Joshua Tree 30th Anniversary

U2 are going to re-release their classic album "Joshua Tree" to remark its 30th anniversary.
It's the second time the album is re-released (it exists also a 20th anniversary edition) but this time the tracks are massive.
Well, you can get almost everything that exists from this period of U2. The entire album, plus b-sides, live versions, outtakes, demos or new remixes.
Also, to celebrate (not promote) Joshua Tree the Irish band is going for a tour across North America and Europe, where they'll play, for the first time ever, the entire album live.

Joshua Tree is one of the most emblematic albums of U2. It was their album that lead them to world mainstream and, probably, the most sweet and romantic of the band, exploring themes like loss, love and world peace. A great and fantastic album, much different from their next direction in the 90's,

Check out the tracklist of the celebratory editions:

THE JOSHUA TREE – 30TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION - FORMATS

1. VINYL SUPER DELUXE BOXSET (with digital download card)
LP 1+2 – The Joshua Tree album
LP 3+4 – The Joshua Tree Live at Madison Square Garden 1987
LP 5+6+7– The Joshua Tree Remixes / Outtakes / B-Sides

LP 1+2 – The Joshua Tree album
Where The Streets Have No Name
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
With Or Without You
Bullet The Blue Sky
Running To Stand Still
Red Hill Mining Town
In God's Country
Trip Through Your Wires
One Tree Hill
Exit
Mothers Of The Disappeared

LP 3+4 – The Joshua Tree Live at Madison Square Garden 1987
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"

LP 5 – Remixes
One Tree Hill 2017 Remix (St Francis Hotel)
Bullet the Blue Sky 2017 Remix (Jacknife Lee)
Running To Stand Still 2017 Remix (Daniel Lanois)
Red Hill Mining Town 2017 Mix (Steve Lillywhite)
With or Without You 2017 Remix (Daniel Lanois)
Where The Streets Have No Name 2017 Remix (Flood)

LP 6 – Outtakes
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
Wave Of Sorrow (Birdland)
Desert Of Our Love
Rise Up
Drunk Chicken/America

LP 7 – B–sides
Luminous Times (Hold On To Love)
Walk To The Water
Spanish Eyes
Deep In The Heart
Silver And Gold
Sweetest Thing
Race Against Time

Book: Photographs by The Edge, a hardback collection of previously unpublished personal photographs from the original Mojave Desert sessions in 1986. Foreword by The Edge.

Plus: Folio of 8 Anton Corbijn Color Prints from 1986

2. CD SUPER DELUXE BOXSET (with digital download card)
CD1 - 2007 Joshua Tree album
CD2 - The Joshua Tree Live at Madison Square Garden 1987
CD3 – The Joshua Tree 2017 Remixes
One Tree Hill 2017 Remix (St Francis Hotel)
Bullet the Blue Sky 2017 Remix (Jacknife Lee)
Running To Stand Still 2017 Remix (Daniel Lanois)
Red Hill Mining Town 2017 Mix (Steve Lillywhite)
With or Without You 2017 Remix (Daniel Lanois)
Where The Streets Have No Name 2017 Remix (Flood)

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 (Sun City)
Beautiful Ghost/Introduction To Songs Of Experience
Wave Of Sorrow (Birdland)
Desert Of Our Love
Rise Up
Drunk Chicken/America

Book: Photographs by The Edge – collection of never seen before personal photographs from the original Mojave Desert sessions in 1986 in a hardback book, with foreword written by The Edge.

Plus: Folio of 8 Anton Corbijn Color Prints from 1987

3. 2 CD DELUXE
CD 1 – The Joshua Tree album
CD 2 – The Joshua Tree Live at Madison Square Garden 1987
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"

4. STANDARD VINYL
The Joshua Tree (double heavyweight vinyl)

5. STANDARD CD
The Joshua Tree

6. DIGITAL FORMATS
3 x digital products: Standard, Deluxe and Super Deluxe audio as outlined above.

This Week I'll Be Listening To...

The two (new for me) albums that I'll add to the playlist for listening while walking on the streets during the next week.

I'm thinking of getting a routine of every week listen to a modern record and to a classic album that I don't know so well. Let's start now.

Leave U2 Alone

This expression "Leave [...] alone" became popular from a silly young girl and her obsession with pop singer Britney Spears, however it is a good euphemism from what I want to say.

