U2 ‎– The Joshua Tree

Gone through two copies of this, both with lots of nonfill. Not much care taken with the pressing, the MOFI CD, original CD and original vinyl all beat this one. Shame, could have been a cracker.

There is little new that I, as a casual U2 fan, can contribute to what has already been said about this album here and everywhere else, other than to confirm that this is one of the greatest albums of the eighties, if not ever. At the time pretty much labelled as alternative rock (by being from Ireland, I suppose), "The Joshua Tree" remains as relevant and current as it was almost 20 years ago. Had it been released today, it still would've quietly stormed up the charts and cleaned up all awards.

What I can state, though, that invariably hasn't been mentioned anywhere else is the peculiarity about this particular CD's origins: The print on the CD states "Made in R.S.A." whereas on the underside of the inner rim it clearly states "MADE IN U.K." as is (albeit slightly faded) visible in the last image. It must also be mentioned that it was around this time (ca. 1990) that South Africa got its own CD manufacturing plant. One wonders...