Let's hear it for The Joshua Tree

[wertsie]

I just felt the need to give props to this phenomenal album. In the past, I don't feel like I, personally, ever gave it enough credit. I'm one of those people who, if 100 people tell me "oh, this is so great!", I'm like, "screw it!" (I still haven't seen The Matrix and don't plan to in the near future for that reason!).

Okay, sorry, guys. I'm getting a little off track here. Anyway, I guess it has annoyed me in the past that all the non-U2 fans I'd come across always knew about JT and that's it. I guess I felt like they were raising that album up at the expense of their other albums.

But then I thought, "who cares what album non-U2 fans know? Does it really matter?" No, of course not! And JT IS a great album! Now I think that if non-U2 fans know about U2 at all, in any capacity whatsoever (positive, of course!), that's great!

I have recently fully discovered the songs beyond the ones we always hear about (WOWY, Streets, Bullet, and ISHF...). In God's Country is my favorite at the moment. It's just so powerful to listen to when I'm driving on the highway between school and home. It's magic!

And then, of course, there is Running to Stand Still. I remember one day I was in my room listening to JT and that song came on. I think it was about halfway through the song and it was so bizaree because all of a sudden I was completely entranced. I had to listen to the song again and really FEEL it, you know? Very powerful!

Okay, I could go on, but I'd love to hear what some of the rest of you have to say!

 

[oliveu2cm]

I love the Joshua Tree. It is such a romantic, beautiful album. I know romantic could be a weird interpretation, but it just seems Bono is in love with everything he is writing about (the mothers who are suffering whom he writes about in MOTD, or his friend Greg Carrol in One Tree Hill or God in a variety of the songs).

The other day I drove to New York, leaving around 5am and I put in TJT.. nothing like an empty road, dark road facing you and hearing the opening bars of Streets swelling up and surrounding you.

Running To Stand Still has a permanant spot in my top 5.

 

[kariatari]

Whenever I'm feeling stressed or angry all I have to do is pop The Joshua Tree into my discman and chill out in my bed for awhile. The first three songs always do the trick! Listening to the album the whole way through totally calms me and instills a kind of peace in me - it makes me put things in perspective. It's kind of like a therapy session for me, LOL! Cheapest (and most enjoyable) 50 minute therapy session you can get!

 

[U2Kitten]

JT is so great there is just no way to put it into words. Every time I listen to it I'm amazed at how great it is. I can *feel* the album's aura and it goes right through me. This is excellence, and one for the ages!

 

[Moonlit_Angel]

Ah, my favorite U2 album. I was only almost three years old when this album came out, but that doesn't matter, better to hear it late than to never have heard it at all.

I love this one. So many great songs-naturally, "With Or Without You" (which has such beautiful music in it), "I Still Haven't Found...", and "Where The Streets Have No Name" are all fantastic-I can certainly see why they were big hits when they were released (and it doesn't hurt that "I Still Haven't Found..." and "Where The Streets Have No Name" in particular had awesome videos accompanying those songs).

"Running To Stand Still" is another awesome song, as is "Bullet The Blue Sky", mainly because of the great lyrics in them. That's one thing I really like about this album-these songs have some of the best lyrics I've ever heard in my life (example: "One Tree Hill"-my favorite lines from that song:

I don't believe in painted roses or bleeding hearts
While bullets rape the night of the merciful
I'll see you again when the stars fall from the sky
And the moon has turned red over one tree hill

Um. Yeah. Wow).

"Exit" is a song that nobody talks much about, but one I really like-it's dark, but it's got great lyrics and an interesting way of putting it together-starting out quiet and then getting louder and then quiet again. The way it's sung adds to its intensity.

One thing I couldn't believe, when we did that one thing on here a while back where we individually ranked the songs on this album, was how so many people were putting "Trip Through Your Wires" so low. I love that song, that's one of my absolute favorite ones off of the album! It's so fun!

"Mothers Of The Disappeared" is another good one from here-I remember one day I was listening to that song on headphones, and Bono was doing the "ooo" thing at the end...and I got chills up and down my spine. What a haunting song.

So, yeah...um, in short, this album rocks. . .

Angela

 

[Bonofire]

I love the music, the lyrics, the atmosphere. SUPERIOR work. U2 at their best. One of the best of all time.

