U2’s Joshua Tree Remastered and Expanded

Today, U2 is releas­ing a remas­tered ver­sion of the album that turned a pop­u­lar band into a super band. Com­mem­o­rat­ing its 20th anniver­sary (how can it be that old already?), the Joshua Tree is being re-issued in four ver­sions — 1) a remas­tered sin­gle CD, 2) a 2‑CD set that fea­tures the remas­tered album and b‑sides/rarities from the Joshua Tree record­ing ses­sions, 3) a 2‑CD/1‑DVD col­lectible box that includes a 56 page book; and 4) a dou­ble vinyl pack­age.

The re-release of this album has a cer­tain unwel­comed com­mer­cial feel to it. I’ll grant that. But, regard­less, I’m buy­ing it. The Joshua Tree loomed in the back­ground dur­ing a great moment in my life. And just hear­ing it brings me back to the sounds and smells of that peri­od. So, if I can hear it remas­tered and get more songs from the record­ing ses­sions, I guess I’ll take it.

In the mean­time, I’ll leave you with these bits of free U2 media. First, spend some time with “Bono: The Rolling Stone Inter­view” (iTunes - Feed — Web Site). Here Jann Wen­ner, the founder of Rolling Stone, leads a long and wide-rang­ing inter­view with Bono Vox. The sec­ond item is a video (below) fea­tur­ing Bono singing and telling the sto­ry behind “Wave of Sor­ry,” one of the b‑sides from the new Joshua Tree release.

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