"The Joshua Tree Celebrating 30 Years 1987 - 2017" - U2

Promotional Release

Track Listing:

Background Information

This rare promotional release of the 30th anniversary edition of The Joshua Tree was released in advance of the album itself for review purposes. Unlike the regular 4-disc version sold commercially, this version comes in a unique digipack, which holds all four discs. The digipack in each case was sealed with a sticker, labeled “If this seal is broken you must contact the person who sent it to you immediately” – each sticker was a custom print, and featured the silhouette of the Joshua Tree in gold.

The four discs contained within are actual CDs, and not recordable CDs which are more common at this time. These are not copies of the commercial CDs, and are each labeled as promotional items and include the text “This CD has been watermarked to prevent unauthorised copying. This CD is intended to be listened to solely by the authorised recipient and no portion of its contents may be copied or reproduced in any manner. This inaudible watermark enables us to trace this audio back to you. Thank you in advance for your understanding.” The discs do not contain a catalog number, but do contain the silhouette of the tree in black on a gold background. The title of the set is included on each set, as is the name of the disc, and the Island Records logo and a small Joshua tree at the bottom of each disc.

The four discs are:

  • The Joshua Tree (Remastered 2007)
  • Madison Square Garden Live 1987
  • 2017 Remixes
  • B-Sides / Outtakes

The digipack of each copy is unique, and custom printed. On the back sleeve they are individually numbered and it is identified whether the disc was meant for distribution by Island (“Marketing”) or U2’s press team (“RMP”). It is believed that less than 100 copies exist in total. The numbers are not unique and there is one set of numbers in use for Marketing, which is also reused for the RMP copies. (i.e. there are two #3, one labeled Marketing and one labeled RMP.) To prevent identification of where these photos originate, the mark has been removed from the back of the CD in the images below.

The tree on the front cover is done in reflective gold foil.

Liner Notes

2017 30th Anniversary Edition:
Executive Producer and Creative Director: Gavin Friday
Project production Managers: Jesse Peters, Tara Mullen, Candida Bottaci and Nadine King.
Research and archive analysis: Lisa Power
Archive Manager: Becky Coffey
Creative Consultant: Sharon Blankson
Mastering: Scott Sedillo, Bernie Grundman
Audio master transfer director: Declan Gaffney.

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