Customer Reviews

Joshua Tree (Remastered / Expanded) (Super Deluxe Edition) (2CD/DVD)

5 star:		(71)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Nearly 21 years after the original release of The Joshua Tree, the CD version of the album has finally gotten its due. In what must be considered an embarrassment of packaging riches, this new "Super Deluxe" 20th Anniversary Edition of the album more than does justice to the original album art (poorly served on previous CD releases), and the music has been given a spanking new mastering, supervised by none other than The Edge. The "Super Deluxe" edition comes in a sturdy, 6" x 8" x 1.5" box with fully restored cover art. Inside is a 56 page hardcover book containing liner notes, lyrics, pictures, single-sleeve art, technical information, and a number of essays, including ones by Bono, Daniel Lanois, Adam Clayton, Anton Corbijn, Brian Eno, and The Edge. An embossed envelope contains five more Corbijn photos, printed on 5" x 7" sheets of textured, "antique" paper. The three discs all come in their own mini-LP gatefold sleeves: the album disc is in a quasi replica of the original LP sleeve, whereas the bonus CD and DVD are in similar sleeves featuring alternate photos. No detail has been overlooked - even the CD labels are patterned after the spindle label on the original LP. This is a truly "super deluxe" package.

But what about the sound? While the original 1987 mastering was never great, much of what has been lambasted over the years as murky sound is really intrinsic to the original recording and/or mix. It is important to note that this is a remastered version of the original mix, not a remixed version of the original session tapes. Thus, the overall qualities of the original mix remain, such as dense atmospherics and an ambient soundscape. However, this version improves matters. There is a substantial increase in volume, but generally not to the point of clipping. A visual analysis of the waveforms reveals only a handful of clipped peaks throughout the album. Comparison between this release and the mastering on Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab's Gold Ultradisc II release (out of print) reveals very little difference between the two, which indicates to me the engineers on this remaster used discretion with their techniques, and did not go overboard. Overall, instrumental textures are fuller, and bass response is improved. Also, the continual tape hiss that was present even in between tracks on the original CD has been removed. (Some hiss intrinsic to the original analog tapes remains, but is reduced from the original mastering.) Generally speaking, all but the most critical and particular listeners can feel confident they are getting the best sounding version of this album yet released with this new mastering.

The 14-track bonus audio disc contains a number of b-sides and unused tracks from the period that have previously been available elsewhere, but have never been collected in one place before. Six of the fourteen tracks were either previously unreleased or were very rare prior to this release. The songs range from excellent to barely worthy of release ("Drunk Chicken"), but are all worth having if you are any sort of completist. For those who have always imagined that The Joshua Tree was the best double album never made (an erroneous notion, as Edge makes clear in his essay), the bonus disc provides them the perfect opportunity to construct their own version of the fabled opus.

The concert presented on the DVD goes a good distance toward filling a gap that has existed in the U2 catalog for the last two decades - namely the absence of a full-length concert video from The Joshua Tree Tour. This video (the liner notes say it was filmed, but industrial-size video cameras are clearly visible onstage) features the entire concert U2 performed in the Paris Hippodrome on July 4, 1987, minus three cover songs (the concert openers "Stand By Me" and "C'Mon Everybody," and a rendition of "Help!" that they played between "Electric Co." and "Bad"). The band is in top form, playing a classic lineup of their songs, many of which have not been heard on later tours. Notably, they did not perform "Where the Streets Have No Name" at this concert, an omission that occurred a number of times on the European leg of the tour. The video direction is refreshingly plain, avoiding the overly moody lighting Phil Joanou employed in Rattle and Hum (the Paris footage was directed by Gavin Taylor), and without the short-attention-span jump cuts of the band's recent concert videos. The sound is an excellent LPCM stereo mix - not surround, it's true, but every bit as good as you would expect from a live album on CD. The sound is actually better than either the live tracks on the Rattle and Hum CD, or the fan club only release of the 1989/1990 New Year's concert at the Point Depot.

The documentary, "Outside it's America," basically plays like Rattle and Hum's little brother, only in color and not as well shot - and, frankly, not as interesting. On the other hand, it does not have the myth-making posturing that so marred Rattle and Hum. Both this documentary and the concert video show a more human, down-to-earth, less "god like" side of the band. Still, the documentary has a lot of footage that will likely be of interest to die-hard fans only. (It is worth noting that the documentary was directed by Barry Devlin and Meiert Avis, not Phil Joanou, and therefore is not an assemblage of rejected Rattle and Hum footage, as has been speculated elsewhere.) The two music videos are fair makeweights, but are hardly essential. The selling point of the DVD is without question the concert video, which many fans will find invaluable, making this set an easy choice over the two-disc Deluxe edition.

On the whole, this is an outstanding issue that more than makes good on its promises. Thoroughly recommended.

This is worth every penny. The remastering sounds nice, on both the Joshua Tree and B-sides disc.. It's finally nice to have a great sounding version of "Deep In The Heart."