 

[GypsyHeartgirl]

As I said on the controversial thread, TRUE appreciation threads never get many responses. It's no fun unless there's a fight I guess. I will add my honest remarks to these threads, though few others will comment.

Streets- One of the best songs and THE best rocker U2 ever did, one of the greatest songs ever!

TripThruYourWires- take me to the desert

In God's Country, Red Hill Mining Town- two of my favorite songs ever! I love the feeling that comes from the passion of Bono's words and his vocals. Maybe his best vocal work ever.

One Tree Hill- Beautiful song, very special to me for personal reasons.

BTBS- rock on!

RTSS- emotion, near perfection

Exit and Mothers- guess what, I don't really like these songs. I think Heartland would have fit in better and these should have gone to R & H. Hope no one is upset and bashes me for saying this Oh that's right, with any other album no one cares. Whew. But it doesn't matter, the rest of the album is strong enough and it deserves all the praise it has gotten.

Overall rating: A- A masterpiece among the legendary.

 

[follower]

Can?t get away of a Joshua Tree appreciation thread. I feel a bit like wertsie here, I mean, you tend to neglect it only because it?s the most successful U2 album so far, and I?m talking about the general public. But there must be a reason for all that success and that couldnn?t be other than...it?s a masterpiece, simply.

From the ones that were not hits, I like Red Hill Mining Town and Mothers of Disappeared the best.

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

the only reason i think this album is neglected is cuz, like achtung baby, everyone (even non fans!) know they're masterpieces!

wow, i love this album! it was one of the first i bought. plus, i grew up with all the hits off of this so when i bought it, i'd really already heard of half of the stuff.

i'd say my favourites would have to be wtshnn, ishfwilf, exit, motd, and oth. but i love all of it really. (don't care too much for btbs, it just lacks the intensity it has when it's played live, esp. during the jt tour! and wowy, just cuz i've heard it way too much.)

and gypsy, you should know better than to bring up stuff from other threads and drag it into here.

 

[GypsyHeartgirl]

and gypsy, you should know better than to bring up stuff from other threads and drag it into here.

See there you go picking on me and singling me out again. There are several comments bringing Pop jokes into this thread, but you don't even mention that, just me. ho hum, no wonder I'm so 'paranoid'

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

that would be because the rest were jokes, but you had resort to insults about pop. you know, saying true appreciation threads get few responses.

 

[Moonlit_Angel]

In the words of Edge: "Oh, here we go..."

Angela

 

[Zoomerang96]

seriously, she is a cancer to this board. i really hope the mods are fed up soon enough, cause im very tired of her boring antics.

the joshua tree is a superb album, and like khanada said, i too believe that there arent as many appreciation threads for this and achtung baby cause EVERYONE knows theyre fantastic albums.

but its still good to have one now and then!

 

[wertsie]

Exit and Mothers- guess what, I don't really like these songs. I think Heartland would have fit in better and these should have gone to R & H. Hope no one is upset and bashes me for saying this Oh that's right, with any other album no one cares. Whew. But it doesn't matter, the rest of the album is strong enough and it deserves all the praise it has gotten.

I agree that Heartland would have fit well, although I do LOVE Mothers and Exit...Actually, the only two songs on the album that I'm kind of iffy about at times are Trip Through Your Wires and Red Hill Mining Town. It's not that they aren't great songs...It's really weird, actually. When I listen to them in the context of JT I don't really like them and usually skip over them, but when I have listened to them when my CD player is on shuffle, they sound great.

 

[wertsie]

In the words of Edge: "Oh, here we go..."

Angela

I just watched the History Mix on the DVD that comes with the best of CD last night and I was thinking about the little Simpsons bit.

 

[Bono's shades]

To me listening to The Joshua Tree is like listening to the voice of eternity. The music goes that deep.

I think JT has nine songs that are absolutely brilliant. The only tracks I don't care to listen to much outside the context of the album are Red Hill Mining Town and Trip Through Your Wires. But when I'm listening to the album they seem to fit in perfectly with the rest of the songs and I NEVER skip them.

 

[flaming june]

I have recently fully discovered the songs beyond the ones we always hear about (WOWY, Streets, Bullet, and ISHF...). In God's Country is my favorite at the moment. It's just so powerful to listen to when I'm driving on the highway between school and home. It's magic!

Oh, that song... no matter what mood I'm in, it just takes me away. Perfect for playing it in the car.

From the least popular songs, I like Exit and Trip Through Your Wires the best.

