Description
The Joshua Tree is the fifth studio album by the Irish rock band U2, released on Island Records in March 1987. The album was recorded at Danesmoate House in the greater Rathfarnham area of County Dublin, at Melbeach (The Edge’s newly bought home), and at S.T.S. and Windmill Lane Studios in Dublin, Ireland; with Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois producing.
According to Rolling Stone Magazine “the roots of The Joshua Tree are planted firmly in blues, gospel and folk – with an outsider’s edge. Technologically innovative, politically charged, spiritually conscious and radio-friendly in the extreme, the album built on U2’s reputation as unparalleled live performers and vaulted them to the top of the modern-rock pile.”
The Joshua Tree topped the charts in over 20 countries, and sold in record-breaking numbers in the UK. It produced the hit singles “With or Without You”, “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”, and “Where the Streets Have No Name”, the first two of which became the group’s only number-one singles in the US. The album won Grammy Awards for Album of the Year and Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal in 1988. The group supported the record with the Joshua Tree Tour throughout 1987. Frequently featured on critics’ lists of the greatest records, The Joshua Tree is one of the world’s best-selling albums, with over 25 million copies sold. U2 released a remastered edition of the record in 2007 to commemorate its 20th anniversary. In 2014, it was deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” by the US Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry.
‘The Joshua Tree’, U2’s fifth full-length release, is a brooding, majestic, rock tapestry of life and faith, darkness and light, pain and wonder, or, as one of the meanings of the title indicates, sustaining life in a lifeless desert. It is proof once again of U2’s mastery of rock ‘n’ roll and its unique passion and artistic depth. Nearly a sensate experience, the music pours out over the listener, gentle as rain, relentless as the ocean’s waves. Moving and provoking, comforting and challenging, ‘The Joshua Tree’ stands up as a great and important work by the best band anywhere.
After attracting nearly unanimous acclaim for 1983’s ‘War‘, U2 stepped out on ‘The Unforgettable Fire‘ into the unsure territory of producers Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois. While reaping the band’s strongest single ever, «Pride (In the Name of Love)», the album faltered on the second side, muddled in dense atmosphere and little substance either lyrical or musical. Lanois and Eno return for ‘The Joshua Tree’ and the power of the coalition of talents hinted at with ‘Fire’ comes to full fruition. Where U2 gave greater attention to compositional form – writing songs rather than stream-of-consciousness jams – Lanois/Eno embrace and enhance the strongest elements of U2’s now highly stylized and often imitated sound.
While at times enigmatic, the content of Bono’s lyrics focuses, as indicated by the title, on life amid dryness and difficulty, often expressing personal angst over spiritual and relational concerns or looking at the vacuum of political solutions. «Running to Stand Still» points out the living death of heroin addiction; «Exit» looks at the brokenhearted resolve of one who seeks release in suicide, and «Mothers of the Disappeared» looks at the sad human underside of those left behind when political prisoners are taken in oppressive nations, reminding the listener that U2 was the first band signed to last summer’s Conspiracy of Hope Tour, a benefit for Amnesty International. «Red Hill Mining Town» looks at a bleak little English town under the weight of that country’s unemployment, but the portrait of America in «Bullet the Blue Sky», «In God’s Country», and «Trip Through Your Wires» shows a country lacking integrity and suffering broad social and spiritual disease.
Perhaps the most interesting songs from the perspective of faith are the LP’s opening tracks. While some might question the surety of Bono’s faith in «I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For», the lines “You broke the bonds/ You loosed the chains/ You carried the cross/ And my shame/ But I still haven’t found…” and the longing for heaven in «Where The Streets Have No Name» would indicate to me that Bono hungers for the eternal resolve to human suffering that is promised in Christ’s return and symbolized in the Joshua tree.
«With or Without You», the album’s first single and video, may be U2’s next hit and the first step toward even greater popularity. On the other hand, the masses have ignored music this good before and may again. The song evokes simply the power, passion, and beauty of U2’s music and the Joshua tree. On the surface, the songs may reflect the fear of losing the love of another, but let us remember that there’s no such thing as just another love song. [Brian Quincy Newcomb, CCM, May 1987]
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LP tracklist:
Side One
A1. “Where The Streets Have No Name” – 5:35
A2. “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” – 4:38
A3. “With Or Without You” – 4:57
A4. “Bullet The Blue Sky” – 4:32
A5. “Running To Stand Still” – 4:20
Side Two
B1. “Red Hill Mining Town” – 4:51
B2. “In God’s Country” – 3:57
B3. “Trip Through Your Wires” – 3:32
B4. “One Tree Hill” – 5:24
B5. “Exit” – 4:14
B6. “Mothers Of The Disappeared” – 5:14
Note: Simultaneously released on cassette, 12-inch vinyl LP, and CD by Island Records.
[youtube_sc url=”e3-5YC_oHjE” title=”U2 – I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For (Official Music Video)” autohide=”1″ rel=”0″]
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