Using the textured sonics of The Unforgettable Fire as a basis, U2 expanded those innovations by scaling back the songs to a personal setting and adding a grittier attack for its follow-up, The Joshua Tree. It's a move that returns them to the sweeping, anthemic ock of War, but if War was an exploding political bomb, The Joshua Tree is a journey through its aftermath, trying to find sense and hope in the desperation. That means that even the anthems -- the epic opener "Where the Streets Have No Name," the yearning "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" -- have seeds of doubt within their soaring choruses, and those fears take root throughout the album, whether it's in the mournful sliding acoustic guitars of "Running to Stand Still," the surging "One Tree Hill," or the hypnotic elegy "Mothers of the Disappeared." So it might seem a little ironic that U2 became superstars on the back of such a dark record, but their focus has never been clearer, nor has their music been catchier, than on The Joshua Tree. Unexpectedly, U2 have also tempered their textural post-punk with American influences. Not only are Bono's lyrics obsessed with America, but country and lues influences are heard throughout the record, and instead of using these as roots, they're used as ways to add texture to the music. With the uniformly excellent songs -- only the clumsy, heavy ock and portentous lyrics of "Bullet the Blue Sky" fall flat -- the result is a powerful, uncompromising record that became a hit due to its vision and its melody. Never before have U2's big messages sounded so direct and personal.
--- - |- Once upon a time, I loved U2. I discovered them when War was released early in 1983 and I was immediately taken by their passion and intensity. Not being familiar with punk and post-punk at that point in my life, their sound simply sounded more modern than what I accustomed to listening to, but they still obviously had spiritual ties to artists who I loved, like The Who and Sprin...
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Tears started to well up in my eyes as I gazed upon the big screen. Not a flood of ‘em, mind you. But there was a definite rise in the moisture level. And this was no tragic narrative playing out before me. It was a concert documentary – albeit one of a high order.Have I succumbed to severe wussification? Has time dulled the Knife? I don’t think so. I think it was a fairly normal reaction, c
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Two albums released 20 years ago have gone on to be arguably more important and influential than their makers ever dared to dream. Guns 'N Roses' Appetite For Destruction all but reinvented heavy metal, kick-starting a new era in hard rock and inspiring countless others to follow suit. The legacy of The Joshua Tree is perhaps more subtle, its delicate atmosphere and anthemic musical exploration...
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So, I just found out that The Violent Femmes are coming here in concert just in time to kick off the new year in great 80’s band style. I know they still occasionally make new music but who can really say they know it as well as songs like Blister In The Sun or Add It Up? Hell, even Old Mother Reagan or I Dig The Black Girls. The newer stuff is good but I was raised in the 80’s. That’s what
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Meet me in Midtown, on the corner of Broadway and U2 Way. That is technically what someone could be telling a friend this week. Yesterday New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg temporarily renamed a block of 53rd street, between Broadway and 8th Avenue, "U2 Way" in honor of the Irish rockers."Everyone in this city, including me, considers these four Dubliners honorary New Yorkers." Bloomberg sa...
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Tears started to well up in my eyes as I gazed upon the big screen. Not a flood of ‘em, mind you. But there was a definite rise in the moisture level. And this was no tragic narrative playing out before me. It was a concert documentary – albeit one of a high order.Have I succumbed to severe wussification? Has time dulled the Knife? I don’t think so. I think it was a fairly normal reaction, c
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U2 officially released the Neil Jordan-directed video for "Red Hill Mining Town" via the bonus DVD included with their Joshua Tree 20th anniversary box reissue. The Joshua Tree track, influenced by the 1984 UK miners' strike, has never been performed live because ol' Bono can't reach the high notes consistently. In the meantime, Edge and Bono made an appearance at the Mencap Little Noise Sess...
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When my brother and I were in high school we bought a 1967 Chevy Impala with a 283 V8 and 4 barrel carb, complete leaky fuel line and a hole in the roof above the rear view mirror, paying $25 for it. We promptly went to the Fisher Big Wheel (a sorta low-rent K-Mart) and bought a tape deck and two small speakers for $35. At this point we were broke, and proceeded to make some sweet cassette ta...
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Have you ever wished you could have the memory of an album erased so you could go back and listen to it again for the first time? I'm listening to U2's "The Joshua Tree" for maybe the six hundredth time since my uncle gave me the cassette in 1988 and the music is so woven into my subconscious that, while enjoyable, I find myself starting to ignore it and get distracted by other things. I wish I...
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Two albums released 20 years ago have gone on to be arguably more important and influential than their makers ever dared to dream. Guns 'N Roses' Appetite For Destruction all but reinvented heavy metal, kick-starting a new era in hard rock and inspiring countless others to follow suit. The legacy of The Joshua Tree is perhaps more subtle, its delicate atmosphere and anthemic musical exploration...
More >
When it was released in 1987, U2's Joshua Tree reached Number One everywhere, won a Grammy for "Album of the Year", a Brit Award for Best International Act and sold more than 20 million records.On Monday the remastered version of The Joshua tree from the original analogue tapes will be released as a digital download, and with it some exceptional freebies: b-sides and demos from the original alb...
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This past weekend U2 premiered their first 3D feature film, U23D, at a special screening at the Cannes Film Festival. Before the early-cut screening of U23D at the Palais des Festivals, U2, who arrived with their manager Paul McGuinness and director Catherine Owens performed a two-song set. You can watch it here:Part 1, “Vertigo”:Part 2, “Where The Streets Have No Name”:According to the ba
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Do you know what my all time favorite song in the whole wide world is?Where the Streets Have No Name.Do you know what's even better than listening to Streets?Listening to a live version of Streets.Do you know what will enhance your listening pleasure even more?When Bono sings, "I wanna feel sunlight on my face" and at that moment the sun finally breaks thru the clouds.Good morning indeed.
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The re-issue of the Joshua Tree comes out next Tuesday. I've mentioned to approximately two people just how excited I am and really I couldn't tell them how excited I am, because I don't have words.I haven't mentioned my joy and anticipation here before because I get the feeling there isn't much love on MOG for U2, and that's okay. When I first started listening to them 20 years ago, NO ONE I...
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--- - |- Once upon a time, I loved U2. I discovered them when War was released early in 1983 and I was immediately taken by their passion and intensity. Not being familiar with punk and post-punk at that point in my life, their sound simply sounded more modern than what I accustomed to listening to, but they still obviously had spiritual ties to artists who I loved, like The Who and Sprin...
More >
So, I just found out that The Violent Femmes are coming here in concert just in time to kick off the new year in great 80’s band style. I know they still occasionally make new music but who can really say they know it as well as songs like Blister In The Sun or Add It Up? Hell, even Old Mother Reagan or I Dig The Black Girls. The newer stuff is good but I was raised in the 80’s. That’s what
More >
A stoner surfer dude stole my Joshua Tree CD about 18 years ago and I never replaced it because the music had been just about burned into my head and I'd had enough. The other day I found a CD that had been custom made for a friend's funeral that included the track "One Tree Hill". I hadn't heard it in a long time and for some reason I can't stop playing it at high volumes over and over agai...
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 "The Joshua Tree")
