What’s In The Joshua Tree 30th Anniversary?

Original Story by Aaron J. Sams (2017-03-09)

More information about the new releases of The Joshua Tree 30th Anniversary Edition are coming to light. We can now report on the length of some of the new materials in the box set. The disc of live material from the 1987 New York Concert will run 76:36 in length. The new remix CD will run 31:42 in length. There are two additional new mixes, one from ’87 and one from ’17 on the rarities disc, and these two tracks total 06:25 in length. Across the three discs, the total new material comes in at 114:43, or just under two hours.

The following is the individual breakdowns of these items:

CD 2: The Joshua Tree Live at Madison Square Garden 1987 (Total New Material: 17 tracks, 76:36)

  • Where the Streets Have No Name Live (06:30)
  • I Will Follow (Live) (03:58)
  • Trip Through Your Wires (Live) (03:45)
  • I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For / Exodous (Live) (05:51)
  • MLK (Live) (02:02)
  • Bullet the Blue Sky (Live) (05:47)
  • Running to Stand Still (Live) (04:45
  • In God’s Country (Live) (02:49)
  • Sunday Bloody Sunday (Live) (04:13)
  • Exit / Gloria (Live) (04:39)
  • October (Live) (02:05)
  • New Year’s Day (Live) (04:44)
  • Pride (Live) (04:53)
  • With or Without You (Live) (05:28)
  • Party Girl (Live) (03:23)
  • I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For (Live – Choir Version) (05:53)
  • “40” (Live) (05:51)

CD 3: The Joshua Tree Remixes: (Total New Material: 6 tracks, 31:42)

  • One Tree Hill (St Francis Hotel Remix) (04:17)
  • Bullet the Blue Sky (Jacknife Lee Remix) (06:03)
  • Running to Stand Still (Daniel Lanois Remix) (04:40)
  • Red Hill Mining Town (Steve Lillywhite 2017 Mix) (04:53)
  • With or Without You (Daniel Lanois Remix) (05:04)
  • Where the Streets Have No Name (Flood Remix) (06:45)

CD 4: The Joshua Tree B-Sides & Outtakes (Total New Material: 2 tracks, 06:25)

  • I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For (Lillywhite Alternative Mix ’87) (04:15)
  • One Tree Hill Reprise (Brian Eno 2017 Mix) (02:10)

There are additional songs on CD 4, which were previously released on the 2007 remastered edition of the CD. We compared those tracks to the new track times with these from the 2007 set and they were the same length. As well, the album tracks are the same as what is on the 2007 edition.

Original Article, March 9, 2017:

Good morning…or GOOD MORNING to the collectors out there.

U2 have announced plans for a variety of releases surrounding the 30th anniversary of The Joshua Tree including new releases on vinyl, digital and CD. Release date is June 2nd for the sets. We do our best to break it down below for you. Pricing is based on the announced pre-order pricing on U2.com, but we are sad to report those who have resubscribed and gotten their 25% off coupons will be unable to use those coupons for these items. This is similar to past releases such as the U2ieTour DVD. The pricing on the sets have increased since the listings originally were placed on U2.com this morning. We have updated our prices in the article below, but have retained information about the original pricing.


VIDEO: Universal Music Portugal Promotional Video

The set will contain some new material including a live concert never before directly released by U2 (Madison Square Garden, New York, September 28, 1987), a series of remixes of album tracks including remixes by Brian Eno, Danny Lanois, Jacknife Lee, St. Francis Hotel, and Steve Lillywhite, and an archive track never before released (an alternate mix of “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”).

Over the early months of 2017 we’ve had some information that these releases were coming and below are a couple of related articles where we speak about these releases, including a look at the songs which make up The Joshua Tree:

The Joshua Tree Single CD ($12.98) and The Joshua Tree Standard Vinyl ($34.98)


IMAGE: CD Edition of The Joshua Tree

Both of these versions of The Joshua Tree are getting the re-release treatment with the standard track listing, and no surprises. No word yet on whether the audio has been tweaked further for the 2017 set, but we doubt that it has. In fact, this article in Billboard clearly notes that the main album is the 2007 version in the deluxe box track listing. Neither of these include any extra tracks and both contain the artwork from the 2007 release.

