1. Hi All

    Around six years ago I found a copy of AB that had been mastered in Japan and put out specifically for their market. It was sold to me by a dealer based in Italy for £20 (bargain) and he said I should try listening to it after playing the original CD release.
    I could not believe what a difference it made, the best way to describe the mastering would be to say it sounds polished like the AB tracks that benefitted on best of 1990-2000, but with more depth.
    I have also listened to both versions through good cans (Grado) and you can definately hear additional guitars and sequencers etc on the Japanese version.

    They also mastered Zooropa at the same time, but I held off from buying it until I had heard AB. I now regret that decision as it very difficult to find and is no longer being pressed in Japan.

    If anyone is interested in finding and purchasing these, please be careful as I remember ebay being flooded with fake imports once the word was out about the sound quality.
  2. kinda disappointing isn't it
  3. Basa Trap


    Did you guys not see the third unreleased song, Basa Trap?

    But it's good to see the music videos - even though Pride makes yet another appearance and the rest are hard-to-get B-sides.
  4. Originally posted by drewhiggins:[..]

    Did you guys not see the third unreleased song, Basa Trap?

    But it's good to see the music videos - even though Pride makes yet another appearance and the rest are hard-to-get B-sides.


    Rumours are that they just recently finished Basa Trap...
  5. I own a The Unforgettable Fire rarities & outtakes version which contains:

    2 unreleased instrumentals (like blending ASOH and 4th of July, nice!)
    instrumental demo's of The Unforgettable Fire, Wire and Pride
    Demo with different vocals of Indian Summer Sky
    Love Comes Tumbling in a long and different version than off WAIA
    Bad, at Live Aid
    Bad, Kage remix, really great
    Wire, dub mix, pretty

    So, there is enough 'new' material available, which could have been used on the bonus disc...
  6. that tracklist males me think of just buying the single disc
  7. Originally posted by djrlewis:[..]

    And the live versions of ASOH and Bad are from the 'highly sough after collectors item EP Wide Awake In America'

    Does anyone not own that stuff?? And ASOH isn't even 'live'!!


    I saw five copies of Wide Awake today - highy-sought after my arse. Anyone excited for two Pride videos?


    I'm happy with the second disc - I can see six B-sides I don't have and five videos as well. No listings on any music store sites just yet - I'll keep an eye out, though I'm expecting this one to go for a little less or the same as The Joshua Tree remasters, and to sell out just as quickly.
  8. Originally posted by Zooropean:[..]

    Hi All

    Around six years ago I found a copy of AB that had been mastered in Japan and put out specifically for their market. It was sold to me by a dealer based in Italy for £20 (bargain) and he said I should try listening to it after playing the original CD release.
    I could not believe what a difference it made, the best way to describe the mastering would be to say it sounds polished like the AB tracks that benefitted on best of 1990-2000, but with more depth.
    I have also listened to both versions through good cans (Grado) and you can definately hear additional guitars and sequencers etc on the Japanese version.

    They also mastered Zooropa at the same time, but I held off from buying it until I had heard AB. I now regret that decision as it very difficult to find and is no longer being pressed in Japan.

    If anyone is interested in finding and purchasing these, please be careful as I remember ebay being flooded with fake imports once the word was out about the sound quality.


    interesting story!
    could you give us the catalog number please?