U2's Joshua Tree UK Vinyl LP

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by James Glennon, Mar 26, 2012.

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  1. James Glennon

    James Glennon Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Dublin, Ireland
    I was at a record fair recently and I saw two different UK versions of U2's The Joshua Tree....

    Record 1
    U2-6-A Posi 5 ~
    U2-6-B Posi 3 ~

    Record 2
    I can't remember the matrix numbers but it had Townhouse DMM

    Which of these is the original UK pressing?

    JG
     
  2. James Glennon

    James Glennon Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Dublin, Ireland
    No U2 fans here?

    JG
     
  3. joethomas1

    joethomas1 Forum Resident

    Location:
    West Yorkshire, UK
  4. James Glennon

    James Glennon Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Dublin, Ireland
    Thanks for that!

    The only way to tell the difference in pressings is the info in the deadwax, album covers and liner notes don't help! If there was a mastering credit in the sleeve notes it would help, but unfortunately there isn't.

    JG
     
  5. Mike the Fish

    Mike the Fish Señor Member

    Location:
    England
    B2 is Townhouse and A1 doesn't say, but looks like a Townhouse cut. This album had several cuts, and I've seen one pressing that looked and felt like it came from the same people A&M (UK) used back in the day.
     
  6. James Glennon

    James Glennon Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Dublin, Ireland
    I have a funny feeling that Record 1 is the original UK pressing and the DMM came later!

    JG
     
  7. Mike the Fish

    Mike the Fish Señor Member

    Location:
    England
    I'm pretty certain Townhouse were using DMM by 1987. I guess it could be further muddled by different mastering houses starting at A/B 1 for their own runs too??

    EDIT: Just realised that the album was released by Island and they did use Townhouse for cutting some stuff (as did ZTT who were distributed by Island, but that may have been ZTT's choice - I don't know.)
     
  8. Billy Hunt

    Billy Hunt Forum Resident

    Location:
    Cardiff, Wales.
    My UK copy has:

    U26 A//8 (inverted delta) 420 EX
    U26 B//7 (inverted delta) 420 H

    I can't be certain but I think I bought it when it first came out.
     
  9. Mike the Fish

    Mike the Fish Señor Member

    Location:
    England
    When you say reverse delta, does it look like a point down triangle?
     
  10. Billy Hunt

    Billy Hunt Forum Resident

    Location:
    Cardiff, Wales.
    Yes, or perhaps base over apex?
     
  11. Mike the Fish

    Mike the Fish Señor Member

    Location:
    England
    Yes - that too ;) That sounds like a Polygram pressing. I used to have one of those, but bought it quite late into the game. Maybe they had more than one plant manufacturing for release...
     
  12. James Glennon

    James Glennon Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Dublin, Ireland
    It was such a huge seller at the time, I wouldn't be surprised!

    JG
     
  13. Billy Hunt

    Billy Hunt Forum Resident

    Location:
    Cardiff, Wales.
    Am I right in saying that wherever they were cut they all sound like crap? Mine does.
     
  14. Mike the Fish

    Mike the Fish Señor Member

    Location:
    England
    The Polygram type cut I had suffered with significant dropout on one channel during the opening percussion of Trip Through... It's quite a long album, so sonics may not be great because of that. I don't remember the Townhouse DMM sounding terrible, but haven't heard it in a while.
     
  15. James Glennon

    James Glennon Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Dublin, Ireland
    I saw another copy today
    U2-6-A Posi 2 ~
    U2-6-B Posi 4 ~

    JG
     
  16. AaronW

    AaronW Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    I had a UK pressing that was cut at Townhouse and it sounded a bit dull compared to my US DMM cut. It's the only U2 album I prefer the US pressing to the UK.
     
  17. mikeyt

    mikeyt Forum Resident

    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA
    I just found a copy at my local store, it has "MASTER DISK SP2-4" and "876295-A DMM" written in the deadwax. I got really excited b/c the vinyl is glossy and looked practically uplayed, so for $5 it was a done deal. But when I took it for a spin it's a little noisy. I know that the 180g set is supposed to be the best, but I'm wondering if it's common for these regular issues to be noisy?
     
  18. dobyblue

    dobyblue Forum Resident

    I found the new 180g 2LP version to be very noisy. I prefer the MOFI CD. Nothing worse with this album than loads of nonfill throughout the organ intro to Streets.
     
    vonwegen likes this.
  19. canonlon

    canonlon Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ontario, CANADA
    Not sure, in general, if originals are noisy > but my copy plays quiet.
    I like the US issue LP for sonics. The Japanese LP also sounds good and is dead quiet.
    I haven't bought the remastered LP > but I purchased War remastered LP and found that to be sterile and digital.

     
  20. McLover

    McLover Senior Member

    This LP had long sides and many quiet passages, both tend to exacerbate surface noise. My wife heard my USA pressing and prefers it to her UK pressing. I agree, this is the one U2 LP where a US original slays the UK sonically. Masterdisk's engineer nailed this one.
     
  21. dobyblue

    dobyblue Forum Resident

    I will look for an original US pressing then, the 2LP one is too expensive to try ordering another one just to see if I got a bad pressing.

    Wish this had been done on SACD by our host! :)
     
  22. reeler

    reeler Forum Resident

    Probably, my experinece has been that no vinyl version I tried beats the MFSL cd, maybe something to do with DMM.
     
  23. Mike the Fish

    Mike the Fish Señor Member

    Location:
    England
    Perhaps more likely to do with the long sides.
     
  24. canonlon

    canonlon Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ontario, CANADA
    I've compared the LP to various Joshua Tree CD's, including the MFSL which may arguably be my favourite issue on CD, and in every shoot-out the LP wins. I'm not biased to just vinyl, some CD's have terrific sonics, but in my experience the Joshua Tree LP has a fuller, richer tone.
     
  25. mikeyt

    mikeyt Forum Resident

    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA

    Interesting. It is entirely possible that I just have a bad one, or it was played a few times with a bad needle and wore the grooves. Oh well, it's not really my favorite album of all time so it'll do for now. Side One is something really special.
     
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