The Bonus DVD disc is where it's at though. You get a concert and a mini tour diary/documentary that totally sheds another light on the Joshua Tree era U2. If you weren't a serious fan in 87 you more than likely assumed, from what you saw of them, that U2 took themselves too seriously and weren't really fun at all.

The concert shows U2 in a different light than how Rattle and Hum showed them on film. The mini tour documentary shows them having fun, and seeing this now is so wonderful.

This was a wonderful package and hopefully older albums will be remastered and presented in this manner as well. I sure hope the WAR album is next!

Note: this is a tentative impression, as I just brought the box home today. I won't comment on the music, as it's all been said before...

I was debating whether to get this super deluxe version or go 1 tier down to the double-CD level (the single CD was not a choice since I wanted the b-sides and alt. takes, etc.). I never got his on vinyl but have had the original redbook CD for years.I know there've been several audiophile editions over the years (MFSL, etc.) but they've been out of print and 2nd hand go for very steep prices. So I was curious if the sonic improvements would be worth it. In a nutshell, the sound is noticeably better, with a definite more visceral bass and "presence," but the improvement is not earth-shaking. It would have been nice to have this as a hybrid SACD or a DVD-A, but those formats have not been widely accepted. A 5.1 mix in addition to trad. stereo would have been nice too. Hence the 4 and not 5 stars. Quick first impressions:
Package: Nice black box (not too big) holds contents in a manner that makes them easy to remove. The 2 CDs and the DVD are each in their own black cardboard sleeve that folds open (as opposed to an open sleeve that makes it easy for the disc to fall out).

Extra CD: no comments yet.
DVD: the concert was videotaped, not filmed. I'm guessing for TV, as the aspect is small-screen. Can't comment on the sonics, but on my TV it sounded very well recorded. The additional documentary (on film) follows the band around on tour. The usual backstage banter, rehearsals, mixing with the Calif and Arizona locals, etc. Interesting and artfully made, but not sure this would bear repeated screenings...One video is in grainy and shadowy B/W while the other, in color, is a bit more straightforward, with the band in some coal mine (canary and all).

The book: very handsome and classy with essays and pix - some new insights, but again, not sure it's worth it.

The package of 5 cards: I guess they're suitable for framing. Apparently from the same photo session that yielded the album cover. Not necessary.

Bottom line: the live concert on the DVD is definitely worth it. Especially if (as expected) it won't be available separately for the foreseable future.

Once again, a classic album falls victim to the idiotic modern trend of maxing everything out in the mix to create a muddled, lifeless sound. All the atmosphere and nuance of the original album is lost in this remaster; Bullet the Blue Sky sounds especially awful. Stick with the original album.

So... Just like 20yrs, 8mos ago, I was standing in front of the local CD retailer to be the first to pick up The Joshua Tree. I succeeded yet again. :-)

Being the looney that I am, I bought the "one-up your friends" version with the DVD and the book. I've had a little time with each of the above, and I thought I'd share my findings with those who WEREN'T the first in line to grab the 20th Anniv. Ed.

The first CD, the reissue of the original material, is what you're REALLY buying this for, of course. I haven't listened to every second of the CD yet, but after listening to about 20mins of it (pieces of every song), it definitely is an improvement over the original release. Whereas the 1987 release sounded murky and muddy, with poorly-defined bass being its worst "feature", the new one is noticeably clearer. It won't knock your socks off, but they did clean it up. It also plays a little bit louder than the original, but not massively so.

The best feature of disc 1? They no longer have the end of "One Tree Hill" cut off and tacked onto the beginning of "Exit"... The chapter break (or whatever you call it) is now in the right place. I don't know if later pressings of The Joshua Tree had this problem, but my first-run copy did (and does).

The second disc is mostly material that we've seen before, either as b-sides or in the singles collection of a few years back. Only the last five tracks are "new", or at least new in the sense that you probably haven't heard them before unless you're a fanatic. I'm not going to review these songs, or indeed the rest of the audio, since if you're interested in buying this set you probably don't care if the add'l material is any good, now do you?

The DVD, however, could affect your decision about whether or not to buy this set instead of the audio-only set. To the contrary of the logo on the back of the box, the video material is NOT in Dolby Digital. I thought that I'd made a mistake with the setup of my player, but after switching back and forth between a couple of other discs, I can only conclude that this is in fact NOT in surround sound.

The concert on the disc is a good show, near as I can tell after a half-hour of watching. It's shot on video (in 4:3, like all the video on the disc) and is filmed at least partially at night, so there are occasional instances where the stage lights "smear" as the camera pans across them, but it's nowhere NEAR as bad as the Red Rocks show (which I bet we'll NEVER see on DVD). It's interesting to finally have an official video from the era that's not "Rattle and Hum", and the performance of the band at the peak of its powers is quite engaging.

The two music videos are interesting but, again, nothing earth-shattering. The alternate video of "With or Without You" isn't a giant departure from the one we're all familiar with, but I will say I'm glad they didn't use that one. The video for "Red Hill Mining Town" is presently up on YouTube so you can take a gander and decide whether or not you think it's something you MUST have.

