use polylined inner sleeves but obviously Universal cannot get its corporate head around such a concept. Who on earth would want a perfect LP that maybe you could have, treasure and play in twenty years time on your vinyl rig? 'The Joshua Tree' is a piece of musical and cultural history!
In short, I am very disappointed that a landmark album such as 'The Joshua Tree' has been given such a poor pressing by Universal. Universal .. take pattern by Warner Brothers Records in the United States which is now reissuing many of its classic recordings from the past and indeed new recordings also on top quality audiophile virgin vinyl, noise and warp free pressed at RTI in California. Pallas, the top German facility would have done a remarkable job on this 2LP set but whoever was engaged to do the vinyl pressing was not up to the task of creating an audiophile quality release. As a music lover and a dedicated audiophile I am extremely disappointed but live in hope that maybe Universal Japan might do this one some time in the future. Universal Europe, you deserve nothing more than a black mark for this shoddy effort, shame on you!
 Fantastic. January 28, 2008
2 out of 7 found this review helpful
This is an excellent thundering album by U2, the mastering of Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno is superb to perfection. The colouring and textures of the music is brilliant and superfluous. Here U2 brings out their best that make this album to stand out as unique. The diamond cutting edge of the Joshua Tree is pure sap seeping through the core of the tree. This classic album is as fresh as the green leaves from the tree. The shadow of the Joshua Tree will tower high,long after the tree has gone. This is a magnum album
 Really for Joshua Tree Tour fans... or completists.! December 13, 2007
5 out of 11 found this review helpful
Well, as another reviewer stated, mad fans like me already own most of the good studio material on this set.
However, that said - the DVD is interesting, although U2 seems to continuously plunder their back-catalogue this live show from Paris in 1987 reminded me so much of the shows I went to myself on that tour in London, Dublin and Edinburgh (when I was young and thought the band were writing just for me)...
One disappointing omission from the concert is Where The Streets Have No Name, from my memory this particular set would have started with 'Stand By Me', and Streets would have been before or after Pride .... so WHERE IS IT ? This one song defined the bands live shows for the next decade, and for it to be missing from the only official dvd of the tour is very strange indeed (perhaps Bono lost his voice on that song?)
Those minor issues aside, THIS IS THE ONLY OFFICIALLY RELEASED FOOTAGE OF THE JOSHUA TREE TOUR!
Plus it was nice to be able to watch once again (20 years later) the documentaries shot by the band during that stage of their career such as 'Outside it's America' (which I originally saw on BBC2's Whistle Test program) and chronicles the bands tour, including scenes of Bono and the Edge playing 'The Lost Highway' in some Country and Western dive in the midwest of America.
So if you're a fan, and would like to see what the band were like on that tour, promoting the breakthrough album that would ultimately catapult them to the dizzying heights of worldwide mega stardom and make possible all that came later (Zoo TV Tour, POPMART, anyone?) then YES, BUY IT.
But if you're not interested in seeing the band from that tour, then this Deluxe set has pretty much nothing to offer.
First review - not bad eh ?
 an insult to fans December 11, 2007
6 out of 19 found this review helpful
At first I was all excited about this release then it dawned on me that I already own all that is good about it and dont really want the gap filling dross thats been tacked on to the second CD.
Please dont buy this as a gift for someone you know is a U2 fan, we already have whats good about this, get something original instead, maybe something by keane/muse/radiohead
At Last "The Joshua Tree" Receives The Remaster & Upgrade It Deserves & It's Beautifully Packaged Too! December 8, 2007
22 out of 25 found this review helpful
I remember it vividly. It was the summer of 1987, probably August, and I was standing in the HMV Megastore in Oxford Street in London browsing through their CD racks looking for something else to punish my long-suffering credit card with. Back then the video was king. I mean the buggers were everywhere. MTV had them on rotation on our television sets at home all day and the more elaborate and expensive ones would even make the news! 1987 was a year when a pop video was given as much credence as the release of the album it was promoting. And HMV was no different. The flagship shop had loads of black TV monitors hanging out of their Oxford Street ceiling covering every square inch of floor space in their huge new store. So I'm standing there in this busy Megastore browsing like everyone else. And then it happened.
