U2 7

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. 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. That final disc repeats most of the tracks on the bonus CD included in the 20th anniversary reissue (the SDE of which was a 2CD+DVD set), although it omits the single edit of Where the Streets Have No Name and adds an unreleased alternate mix of I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For (called the ‘Lillywhite Alternative Mix ’87’) and a new 2017 mix of One Tree Hill (called One Tree Hill Reprise) courtesy of Brian Eno.

In many ways, U2 took their fondness for sonic bombast as far as it could go on War, so it isn't a complete surprise that they chose to explore the intricacies of the Edge's layered, effects-laden guitar on the follow-up, The Unforgettable Fire. Working with producers Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois, U2 created a dark, near-hallucinatory series of interlocking soundscapes that are occasionally punctuated by recognizable songs and melodies…

In many ways, U2 took their fondness for sonic bombast as far as it could go on War, so it isn't a complete surprise that they chose to explore the intricacies of the Edge's layered, effects-laden guitar on the follow-up, The Unforgettable Fire. Working with producers Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois, U2 created a dark, near-hallucinatory series of interlocking soundscapes that are occasionally punctuated by recognizable songs and melodies…

Opening with the ominous, fiery protest of "Sunday Bloody Sunday," War immediately announces itself as U2's most focused and hardest-rocking album to date. Blowing away the fuzzy, sonic indulgences of October with propulsive, martial rhythms and shards of guitar, War bristles with anger, despair, and above all, passion…

U2 sounded so confident and assured on their debut that perhaps it was inevitable they would stumble slightly on its follow-up, October. The record isn't weaker than its predecessor because it repeats the formula of Boy. It's because the band tries too hard to move forward…

The Joshua Tree is the fifth studio album by rock band U2. It was produced by Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, and was released on 9 March 1987 by Island Records. In contrast to the ambient experimentation of their 1984 release The Unforgettable Fire, on The Joshua Tree U2 aimed for a harder-hitting sound within the limitation of conventional song structures. The album is influenced by American and Irish roots music, and depicts the band's love–hate relationship with the United States, with socially and politically conscious lyrics embellished with spiritual imagery. Rolling Stone magazine ranked the album at number 27 on their 2012 list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time", calling it "an album that turns spiritual quests and political struggles into uplifting stadium singalongs".