The documentary is pretty cool (again, from what I've seen of it). It even includes video of the shooting of the now-famous Time Magazine cover, among other things. I think this and the concert make the DVD worthwhile.

Also in the box is the hardback book and a few photos. The pictures are Anton Corbijn shots that are printed on heavy paper stock and sheathed in a cardboard envelope. They're "suitable for printing", as they say, but I'll probably just leave them in the box. The hardback book contains pieces written by several of the gents responsible for the original record, some more photos, the lyrics to all the songs, and several pages of credits at the end. A nice piece that I haven't read every page of yet, but I will definitely set aside a half hour to pore through it.

So there you have it. I'm giving this four stars instead of five because of the decision to not mix the audio for the DVD into Dolby Digital or DTS. Another reason for the 4 stars is that I feel the remastering could've been a little more impressive... It should've been in the SACD or the DVD-A format, for instance, and a little more time could have been taken to make it even clearer-sounding.

I'm sure that Island will happily produce a hi-res audio version of this at a later time and I can buy The Joshua Tree AGAIN.

I am not going to get into a review of the music on "The Joshua Tree" because, quite frankly, if you are looking at the remastered version and have not been living on an island the past 20 years, you should already know all you need to know about the musical content of this album.

I will also preface this review by saying I have heard this album in many formats - LP, cassette, original pressing 1987 CD and a later mid-90's issue CD which had slightly different packaging but no noticeable sound improvement.

There is NO doubt that the remastered version of this CD is far, far superior. I did buy the "Super Deluxe" version of this re-issue, but I have no idea what to tell you about the bonus CD or DVD as I have not listened/watched to either of those. However, as for the CD proper, this is a far richer and sonically improved album; it's really like discovering "The Joshua Tree" all over again.

Whichever version of the remastered CD you buy, I promise you that you will be very pleased. If you are pressed for cash, just get the single disc CD. There is no reason to listen to one more second of the old, tinny, flat, poor quality previous master of this CD.

Now... if only we could get remastered versions of War, The Unforgettable Fire and Achtung Baby...

In a world where everything is created for compressed audio /MP3 files and the tiny speakers/ipod generation, it was a pleasure to listen to the re mastered Joshua Tree and appreciate the depth of this recording.
20 years later this is still one of my all time favourite recordings and the bonus material only reminded me more of the era I would like to return to.

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 even made 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. And I remember thinking - my God - they really have 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 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.

"...I want to reach out...and touch the flame..." he sang. And now we can.

While I've enjoyed every U2 album (there's even redemption in at least half of their "Pop" album from the 1990s), The Joshua Tree is what got me into the band originally and is what I consider their first masterpiece. Achtung, Baby and then How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb eventually followed as triumphs, but this box set was a delightful gift to have received. Sure, I owned the Joshua Tree already, but after 20 years it's a bit worn out and the remastered versions are crisp and clear. The packaging is nice, although I don't need such a thick box just to hold a booklet and a couple of CDs/DVDs.

The book that is included makes for a great companion to the CD and the DVD of the Joshua Tree Tour show from Paris is actually very high quality, along the same lines of other U2 concert releases on DVD. I was a bit surprised at that, although I'm curious as to why the concert didn't open with Where the Streets Have No Name, which eventually became a concert standard. The "Outside, it's America" documentary is nearly worthless. I think I remember seeing it air originally on MTV when The Joshua Tree started becoming huge but it's really not a value-add to my collection. It's basically an hour of watching them eat and wander around. The bonus music videos are nice to have, but it's not like I'd pop in a DVD just to watch a couple of music videos. Perhaps if they had gone the extra mile of including all of The Joshua Tree-related videos, there'd be just a bit more value.

The bonus CD contains, as other posters have noted, a good number of songs that have already been made available on B-Sides compilations. "Beautiful Ghost/Introduction to Songs of Experience" is a spooky reading of some lyrics or poem and as such, can't really be considered a song. "Wave of Sorrow (Birdland)" is another new song that's pretty good for a B-Side song and has some familiar chord progressions reminiscent of U2 of that era.

"Desert of our Love" isn't really a complete song as it includes quite a bit of "bonoglese" or whatever Bono's placeholder lyrics language is called. You'll hear him calling out instructions such as "one more verse" or "bass and drums" which actually only seems distracting on the first listen or two but the mind learns to ignore those and appreciate what seemed like a good song and a good way to hear how the band worked in the studio. "Rise Up" is probably the best of the new songs and seems to really thrive. I wouldn't mind U2 taking a chance on reviving this as part of a future tour. The last of the new songs is "Drunk Chicken/America" which was not even worth space on my iPod. Still, a handful of new songs, a quality DVD, and a pristine version of the original Joshua Tree album make this a valuable addition to any U2 addict's collection.

Not only did I get this item for more than half price, I chose no rush shipping, and it got here in 2 days. I was very pleased, and this will be a great present for my dad, he absolutely loves U2. Now do the same for the Uber-Deluxe version of Achtung Baby, and we're in business!