On came the new U2 video for "Where The Streets Had No Name". It was filmed in California on top of a building with the band playing live without announcement while American street goers below simply stopped in their tracks and looked up in amazement. And so did we. We all stopped and we all looked up in amazement. It was the only time I've ever seen this. The entire music store stopped and looked up at the TV monitors - hooked instantly by this incredible song and this dog's bollox of a band. The tune creeps in - building, building, building - then it bursts out of the speakers with this stunning chiming trailblazing guitar work and Bono's impassioned growl and lyrics. It was mesmerizing. I remember looking around me and noticing people's smiling faces. No one was browsing anymore. I remember thinking - my God! They really had hit the Global zeitgeist with this. And it wasn't just that I was a Dubliner and therefore proud of `our' band - this was different - in 1987 U2 really was dripping brilliance and `everyone' knew it.
So what's this jaunt back down memory lane got to do with this re-issue? The answer is `wonder'. The same thing I felt all those years ago in that megastore is `back'. Because this reissue folks, is truly one of the best I've ever heard or seen - a genuine `wow' in every sense of the word. And one that fans will thrill too.
"The Joshua Tree" was released globally in March 1987 and after 4 albums of escalating brilliance, U2 finally hit their penultimate moment - even the album's outtakes put out as B-sides on the singles were undeniably good. But the album on the relatively new format of compact disc was disappointingly dull and this magical record has remained in `dullard' sound-land ever since. There have been re-masters of some of the tracks on "Best Of 1980-1990" of course and the more recent "18 Singles" set, but this 20th Anniversary Edition Remaster issued globally on Monday 3 December 2007 is the first time in 20 years that the `entire' album has received a total overhaul and the sound quality and presentation is beautifully realised. The sound especially is just GORGEOUS.
Here's the lay of the land; the CD comes in 3 variants:
The 1st is a standard CD in one of the new round-corner hard jewel cases and presents the 11 tracks of the original album in newly remastered form. There are no bonus tracks, but there is an upgraded booklet. It sells for around 10.
The 2nd issue is housed in a gatefold digipak much like the "Deluxe Edition" issues from Universal or Zeppelin's recently issued "Mothership" set. The 2nd bonus disc gathers up all of the B-sides from the Album's single releases (7 tracks), track 8 is the single edit of "Where The Streets Have No Name", track 9 is the Sun City Version of "Silver & Gold" which features Keith Richards and Ron Wood of The Rolling Stones - and last but not least, a juicy 5 new unreleased `outtakes" from the album. Disc 2 has a total of 14 in all. This 2CD version sells for 20 or 22 or 18 online - depending where you buy it.
But the 3rd issue, the one I've bought this morning (day of release) is a deluxe edition of 3 discs and is a limited edition. It's the issue I would recommend. It costs 27 (I didn't see any price difference in any store - except that it's available online for 22 in some places with free p&p). And it really is gorgeous - pricey for sure - but a genuine peach for fans. The box itself is DVD sized but deeper inside; it has 3 gatefold card sleeves, the album in one, the bonus audio CD of 14 tracks in another and a 3rd, which is a bonus DVD. The DVD contains an 18-track July 1987 concert filmed in Paris, which is new, the "Outside Is America" documentary, an alternate video for "With Or Without You" and a rarely seen video of "Red Hill Mining Town". At over two and a half hours, it's a truly fantastic bonus.
I'm also tempted to buy the new vinyl version because it's been put onto 2LPs and not squashed onto one. The pressing run will be limited and will almost certainly become a collectable within months.
PACKINGING: All 3 CDs are in housed in gatefold card sleeves. The album has the same artwork of course, but the Bonus Audio CD and DVD discs feature Anton Corbijn's photo outtakes from The Joshua Tree sessions. It means that visually all three match - a nice touch. The 5 DVD sized Photographic Prints from the same sessions are housed in an embossed "Joshua Tree' symbol envelope and are nice, but a bit superfluous. The hardback book of 56-pages, however, is just gorgeous. There's all the lyrics from the album with singles pictured alongside their release dates, essays from all the key people around the album, the boys themselves, Daniel Lanois, Anton Corbijn, Steve Averill, Brian Eno and others. There are unpublished photographs, detailed production/reissue credits and even Allen Ginsberg's "America" poem reproduced at the end (one of the outtakes uses it). The whole shebang is lifted out of its recesses by a black ribbon. Classy. Some people have complained that 27 is excessive - money for old rope so to speak - but that kind of misses the point. The album has always deserved Rolls Royce treatment and now it finally gets it. The Deluxe edition is without question the one to buy for lovers of the album.