The Joshua Tree 2CD Deluxe ($19.98)


IMAGE: 2-CD Edition of The Joshua Tree

This set includes the normal pressing of The Joshua Tree and adds a second live CD The Joshua Tree Live at Madison Square Garden 1987. The second CD will include the following tracklisting:

Where The Streets Have No Name / I Will Follow / Trip Through Your Wires / I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For / MLK / Bullet The Blue Sky / Running To Stand Still / In God’s Country / Sunday Bloody Sunday / Exit / October / New Year’s Day / Pride (In The Name Of Love) / With Or Without You / Party Girl / I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For / “40”

In 1987 U2 played Madison Square Garden on two dates, September 28 and 29, 1987. The set listed above is a shortened version of one of the shows. The first show would have included “The Unforgettable Fire,” “Help,” “Bad,” and “Spanish Eyes” which have all been dropped here, likely to get the run time of the CD down to a single disc. The list of tracks on U2.com omits these tracks. And yes, you are seeing correctly, there were two performances of “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” that night, as during the second performance the New Voices of Freedom gospel choir joined U2 on stage. This is most likely the concert that is being released.

The second night at Madison Square Garden only featured one performance of “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”, and featured no performance of “Sunday Bloody Sunday” (Included on CD above).

The concert from September 28, has previously been released in a digital format through a company called “Wolfgang’s Vault” which over the years has been releasing material from the collection of the late Bill Graham. The audio in that release was first released on December 4, 2012. It is unknown what legal agreements U2 have made with Wolfgang’s Vault but the service over the years has offered a number of recordings for sale without any legal action.

The performance of “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” with the New Voices of Freedom has previously been released on “Rattle and Hum”.

The Joshua Tree Super Deluxe 4CD Box Set ($119.95, was originally priced $109.95)


IMAGE: 4-CD Edition of The Joshua Tree

This box set includes the material above, both the regular version of the album and the live album, but adds two additional CDs. One of these CDs includes remixes, and the other will include B-Sides and Outtakes.

CD 3: The Joshua Tree Remixes:
One Tree Hill (St Francis Hotel Remix) / Bullet The Blue Sky (Jacknife Lee Remix) / Running To Stand Still (Daniel Lanois Remix) / Red Hill Mining Town (Steve Lillywhite 2017 Mix) / With Or Without You (Daniel Lanois Remix) / Where The Streets Have No Name (Flood Remix)

All of these remixes are new releases of material. There have been no alternate versions of most of these songs previously. There is an alternate edit of “Where the Streets Have No Name” that has been used on singles, but that mix was by Lillywhite, and appears to be missing on these releases, so the “Flood Remix” should be a new mix as well.

CD 4: The Joshua Tree B-Sides & Outtakes
Luminous Times (Hold On To Love) / Walk To The Water / Spanish Eyes / Deep In The Heart / Silver And Gold / Sweetest Thing / Race Against Time / I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For (Lillywhite Alternative Mix ’87) / One Tree Hill Reprise (Brian Eno 2017 Mix) / Silver and Gold / Beautiful Ghost/Introduction To Songs Of Experience / Wave Of Sorrow (Birdland) / Desert Of Our Love / Rise Up / Drunk Chicken/America

The fourth CD adds two previously unheard tracks, an alternate mix from 1987 of “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” and a 2017 mix of “One Tree Hill” marked “Reprise” – reprises tend to be short audio versions of the original song and this may refer to the “Oh great ocean” coda of the song, so it will be interesting to hear what is included here. All of the other tracks on this CD were released on the 2007 super deluxe set, and the 2007 two-CD deluxe set.


