U2 - The Joshua Tree
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Free Music Notes for The Joshua Tree
Free Music Review: Ascetic, Prophetic and Disarmingly Sincere
Hit: 5 Stars
There is within music an ability to tap into the raw, revelatory power of beauty; music can give itself to the unknown whisper of the eternal in ways that other forms of art only hint at. The collage of sounds communicates something deep to the heart and, when combined with the presence of the voice, can be downright liberating. Few individuals, let alone bands, ever really reach a point where they are that open to the Unknown that it can give itself so freely through their music. U2 has done so time and again, but never with the level of directness and sincerity as they accomplished on the Joshua Tree.A joshua tree is a real tree that thrives despite the dry environment it lives in. The image - the icon - of life amidst its seeming absence, embodied in the joshua tree, is one that is fully appropriate to U2 - particularly at the end of their first decade. U2, like the joshua tree, stood in stark contrast to its environment: ascetic, prophetic and disarmingly (some would say "naively", but let the tension stand) sincere. (Their foray into the realm of post-modern sampling, irony and sarcasm was an identity crisis fully in line with where they stood in the 80s: cynicism is frustrated optimism.)
"I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For", the second song, really expresses the kernel of The Joshua Tree; every other song fleshes it out in some way or another. The album is, in the end, about distance: "I have run, I have crawled, I have scaled these city walls only to be with you: But I still haven't found what I'm looking for." While one may take this to be an admission of defeat - and distance whispers of despair as much as consummation - doing so is incorrect: "I'm still running," Bono sings. The song is an expression of hope more than anything.
Faith is a raw and disarmingly rough beauty; it looks within and it looks without. "Bullet the Blue Sky" and "Mothers of the Disappeared" give full expression to U2's long-time political engagement, while "With or Without You" gives a glimpse into U2's more tender side. "With or Without You" may very well be the best love song of the 80s. "One Tree Hill", a deeply personal song about the death of a friend, moves with passion and rugged grace - and, again, with hope: "I'll see you again when the stars fall from the sky and the moon has turned red over one tree hill."
I look forward to the day when my children ask me, "Dad, did you ever listen to U2?" Not only will I have stories to tell about live concerts, but I will be able to relive with them the goosebumps that certain songs will inevitably bring. If rock is dead, U2 was its apex. And U2 has yet to be eclipsed.
Free Music Review: Hope is a Good Thing
Hit: 5 Stars
Yes, you may recongize my review title as a line from "The Shawshank Redemption." I did that on purpose.
2001 was a terrible year for me. I had just gone through some serious academic trouble in graduate school, and my future was truly in jeopardy. I didn't know which way to turn--everything that I thought was true in my life turned out to be false. I lost my first real girlfriend, I was in a city I hated, I was apart from everyone I cared about, and there was no hope on the horizon.
As I always do in times of severe stress, I turned to music. I was still just weaning myself off radio, delving into full-length albums. Having always enjoyed U2's big radio hits, I thought I'd ask for "Joshua Tree" for my 21st birthday.
Remember, at that time, I was severely depressed. My life had fallen apart (although I had no idea that later my life would be a worse wreck years later--see my other reviews for the rest of the story), and I had no hope.
As my birthday approached, I began to set my will back to survival. I was going to make it, dammit--I wasn't going to crack just yet. I just needed a soundtrack for my life. That's when I finally got my Joshua Tree CD, and I found the strength I needed.
And, nearly at the same time I began to explore this wondrous tale of hope and strength, I began to hang out with a girl I met at graduate school. Little did I know, I would very soon be experiencing my first taste of true, maniacal love--and true, suicidal heartbreak years later. But, back to the story.
Where a few months prior I was broken and bleeding, so to speak, I had now found a source of strength. On Joshua Tree, Bono doesn't tell you everything is going to be alright. He doesn't say you need to stop bitching and be thankful for what you have. No. Bono tells you that life can be horrible, life can shred your soul, life can be an exercise in pure pain. But you can find the strength in your heart to hold on, you can clutch to the cliff for just one more minute. Cry if you need to, bleed if you're being cut, but you CAN keep hope alive. "Running to Stand Still" is the song I listened to the most in those months of recuperation, realizing that I really can hold on through the pain. And that's when I completely unexpectedly fell in love. That love ended in miserable heartache, but the details are for another review. Let me just say that 2 years later, during the time she and I split up, U2's "With or Without You" suddenly took on a whole new meaning.
So, be sure to check this album out. You never know when you'll need it. There have been so many times in my life that music has saved me, and I think Bono, Edge, Adam, and Larry have saved me the most.
Free Music Review: Arguably U2's best
Hit: 5 Stars
Many avid listeners to the Irish rock band will agree that this album contains a little bit of everything that U2 has to offer. Love, Religion, Drugs, Politics, and all around good music.Inspired by Bono's mission trip in Ethiopia, "Where the Streets Have No Name" is possibly the most popular, being about wanting to escape to a place where the complications and worries of world, or specifically, the claustrophobia of Dublin, don't matter.
"I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" can be interpreted in different ways. Depending on how you look at it, it's a pop song either about a relationship with another person, or one with God in which a person gives devotion, but wants more.
"With Or Without You" can also be a romantic ballet, or one of religion. One with a good beat, and very well-delivered lyrics.
"Bullet The Blue Sky," being about Bono's experiences in Salvador and America's involvent in Central America, is an emotional hard rock song that changes rhythmically throughout this recording and has never been played the same.
"Running to Stand Still" starts out calmly with a strumming guitar and piano and lyrics about a couple using heroine to escape the life they cannot change, and the excitement builds up just as the drug gives them new eyes.
"Red Hill Mining Town" is a sort of slow folk song, which goes along with the hard working day of a miner and the pressure of the British miners strikes that lost them their jobs.