SOUND: First up is the album itself. The Edge has supervised the tape transfers with remastering, production and engineering credits going to Arnie Acosta of Bernie Grundman Mastering and production by Cheryl Engels of Partial Productions. And a bang up job they've all done too. The difference in quality is astonishing. The original LP ran to just over 50 minutes, a lot for that format, and the last track on Side 1 always suffered for that. "Running To Stand Still" is now spectacular - worth the price of admission alone. I'm hearing new sounds both during and at the end of this beautiful and overlooked gem. Similarly, "Red Hill Mining Town", "In God's Country" and "One Tree Hill" leap out of the speakers instead of limping. And if this isn't good enough, the album's finisher, the haunting "Mothers Of The Disappeared" now has absolutely extraordinary power - Eno's swirling and crashing soundscapes matching Bono's touching and heartfelt lyrics - it's magnificent and immensely moving - even after two decades of familiarity. All of these U2 tracks have been screaming out for sonic upgrades for years and this muscular re-mastering of them does not disappoint.
I've had the B-sides on original 1987 UK CD singles for years, but they are ordinary sounding like the original CD album. They too have been beefed up - they're now warm, clear and full of life. Very enjoyable rehearing them. A small point worth making is this. The supposed 2nd CD single here in the UK "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" has eluded my grasp for 20 years - I'm still not sure it exists. It's always documented in the band's British discography and presumed it's out there - but I've NEVER ACTUALLY SEEN ONE?? So the inclusion of its 2 rare B-sides here is welcome. The five new out-takes as you can imagine are a mixed bag, some good, some iffy - and obvious in most cases why they were relegated to the vaults. But as a rabid fan of the album, I'm grooving to them more and more. The lyrics to one of them, "Wave Of Sorrow (Birdland)", is even in the hardback book.
The DVD is not in 5.1 Surround, but it still sounds and looks amazing. Filmed at The Hippodrome de Vincennes in Paris on the 4th of July 1987, it shows the band in full flight - and they were just electrifying - on fire. Some mellow tracks like "October" and "MLK" also get rare outings here too - superb. The band then hits the crowd with an absolutely lethal triple whammy of "In God's Country", "Electric Co." and "Bad". The Edge's playing during "Electric Co." is simply hair-raising - and I swear - at moments during the song - they were simply the best band on the planet! Also towards the end of the song, a "huge" bare-chested male French fan is lifted up onto the stage; he in turn lifts Bono up into his arms and Bono then adds "Break On Through" by The Doors onto the end of the blistering "Electric Co". The crowd went genuinely wild!
To sum up: the album is remastered to spectacular effect, the bonus CD of B-sides and outtakes is never less than fantastic and the DVD simply the visual icing on top of an extraordinary cake. When you think that June 2007 has passed without a 40th Anniversary appreciation of "Sgt. Peppers" by The Beatles and November 2007 without a 35th Anniversary Edition of Zeppelin's "Four Symbols" - at least those at Universal and Island have had the brains not to miss this masterpiece's 20th Anniversary.
Whatever way you cut it, this is an exceptional re-issue of one of `the' great albums of our times - and with the weeks bleeding into 2008, not a moment too soon. A thing of `wonder' indeed. U2 are of course millionaires now - way too big for their britches - way too mouthy - and spend way too much of their time pissing about with hotel properties - when they should be pissing 'in' hotel properties and generally vandalizing them like proper rock stars do. Still, back then, they had `magic' coming out of their ears. Idealism, love, deserts, slappin' em down and The Edge's cool hat - it's all in there. "Get involved in the fight..." they told us in the liner notes to the album. Join Amnesty International and Greenpeace they urged - and swept away by the glorious positivity of it all, many of us did! What a band - what a landmark record!
Final analysis - a job well done!
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