U2: The Joshua Tree, Restored

Music

Some might feel it’s wrong to change the presentation of a “classic” album, but in a few cases, you could make an argument that the album is improved if presented in a new way.  U2’s “The Joshua Tree” is one of those albums.  Read on for how the “restored” version sounds.

A few years ago, a now-defunct website mentions restoring “The Joshua Tree” to a double album, as U2 may have originally intended.  I got wind of this through a forum posting that explained some of the rationale behind the restored lineup.  In other words, there were too many songs, and U2 had reduced the track lineup (amid some debate) to a single LP’s worth of music.  At 18 songs long, the restored version is only seven songs longer than the original album, so it’s still an easy listen.

Here is the track listing I’m using for my restored version:
1. Where The Streets Have No Name
2. Silver And Gold (Studio Version) *
3. I Still Haven’t Found…
4. Spanish Eyes *
5. With Or Without You
6. Luminous Times *
7. Walk To The Water *
8. Bullet The Blue Sky
9. Running To Stand Still
10. Red Hill Mining Town
11. Race Against Time *
12. In God’s Country
13. Trip Through Your Wires
14. Sweetest Thing *
15. One Tree Hill
16. Deep In The Heart *
17. Exit
18. Mothers Of The Disappeared

You only need the new two-CD remastered version of “The Joshua Tree” to produce the restored version, as all of the extra tracks can be found there.

When the album was released, many of these extra tracks came along as B-sides.  Often B-sides are weaker songs or throwaways, but in this case, most of these are fully realized tracks that in all but one instance (“Walk To The Water”), fit in seamlessly with the rest of the original “Joshua Tree” album.  To my ears, some of these songs actually fill the gaps in between the others to tell a continuous story.

I’ll leave it to you to figure out if it works or not.   I still like the original album’s running order, but the restored version is also a very good listen, and gives you a new perspective on what the band was thinking when they conceived this project.