This is an article taken from U2 Official News on Official U2 Site
This is my favourite album of U2. 20 years, WOW. And is still my favourite.
06.03.2007
It Was Twenty Years Ago
'A lot of the songs were ones that were recorded in Larry’s spare bedroom or Adam’s living room.' On March 9th 1987 U2 released an album called The Joshua Tree.
In the next few weeks we'll be turning the spotlight on The Joshua Tree, celebrating the twentieth anniversary of its release.
First up, here' s what they were saying about the album, just after it was finished - long before anyone realised just how successful it was to be.
'The best thing about The Joshua Tree is that they can do ten times better than that"
Paul McGuinness.
'With each record we've always looked for some sort of location to inspire the tone of what we were doing and I think the desert is so many things to us. The desert was immensely inspirational to us as a mental image for this record.'
Adam
'Whereas with Unforgettable Fire there was a real continuity between all the songs, this is slightly different. It's an album of songs, each song saying a different thing, touching areas that we haven't touched before.'
Larry
'I think since really falling in love with America we've started falling in love with the music of the place. A lot of stuff that we didn't have time for when we first formed the group.... BB King, Robert Johnson, Hank Williams, Patsy Klein, Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard - all these artists who are a million miles from where we were coming from.'
Edge
'The significant thing about the record for me is that I had to come clean as a word writer. Instead of trying to capture the elusive message of the music, which is what I'd normally try to do with my words, I wanted to speak out specifically but without a placard and without my John Lennon handbook.'
Bono
// The Joshua Tree
// Release Date: March 1987
// Track Listing
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
// Soundbite
‘A lot of the songs were ones that were recorded in Larry’s spare bedroom or Adam’s living room. When the red light’s on we often don’t respond to it. When we’re just left to be, left to make music our own way, well some of the tracks are almost like demos. We had to fight to make them work and there were a lot of songs left over. It could have gone off in a number of different directions. We wanted the idea of a one-piece record, not a side-one, side-two thing.
Bono, March 1987
Between The Lines
The release of The Joshua Tree saw U2 become 'Rock's Hottest Ticket.' In Sweden, copies of The Joshua Tree were pressed in yellow, pink and red vinyl with sleeves similar to the UK. The pink vinyl copies are the most common of the three. In Mexico, a limited edition CD was released as part of the Serie Millennium re-issues with a different picture sleeve. As recently as 1999, The Joshua Tree CD was re-issued with the clear band photo that appeared on the original vinyl LP rather than the blurred picture on the initial CD release.
U2's biggest selling album to date entered the US album charts at No.7 and reached No. 1 three weeks later. It was U2's first album to reach No.1 in the United States. In 1999, The Joshua Tree was awarded the RIAA's highest certification, Diamond, with 10 million units sold. The album also peaked at No.1 on the UK, Canadian, West German, Dutch and Australian charts. In Switzerland, the album reached No.1 on the charts and stayed there for a total of 33 weeks. The album and sleeve cover also placed No. 1 in Rolling Stone magazine's annual Music Awards chosen by readers. Critics at Rolling Stone made it No. 2 album of the year. U2 also won Best Rock Performance By A Group Or Duo at the Grammy Awards for The Joshua Tree.
Production Credits
Produced and Engineered: Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno
Additional Engineering: Dave Meegan with Pat McCarthy
Studio: Windmill Lane, Dublin Ireland
Mixed by: Steve Lillywhite
Recorded by: Flood
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