U2 – The Joshua Tree

What new can be said about such an iconic album?
I grew up hearing U2 songs even though I never purchased this album when it was first released.
This anniversary release was just too good to . Not only do you get the album but also heaps of bonus material as well, which makes this purchase very much worthwhile.
As for the main album, it suffers from being top heavy. The first half of the album are the singles, the popular tunes that everyone seems to know. The second half of the album were the songs that I did not know. But over time, I have learnt to appreciate how good this album is.
Is it their best? Personally, other albums are way better (when they stopped being “American” and went more “European”). But I can’t ignore how amazing this album is, and the legacy that it produced. Whether you like it or not, one cannot ignore the fact that it is a highlight in U2’s career.

Beautiful Box Set, with stunning pictures of the band ( made as a LP format , so totally easy to frame them and make a wall !!) Also with a nicely made BOOK with photos taken by the Edge. Some Remixes and Outakes of the Original Album as well, Definitely a Collector Item!

There are many things not to like about U2, though Joshua Tree is not among them. Joshua Tree is a seminal moment in time, an album the band could have made, disappeared, and the would would still be singing their praises today.

Of course The Joshua Tree shimmers with nostalgia, yet the album sounded old when it was released back in 1987, where like U2 or not, this album is a force to be reckoned with, and that can not be denied. Joshua Tree did nearly the same thing for me as did Springsteen’s “10th Avenue Freeze Out,” where the band managed to turn their music and poetry into a movie that played out in my head, channeled visions and connected me back to the mysteries Joshua Tree (the actual place) held for so many of us who grew up during the psychedelic 60’s.

The Joshua Tree is a survivor, an album that stands boldly in the middle of a musical catalog, one laced with folk influence, gospel and an unparalleled emancipation for the blues so many other bands only wish that they could have accomplished. Yet even so, even with selling over twenty-five million copies, it’s the record U2 wanted off their backs, with Bono saying “Achtung Baby was the sound of four men chopping down the Joshua Tree,” though even in saying such a thing, Bono was itting the power and splendor of this sentimental and bewilderingly brilliant outing, itting that Joshua Tree reached a pinnacle of perfection, and while no one can hum anything from Achtung Baby, simply holding Joshua Tree in my hands brings back the shivers of hearing “One Tree Hill” or “With or Without You” for the very first time.

The album solidified the band and demonstrated how capable they actually were as musicians, the album dazzled the world as other ambitious though naive flawed bands were falling to the wayside, the album showed that there was still competent guitar driven music that would move into the 1990’s, giving people a reason to look forward instead of reminiscing about the past, the 60’s, the early 70’s, all that younger people had missed out on, giving them their own legend to cling to. And with that, U2 created all of this beauty while maintaining their punk roots, weaving in songs of social relevance and importance … of course “Red Hill Mining Town” was about the mid 80’s miners strike, while “Exit” was inspired by Norman Mailer’s Gary Gilmore tome “The Executioner’s Song,” which brings us to “Mothers of the Disappeared,” about the political dissidents being murdered in Argentina, followed by “Bullet the Blue Sky,” regarding the meddling in Central America by the United States of America.

So, Joshua Tree is not only a beautiful album, but a timely one as well, one that’s not afraid to point fingers while taking the higher moral ground. So love it or hate it, Joshua Tree was destined for this 30th anniversary collection, and as with all things U2, it’s presented with style, and staggeringly over the top.

Review by Jenell Kesler