U2: The Joshua Tree

Ten years after the

release of its landmark 1987 album The Joshua Tree, U2 was desperate to make

the world forget about its former, earnest self. But disco grooves and gigantic

lemons—like the giant lemon prop they used onstage, though the same term

applies to 1997's Pop—couldn't erase the sand-'n'-cowboy-hats image

seared into the public consciousness, and eventually U2 came around to

re-creating the soaring anthems of The Joshua Tree. So while the ill-fated

PopMart tour marked the 10th anniversary of the band's most commercially

successful record, its 20th birthday is being celebrated with a re-mastered

version, available in several packaging combinations.

In spite of U2's best

efforts on its last two records, The Joshua Tree could never be made

today. With its stark cover—four deadly serious twentysomethings staring

into the desert—the album exists in a parallel, irony-free universe. But

even though The Joshua Tree is one of the most aggressively unfunny records

ever made, it's also one of rock's most powerfully moving experiences, nakedly

emotional on a deeply personal level, yet sweepingly universal in a way few

bands even shoot for.

The extras included in the

deluxe editions are less essential. A disc of B-sides and rarities (most

already collected by U2 diehards) suggests that the right songs made the final

record. The DVD offers the documentary Outside It's America, a fly-on-the-wall look

at U2 at the peak of Joshua Tree mania that's about as interesting as staring at a

fly on a wall. A complete concert from Paris in 1987 is better, capturing U2

(awkwardly, at times) as it was becoming the biggest group in the world. While

U2 doesn't always live up to that billing in the concert footage, The Joshua

Tree

remains its statement of greatness.