Great album.

 

[SamanthaPuff]

*applause*

Bow down in the presence of perfection

 

[Sicy]

lordy

I appreciate Joshua Tree because it was the album that made me a fan. It holds very special memories and I feel blessed that I was able to see a show from this tour. I was 14.

 

[IWasBored]

every song on that album has been my favourite song in the world at one point--usually while that given track is playing...


maybe i'm just indecisive the joshua tree (and zooropa)
are the reasons i became a u2 fan (ugh, that felt like some wierd confessional).

the intro to "in god's country" completely kills me every time, as does the ending to "with or without you"

i was only three when the album came out (well, depending on what part of 87 it was released), so i didn't hear the album until, well, i'll just say much later than that...i used to think that u2 was some 80s synth pop band cos i didn't think a guitar could MAKE those sounds...yeah, sometimes i LOVE being wrong...

anyone ever heard the band Live's song "libra" which was actually before they were live, while they were called public affection, when they recorded their non-commerically released "death of a dictionary" album?? anyone knwo what i'm talking about? listen to that and TELL me that they weren't listened to "mothers of the disappeared" when they were writing that...

 

[ultraviolet7]

It's a great album - it's a classic no denial but somehow I associate it clearly to a stage U2 closed, passed and certainly is not going back to. Like to listen to it now and then when feeling nostalgic - there are undoubtedly some great songs on it, but I seldom listen to U2's older stuff (pre AB) really, maybe because I listened to it so much at the time or more probably because U2's 90s production was so amazing that anything else pales in comparison. In fact my top U2 albums are AB, Pop, Original Soundtracks, Zooropa. Only after those I'd place The Joshua Tree in a tie with War and Rattle & Hum.

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

I feel blessed that I was able to see a show from this tour.

lucky

 

[Zoomerang96]

running to stand still is probably one of the best songs theyve ever written. but then again, you can say that about almost any of the songs on here.

 

[corianderstem]

I always forget how much I love JT. At this point, I'm so used (and in love with) the live versions of the songs that it's a surprise to go back and listen to the actual album.

This was the first album (tape, actually!) of theirs that I bought when it was released. This one and UF always make me think of winter.

I think I'll go home after work and play it -- loud, of course!

 

[Roland of Gilead]

The Joshua Tree is a symbol of my youth. I was a 16-year old who became mesmerised by this incredible album and used it as a way to escape, to fantasize, and to love. I have said this all before. It is the soundtrack of my youth. With or Without You in highschool gyms. Streets in the car to begin those long trips to play minor hockey in other towns. Still Haven't Found... in my darkened room to comfort the heartache of love lost. Every song on this album played a part in my teenaged youth.

Talk of the power an album can have on a person and this is what it is to me. Even today, these songs invoke images in my mind that remain unchanged over the years. The Joshua Tree was my guardian angel. It still is.

ps- that lithograph over at u2.com is going to look great in my office!

 

[Mrs. Vedder]

I absolutely LOVE this album! I swear every time I hear it, it never fails to amaze me!

I honestly love every song! Even though I was having some :/ with "Trip Through Your Wires" it has grown on me!!


RHMT is one of my fav U2 songs EVER! And "Mothers of The Dissapear" is just a lovely song but so . I love the version from 1987 I think? Where Bono adds that verse in Spanish and English! Oh my Gosh so beautiful! "Mama-ma recuerda me... Mama-ma suspirate... La verdad vendra lo se.." I always get when I hear it!

 

[corianderstem]

And "Mothers of The Dissapear" is just a lovely song but so . I love the version from 1987 I think? Where Bono adds that verse in Spanish and English! Oh my Gosh so beautiful! "Mama-ma recuerda me... Mama-ma suspirate... La verdad vendra lo se.." I always get when I hear it!

Is this version available on bootleg anywhere? I'd love to hear it.

 

[IWasBored]

Is this version available on bootleg anywhere? I'd love to hear it.

i swear i saw that happen on some video clip...

yeah, they played a popmart clip when bono was interviewed by charlie rose on pbs

 

[Mrs. Vedder]

i swear i saw that happen on some video clip...

yeah, they played a popmart clip when bono was interviewed by charlie rose on pbs

That's not the one! In that one All the mothers that were up on stage said who they were dedicating this concert too.. and they would say their son/brother/loved one name that has been missing since ____ year. It's also very sad.