First, U2 are a great band. Obviously, they were better in the 80's and 90's when they had the power to re-invent themselves during 20 years, creating wonderful albums.

Yes, we can't forget that they made brilliant songs. Achtung Baby is still one of the best albums I ever heard. Every single song is brilliant. Love Is Blindness, So Cruel, The Fly, Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses, etc. And then, they created a completely different album with Zooropa, with Stay, The First Time, Lemon, between other songs. And then, they went again to a different and brilliant album with Pop.

I don't believe that they can do a decade like this again. They are getting old, they don't have the power to re-invent themselves for every album, so the last works follow some  more or less straight line.

Some think that their artistically is covered by speeches about poverty, sunglasses, guitar pedals or cowboy hats, and, sometimes I kinda agree with that.

But, they are still a great band. Their last album is good, it has some beautiful moments as well, great guitar riffs. Bono's voice is, naturally, a little bit aged (compared to his super powerful voice 20 years ago), their lyrics may not have the same "muse" as before but the songs are there, and it is good.

Today, it seems that the press (and a lot music critics) are tired of U2 and want to push them down as much as they can, which is not fair.

For example;

Songs of Innocence was given for free for iTunes users or whatever. Everyone now is saying that U2 are giving away their music because it is bad, because they devalued their own music, because no one wants to buy it.
But, when Radiohead did that with "In Rainbows" they were called revolutionaries, visionaries and it was the best and most spectacular thing someone did to music. Also, Thom Yorke, more or less at the same time that U2 released their last album, made his new solo album available via BitTorrent by a very very low price, but that is not devaluing music, it is a genius step.

Other example;
Someone says "U2 are shit, I hate them". And then "Did you heard the new song by Jack White? Love Is Blindness?" "Yes, it is brilliant I love it" "U2 wrote it" "Oh but I prefer much more this version, U2's version is shit, Jack White really added everything to it". I'm pretty sure White wrote the lyrics, the chords and the melodies for this song.

I don't remember seeing good news on a music website about U2 for ages. Every new is "U2 are going to split" "Bono is getting blind" "The grandfather of the guitarist of the band that had one hit song says that U2 are shit". It'tiring and boring.

So, everyone is trying to put U2 down, I don't know why. It's a pity and music industry should remember the huge influence that the band has on modern pop rock music.

AHK-toong BAY-bi Covered

Este é o título de uma nova versão do álbum Acthung Baby dos U2 interpretada exclusivamente (ou quase) por outros artistas. Esta edição vem para comemorar os 20 anos do lançamento do clássico da banda irlandesa e conta com participações de grandes nomes de peso como Depeche Mode, Jack White, Patti Smith, Nine Inch Nails, The Killers entre outros. O CD sairá com a revista Q que vai juntar este evento à comemoração também dos 25 anos da revista!
Fiquem com a magnifica versão de So Cruel dos Depeche Mode!

U2 Weekend Na VH1

Este fim de semana o canal televisivo VH1 é dedicado aos irlandeses U2.
Vai passar de certeza montes de vídeos, talvez entrevistas e outros extras.
Relembro que os U2 estão próximos de lançar um novo álbum de originais chamado "No Line On The Horizon" e o primeiro single será "Get On Your Boots".
Hoje de manhã já pude relembrar algumas grande músicas como Lemon, Desire ou With Or Without You.

Mr. MacPhisto

Durante a Zoo Tv Tour, Bono, vocalista dos U2 incorporou uma personagem, Mr. MacPhisto.
Esta personagem cantava as últimas músicas do concerto e fazia sempre um telefonema. Ora um desconhecido, ora um táxi, ou tentava alguma figura pública como Bush, Madonna, ou o Papa (normalmente o telefone era desligado na cara)
Bono para criar esta personagem inspirou-se em Mephistopheles uma expressão que simboliza o diabo.
Para Mr. MacPhisto ele era a última Pop Star do Mundo e The Edge disse que a personagem era perfeita para dizer verdades usando a ironia. Usava uma pronúncia exageradamente inglesa, falando muito devagar e estava sempre vestido com o seu fato dourado.
Uma aposta muito bem ganha da parte dos U2.
Bono também incorporou mais duas personagens durante a tournée, The Fly e The Mirrorball Man, mas foi o demónio que mais sucesso teve.

Mais sobre Mr. MacPhisto