IMAGE: 4-CD Edition of The Joshua Tree

The box set of CDs is 320mm x 332mm x 50mm and will weigh 3kg. (Just over a foot in length and width) Along with the CDs the package contents list the following:

  • Bespoke boxset. Cover features a textured embossed gold foiled Joshua tree icon
  • 4 CD’s housed in a double gatefold 12” CD folio
  • 3.5hrs of audio content / 49 tracks (25x unreleased tracks: 17x live, 7x new mixes, 1x archive track) [Editors note: This count of unreleased tracks on U2.com includes the live CD and would suggest the Flood mix of “Where the Streets Have No Name” is a new mix]
  • The Joshua Tree double album
  • The Joshua Tree Live at Madison Square Garden 1987
  • The Joshua Tree Remixes
  • The Joshua Tree B-Sides & Outtakes
  • The Joshua Tree – Photographs by The Edge. An 84-page hardback book of personal never-before seen photography by The Edge, taken during the original Mojave Desert Joshua Tree shoot, 1986
  • A folio of 8 rare 12” Anton Corbijn colour prints

The Joshua Tree Super Deluxe Box Set 7LP ($169.95, was originally priced $159.95)


IMAGE: 7-LP Edition of The Joshua Tree

This vinyl set includes all of the above content on seven vinyl pressed in 180g vinyl. The set includes the following according to U2.com:

  • Bespoke boxset. Cover features a textured embossed gold foiled Joshua tree icon.
  • 7 pieces of original, live and unreleased recordings on 12” 180gsm vinyl.
  • 3.5hrs of audio content / 49 tracks (25x unreleased tracks: 17x live, 7x new mixes, 1x archive track)
  • The Joshua Tree – Photographs by The Edge. An 84-page hardback book of personal never-before seen photography by The Edge, taken during the original Mojave Desert Joshua Tree shoot, 1986
  • A folio of 8 rare 12” Anton Corbijn colour prints


IMAGE: 7-LP Edition of The Joshua Tree

The Joshua Tree itself is split over two 12-Inch Records. The Joshua Tree Live at Madison Square Garden 1987 is also split over two 12-Inch Records. The remixes CD is contained on one 12-Inch Record, in the same running order. The next vinyl in the set is the “Outtakes” which features the alternate mix of “I Still Haven’t Found”, the reprise of “One Tree Hill”, and the outtakes that were released in the 2017 box set. The running order is slightly different here from the CD, and “Beautiful Ghost” follows the two new mixes, on the CD “Silver and Gold” is mentioned next.

Outtakes Side 3: I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For (Lillywhite Alternative Mix ’87) / One Tree Hill Reprise (Brian Eno 2017 Mix) / Silver and Gold (Sun City) / Beautiful Ghost/Introduction To Songs Of Experience Outtakes Side 4: Wave Of Sorrow (Birdland) / Desert Of Our Love / Rise Up / Drunk Chicken/America

The Outtakes listed here include the note “Sun City” after “Silver and Gold”. There are two versions of “Silver and Gold”, one is the version Bono recorded for the 1985 project of the same name, a solo recording of the song. U2 redid the song and released it as a B-Side in 1987. The “Sun City” note would suggest this is the earlier solo version of “Silver and Gold”. This makes sense as the song appears again on the B-Sides disc.

The final disc in the seven disc set is the B-Sides, which features a collection of the seven B-Sides released on the original The Joshua Tree singles.

The box set is 320mm x 332mm x 75mm. The set is listed at 5kg in weight.

Other formats:


IMAGE: 2-CD Edition of The Joshua Tree with T-Shirt

U2.com is selling additional formats for the sets. These are the same releases as listed above but include additional items. The first is the addition of a T-Shirt, available with the two disc set, the 4-CD box set, and the 7-LP box set. The T-shirt is black with a gold Joshua tree on the front. The T-shirt is added on for an additional $9.97 in the 2-CD set, and for an additional $15.00 in the two box sets. (Both box sets have now been increased in price by $10.00 on U2.com, and the sets with the T-shirts have not increased, making the T-shirt now a added $5.00 in the box sets, and an added $9.97 on the 2 disc set).


IMAGE: 7-LP Edition of The Joshua Tree with Record Bag

The final add on is a custom Joshua tree record bag, which is available with the 7-LP box set. The record bag is black, and contains an embroidered Joshua Tree logo on the bag. The bag is available with the pre-order of the 7-LP set for an additonal $20, or a total of $179.95.

All sets are now available for pre-order at U2.com. These releases are also starting to appear at Amazon sites around the world:

(Many thanks to Agustin Pandullo, Don Morgan, Kelly McNamara and Mark Peterborough for assistance with this article)

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