Is Joshua Tree overated?

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I don't think it's overrated. I do, however, think that the tracklisting makes the album very front-loaded. I bought the album when I was 17, and for the longest time I simply turned it off after the opening trio. Now I know better. :wink: There are seven amazing songs on it: Streets, Still Haven't Found, WOWY, Bullet, RTSS, In God's Country, and Trip Through Your Wires.

I know a lot of people might disagree with me on TTYW, but that song is so out-of-left field for U2, and I love it. It's a great, fun little three-chord (if that many) jam that I think is needed on an album which so much emotional weight. And In God's Country, at least to me, summarizes everything about U2 in the 80s in under three minutes. And while Bullet is amazing live, I think the studio version is kinda underrated.

To me, the weaker songs are Exit, RHMT, One Tree Hill, and Mothers. I don't dislike any of them, but some songs are going to be better or worse than others. But Exit and OTH are incredible live, even if the studio versions don't really grab me.
 
Allanah said:
I don't think it's overrated. I do, however, think that the tracklisting makes the album very front-loaded.

Yep. Unstoppable first side. Amazing. Can't be overplayed for me, either.

Second side songs are excellent, but don't flow as a cohesive whole like side A.

I think this is an overall U2 tendency, too. Anything shaky gets pushed toward the end.
 
I don't understand why people complain about the Joshua Tree being front-loaded. Most albums have to function like that. :shrug: U2 albums elevate, reach a climax and slowly bring you down to Earth. If the first couple of songs were thrown about the album then you would never achieve "elevation."
 
I understand the need to pack a great punch at the beginning of an album, but I think that the first five songs are also the best five songs. That creates a problem, especially when a lot of people don't even listen to the second half of the album. In the case of JT, many don't even get past the first three. Start with two of them, and then work out a running order where the other three are spaced out a bit more. I can't think of any other album by any artist in which the first three songs were also the three big singles.

Of course, I'm picking nits here. I think JT is amazing.
 
Allanah said:
I understand the need to pack a great punch at the beginning of an album, but I think that the first five songs are also the best five songs. That creates a problem, especially when a lot of people don't even listen to the second half of the album. In the case of JT, many don't even get past the first three. Start with two of them, and then work out a running order where the other three are spaced out a bit more. I can't think of any other album by any artist in which the first three songs were also the three big singles.


This was also released in the day and age of cassettes. Artists always made their A side single heavy due to the fact that a casual listener wouldn't listen to the whole album and skipping songs wasn't exactly easy. Take a closer look at albums released in the 80's, you'll notice how many are "top" heavy...
 
BonoVoxSupastar said:


This was also released in the day and age of cassettes. Artists always made their A side single heavy due to the fact that a casual listener wouldn't listen to the whole album and skipping songs wasn't exactly easy. Take a closer look at albums released in the 80's, you'll notice how many are "top" heavy...

Yeah. Rule of thumb for U2 - the stronger the second "side" is, the stronger the entire album is. They can ALWAYS put together a dead solid side A.

This is why I am campaigning for a double record. The boys can break out of the usual 10-12 song emotional arc and stretch a bit, working with their live emotional arc template. If they could just get together that many songs. Wow.
 
JT is front-loaded with hits, but that doesn't mean it's front-loaded with good songs. I'll always prefer the second side. :shrug:
 
No way is The Joshua Tree overrated! I was listening to it in my car on the way back from work... bright and sunny day, very warm, had the windows rolled down... It sounded like perfection on a CD!
 
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