ALBUM OF THE WEEK # 14 U2 - THE JOSHUA TREE (1987) AUDIO EXCELLENCE BY THE DECADE (PART THREE)

[RJhog (Admin)]

1. Where The Streets Have No Name
2. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
3. With Or Without You
4. Bullet The Blue Sky
5. Running To Stand Still
6. Red Hill Mining Town
7. In God's Country
8. Trip Through Your Wires
9. One Tree Hill
10. Exit
11. Mothers Of The Disappeared

Niels was correct in that this week we will visit The Joshua Tree by U2. Their 1987 release is easily my favorite U2 album. It's packed full of great songs and fantastic musicianship. And it was a huge seller. Jon's guesses were excellent, and both of those albums (Appetite For Destruction and Hysteria) sold more than The Joshua Tree (here in the U.S. anyway). Those would have been great, but I just love this album so I picked it.

Singles:

With Or Without You (March 1987) (No. 1 in U.S.)
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For (May 1987) (No. 1 in U.S.)
Where The Streets Have No Name (August 1987)
In God's Country (November 1987 - North America only)
One Tree Hill (March 1988 - Australia and New Zealand only)

All of these singles are very good songs. My personal favorite here is With Or Without You with In God's Country as close second. Where The Streets Have No Name opens the album and was a great pick for that slot. Although I like ISHFWILF, I think, of the singles, it's the most overrated. And I'm surprised One Tree Hill wasn't a bigger hit, but maybe it's because it was never released in the U.S.

Album Cuts:

Bullet The Blue Sky
Running To Stand Still
Red Hill Mining Town
Trip Through Your Wires
Exit
Mothers Of The Disappeared

Bullet The Blue Sky is simply a fantastic song. I love everything about it. The drum beat, the bass playing, and especially Edge's guitar work. Even Bono's spoken lyrics work for me, and I'm not a fan of spoken lyrics. To me, this is not only the most underrated U2 song, it's the best. Also, Running To Stand Still and Red Hill Mining Town are wonderful songs. They are also underrated gems of the U2 catalog and would both get my vote for the Hidden Gem Award if they were on different albums. I love the line in the latter that says "love, slowly stripped away/love, has seen it's better day". And I love Bono's vocal delivery of that line. I'm not sure if he's comparing lost love to lost jobs in the mining industry, but I can see it from that angle. Trip Through Your Wires is another good song. It has a different feel to me and almost doesn't belong on this album, but it's a good song. The last two tracks are the only ones that don't do much for me. Again, they aren't bad, they are just not that great.

Another week, another great album. U2's follow up to this was pretty good as well, and I really like some of their earlier stuff (War is excellent). The album art gets an average grade, it's nothing to write home about. They have released a box set of this album which looks like a great package with a lot of extras, but I'll stick with my original copy. It's easy to find on Amazon, so get it if you don't already have it. That's my advice anyway.

Hidden Gem Award:

Bullet The Blue Sky. This was way too easy this week. This song is simply the best.

Next Week:

We'll move out of the 80's and make a stop in 1992 for a guy who was thrown out of or quit his previous band that eventually made it big. But he put out a great album in 1992.


***Please click here to listen to The Joshua Tree***

[Scott]

Interesting... Ive never been much of a U2 fan and I didnt give this album the time of day when it came out and ignored it even more when it got wildly popular.

Besides the radio hits, this will be the first time I listen to this album... more to come...

[Niels (Mod)]

This album is SO good!!! I remember when it was released, the magazine Kerrang! gave it 6(!) out of 5(!) "K's" in the reiew. I never saw that again. But "they" were right. I wish I had seen U2 in concert around 1987. The opening of "Where the streets have no name" still gives me "goose-bumps". When they played that song at the concert I saw in 1992, it was truely a highlight, with the stage "covered" in red lights.

[Niels (Mod)]

I just listened to "your" version of "Where the steets..", and it's shorter than the version I have from 1987? The great opening AND ending of the song has been cut shorter!!?

[TageRyche]

One of my favorite albums ever.

U2 was kind of popular before but this was the album that put them into the stratosphere.

[Jon]

I think you changed it to U2 just to show me up. This is the last consistent album from them, in my opinion (which, I must remind you, is never wrong.).

[RJhog (Admin)]

I think Achtung Baby was still pretty good.

[Jon]

Has its moments, but it's not consistently good as this one is.

[TageRyche]

Bullet the Blue Sky is an excellent song and one that doesn't lend itself to being covered by others all that well.

I heard Queensryche do a cover in concert and I thought it was awful.

[RJhog (Admin)]

Yep, I agree. Queensryche's version is on their covers album Take Cover, and it's a live version that isn't very good. But you are correct in that it would be a very difficult song to cover. It's not your typical hit, and I dig it a lot.

[TageRyche]

I didn't hear it on the Take Cover CD first. I saw it live in concert. And was very disappointed. Which is a lowlight bar none considering it was an awful show all the way round.