U2 - Joshua Tree
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Free Music Notes for Joshua Tree
Free Music Review: One of the best albums I've ever heard!
Hit: 5 Stars
I first heard this album when it debuted in 1987 and it was my first genuine taste of U2. I went to their concert that same year and to this day, it was the best concert I have ever seen. Every single song on this CD is worth listening to again & again. Free Music Review: The Tree Still Grows
Hit: 5 Stars
The Joshua Tree catapulted U2 from a popular and pretty successful rock band to megastars and cultural icons. The album retains all of U2's integrity, while creating a crisper and more commercial sound. Under Brian Eno & Daniel Lanois' guidance, the songs have an ethereal sound to them. Songs like "With Or Without You", "I'll Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For", "Running To Stand Still" & "Exit" have simple beats, but the production gives them a strength and density that turns them into powerful pieces. The subject matter goes into politics, life, death & God. "Red Hill Mining Town" & "Bullet The Blue Sky" have political bents. "Bullet" comments on the US involvement in Central America and has a break when Bono goes into a sermon-like rap. "One Tree Hill" is an elegy for one of the band's road staff who died in a motorcycle accident. The song is one of the prettiest the band has ever done and the symbolism about life and death as a river running into the sea is beautiful. "With Or Without" was the first single and the band's first number one hit. The opening is slow and deliberate as it moves and builds into a shimmering guitar crescendo. The song is as perfect a piece of pop music you can get. It leaves you questioning whether Bono can't live without a lover, God, the band's fans or a myriad of other possibilities? "Running To Stand Still" is another song about the struggles to overcome a heroin addiction. Unlike their other addiction song, "Bad", this is a piano-based number. "In God's Country" is an overlooked gem that could be considered the best song on the album with it's ringing guitars and biblical lyrics. Driven by a harmonica and guitar riff, "Trip Through Your Wires" has a bluegrass sound. "Exit" and "Mothers Of The Disappeared" both explore loss. "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" was their second number one song and really sums up what U2 is all about. They are searching for answers, but no matter where they look, they still haven't found it. Free Music Review: March 9th, 1987 ...
Hit: 5 Stars
To say that this was probably a red-letter day in the history of music ... is an understatement.
When this first album came out, I missed it completely. I just wasn't listening to anything this mainstream at the time and was caught up in the beginning of absorbing myself with classical music. I was young once and couldn't possibly be that hip to catch everything on the early adoption tip. I view this album probably as important as Beethoven's Missa Solemnis, as that may be what they were going for, or Vivaldi's Stabat Mater. These albums are all equally important and affected both music ever after and the listeners as well.
To date, April 2008, The Joshua Tree has several different releases now.
The Original Studio Release - c. 1989
The Superbit `Gold CD' Release - c. 1990
The Remastered Release - c. 2007
Amazon also has a combined 460 reviews on this product now and while most of the populous enjoy this, a contingent of listeners don't feel that this measures up to be one of the great rock albums of all time.
While I do feel that this is one of the best albums of the last 100 years, easily, it is not a Rock album, per se. I know that may sound deviant to you, but it's very simply explained.
The bulk of the songs on this album are ballads. You may not want to hear that, but it's the truth. Some may just be realizing this for the first time, and it's okay, too. While I have no problem with ballads, being big fan of Beethoven and Chopin, masters of just such a thing, I wouldn't dare call Moonlight Sonata (Sonata Quasi una Fantasia) Rock Music at any time. Ballads are just that, they're ballads. They're beautiful and they typically speak on the subject of love, loss, frustration or isolation. That's not a rigid rule, but just a personal observation.
1. 'Where the Streets have no name' - Ballad. A song about feelings of isolation and love.
2. 'I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For' - Ballad. Another song about the feelings concerning isolation, loss and love.
3. 'With or Without You' - Ballad. Another song about the feelings concerning isolation, loss and love.
4. 'Bullet The Blue Sky' - Rock Song Primo. A song about political discord, military might, poverty, etc.
5. 'Running To Stand Still' - Ballad. A song about isolation
6. 'Red Hill Mining Town' - Ballad. A song FULL of double entendres about sex, love and frustration.
7. 'In God's Country' - A Bluesy Ballad. A song about a girl ...
8. 'Trip Through Your Wires' - Rock Song.
9. 'One Tree Hill' - A bluesy ballad. A song a bout a girl, and emotions of love.
10. 'Exit' - A unclassifiable song about frustration, danger and isolation
11. 'Mothers Of The Disappeared' - Your guess is as good as mine on this one.
So ... what's the score here? The ballads heavily outweigh the Rock anthems. While this isn't necessarily an indictment on this album it's just an opinion placed casting light on seeing this album in the proper context. U2 has been branded passion rock since this album came out, and it's probably fitting to say the least, but they are one of the best RnR bands on the planet. People should just see this release for what it is. If one day, the bulk of us decided to start referring to Sting's Ten Summoner's Tales as Rock or even Hard Rock and not Easy Listening, then more of his listeners would be displeased by that as well.
The Joshua Tree is a groundbreaking album where a lot of U2 fans split off after this, unhappily. But over the years they gained even more fans with the releases after Joshua Tree, myself included. But it is a masterpiece in every sense of the word.
Free Music Review: Great Remaster/Reissue Of U2's Masterpiece
Hit: 5 Stars
The 20th Anniversary Remaster of THE JOSHUA TREE is great. I remember being asked for a dance to the original version of this album in the 90s at a party with my program in Connecticut, and the sound of the band, especially the rhythm section, was so ill-defined that I'm surprised the young woman who asked me didn't get told by her staff to "quit being pushy", so poorly mastered was this album. Fortunately, everything's been fixed up so that you can now hear a rich, fully-defined sound as U2 meant it to be heard. Larry's drums and Adam's bass are especially well-defined, but The Edge's guitar and Bono's vocals also benefit from the improvements. This album, along with its predecessor, THE UNFORGETTABLE FIRE, inspired my belief that the reason Sarah Michelle Gellar is so slender is because G-d made her that way rather than due to an eating disorder. If the original version of this CD didn't inspire that belief, or encourage families to settle their differences, hopefully this version will.Free Music Review: Audiophiles Need Not Apply
Hit: 2 Stars
The compression/over-processing scourge has struck once more! This new remaster is intended for the mp3 crowd. If you fall into that category - you'll like it just fine. If you're an audiophile looking to upgrade your old copy - forget it. The old version is better. The record companies are selling fewer CD's, and they're alienating the few good customers they have left. I buy hundreds of CD's every year, but that will change if I keep getting screwed. Are you listening record companies? Sell your compressed/over-processed audio to the ipod crowd through downloads. If you want to keep selling CD's, you'd better get your act together.
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