"In God's Country" is song about Irish immigrants putting their life at risk to seek a new one in America and hopefully escape religious persecution. A well-written ubpeat ode to the American Dream.
"Trip Through Your Wires," like "Running to Stand Still" and "Red Hill Mining Town" was heavily infuenced by American music and delivers a love song with a harmonica, keyboard, and a catchy tune.
"One Tree Hill" remains my personal favorate for its harmoneous intrumentals and it's perfectly written lyrics about an unjust loss of a friend (Greg Carroll and Victor Jara in this case), which almost anyone can relate to.
"Exit" starts out almost in scilence about a religious man, and builds up with intense druming, singing, and quitars as the man grows dangerous and remorseful from his guilt, and commits suicide.
"Mothers of the disapeared" ends the album with another emotional ode to happenings in Salvador, this time to the mothers who never found their children after losing them to the Pinocet regime, which Bono believed was backed by the Reagan Administration. The end of the song bleeds perfectly into the beginning of the first.
Free Music Review: Simply a sublime, classic album
Hit: 5 Stars
It's the sign of a truly special album when the non-hit songs best the popular songs that were released to radio. If you've only heard the first three radio tunes on "The Joshua Tree," then you've only heard one-third of the album, which means you're missing the best parts. "The Joshua Tree" contains both huge, arena-ready sounds and quieter, more reflective moments, and is even folkishly quaint in some parts. I suppose it's that somber, sober feeling to this CD -- a sense of searching innocence from U2 -- that makes it such a worthwhile gem.
Lyrically, Bono has said that the "Joshua Tree" is incomplete, making it hard for him to listen to at times. That's hard for me to fathom. There's a real sense of personal searching and sadness that overlays much of this album, which doesn't sound unfinished to me. If you want arena-styled anthems, stick with the first half of the record. "Bullet the Blue Sky" is as good as rock music gets, opening with a spine-tingling guitar intro that manages to maintain its foreboding buildup and excitement throughout. This is the type of song that superstar rock stars write, and thankfully it wasn't released as a single and played to death on radio. From there, "The Joshua Tree" changes gears. "Running to Stand Still," a song about the perils of drug use, has soft, tender vocals, quiet piano and is almost a dreamy lullaby compared to the monsters that preceded it.
Looking back, it's surprising how low key U2 kept the second half of this album. The songs are folksy and centered, nearly hymnal in parts, uncorrupted by fame, industry and overly loud guitars. Songs such as the longing "Red Hill Mining Town," the gorgeous "In God's Country," "Trip Through Your Wires" and the chiming guitars in "One Tree Hill" are as moving as music can possibly be. This is not hard rock or pure folk, and it's certainly more meaningful than mere pop music. Simply put, "The Joshua Tree" completely transcends decades: This could be music for the 1980s (it was), 1990s (the band moved on in a big way) or 2010 (we'll see what happens).
The final song, "Mothers of the Disappeared," features Bono's hypnotic voice -- lullabaic and utterly musical. Like its predecessors, "Disappeared" is addictively melodic, with guitar by The Edge in the background, chiming away magnetically. "Exit" is the only tune to rock a bit on the back half of the album. Otherwise, there's nothing fancy or over the top, musically, lyrically or productionwise. It's simply a collection of some of the greatest songs around, with dedicated and genuine words by Bono. Anyone looking to build his or her CD collection with pure classics would do well to include U2's "The Joshua Tree."
Free Music Review: Tremendous, epic rock album.
Hit: 5 Stars
For me, The Joshua Tree is the best album of the 1980's. It had a notably long recording process, and saw the group travel to the Heartland of America for inspiration and for the memorable B&W cover art. The inspiration they found was in the direction of spirited, uplifting and sometimes heartbreaking sentiments delivered with fervour. Every song on the 11-track album is memorable. I'll start with my all-time favourite U2 song: Where The Streets Have No Name. I love this song dearly - it is about casting off one's shackles to find a true freedom of the spirit. I believe this theme is extended to the second single I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, which is about the search for spiritual meaning and an affirmation of faith despite a questioning soul. Songwriting does not get any better than these two tunes. With Or Without You is a brooding song that starts slowly , then winds into a majestic chorus before fading to a wonderful instrumental coda. Again, it evokes a strong passion clearly stated with no filters. U2 never made music this direct again, spinning off into irony and camp during their glittery 1990's Lemon sojourn, but these 3 all-time classics will never be forgotten. One Tree Hill is a passionate song for a NZ friend of the band's who was lost in an auto accident. Running To Stand Still is sort of exploring similar territory to 1984's Bad , but has a different feel, while the bleak Exit is an undiluted cry from someone at the end of a very dark tunnel of despair. The gentle refrain of Mothers Of The Disappeared is also about the painful emotions of the bereaved, but offers solace in the face of tyranny. In God's Country is a more straightforward tune that may have referred to the USA itself, where many patriots believe themselves divinely blessed. And why not?!!! U2 found the wellsprings of the rock and soul traditions in God's Country on their 1987 concert tour, and their American experiences are documented of course in the Rattle And Hum movie . This title comes from the incendiary track Bullet The Blue Sky, which is about the fear of the military and economic might of the USA in certain Central American regions. This became a dramatic concert favourite thereafter. Red Hill Mining Town is another track with a memorable, soaring vocal performance by Bono. The lightest touch on the album is in the tune Trip Through Your Wires. All in all, a richly emotional album with great music and inspiring lyrics. I have seen it written that the sound quality isn't the best. Not being an audiophile, I wouldn't know, but I really don't believe that matters much. All that matters is the music and the message. This is a 5-star masterpiece. Highly Recommended!