Stylus Magazine Plays God with The Joshua Tree

[STING2]

The Joshua Tree was originally supposed to be a double album. Those B-sides that sound more like A-sides were the extra songs. This fact came out with some interviews with BONO and it was the other members of the band that decided to scrap the double album plan. BONO wanted it to remain a double album. The following track listing is based on some of what BONO mentioned about where songs were supposed to be positioned on the double album.

Where The Streets Have No Name
Sliver And Gold
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
Spanish Eyes
With Or Without You
Luminous Times
Walk To The Water
Bullet The Blue Sky
Running To Stand Still
Red Hill Mining Town
In God's Country
Trip Through Your Wires
Sweetest Thing
One Tree Hill
Heartland
Deep In The Heart
Exit
Race Against Time
Mothers Of The Disappeared

Now if this had remained the tracklisting, I'd put the Joshua Tree ahead of the Achtung Baby as the greatest album of all time.

 

[the tourist]

I'd read that the original tracklisiting was

Beautiful Ghost
Where The Streets Have No Name
Silver And Gold
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
Spanish Eyes
With Or Without You
Luminous Times
Walk To The Water
Bullet The Blue Sky
Running To Stand Still
Red Hill Mining Town
Race Against Time
In God's Country
Trip Through Your Wires
The Sweetest Thing
One Tree Hill
Heartland
Deep In The Heart
Exit
Mothers Of The Disappeared

 

[STING2]

I'd read that the original tracklisiting was

Beautiful Ghost
Where The Streets Have No Name
Silver And Gold
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
Spanish Eyes
With Or Without You
Luminous Times
Walk To The Water
Bullet The Blue Sky
Running To Stand Still
Red Hill Mining Town
Race Against Time
In God's Country
Trip Through Your Wires
The Sweetest Thing
One Tree Hill
Heartland
Deep In The Heart
Exit
Mothers Of The Disappeared

Thats true, I forgot about Beautiful Ghost. But no Race Against Time?

 

[the tourist]

I thought Race Against Time was in between Red Hill Mining Town and In God's Country (that's where I have it in there). Of course, I very well could be mistaken.

 

[cobl04]

I disagreed almost completey with that tracklisting, almost because I haven't heard four of those songs. But I had a few problems -

• One Tree Hill would not feel right after Exit.
• The Sweetest Thing does not feel quite right in third. I don't think it fits the mood of the album.
• Any changed tracklisting that does not include With or Without You, Running to Stand Still, Red Hill Mining Town and Mothers of the Disappered should not be taken seriously.

I'll admit, I'm not a big fan of MotD, but it is a terrific closer. Feels perfect and that is one of the reasons why The Joshua Tree is considered to be such a good album.

Anyone who's read my posts over the years knows I'm not a big fan of JT - in fact, I rate it pretty low amongst U2 albums (still the best album released in '87 and one of the better albums of all time, but not nearly as good as other U2 albums). However, the list that was created in this article is odd for so many reasons.

First, I really like the '98 version of "Sweetest Thing". Yes, it does take getting used to - after all, a fan of the original lived with it for 11 years before the new version came along. But the new version sounds more polished yet fun, with smoother vocals and less straining. Bono's voice was way off on the original (even Edge has stated this) and the '98 version gave the song the life it deserved. Nonetheless, I do feel "Sweetest Thing" could have been an album track - but it's because it's more uplifting and fun that it actually doesn't fit with the rest of the songs. Hence, it is best suited as a b-side.

Also, this author keeps many songs that I would jettison from JT. For example, as powerful as "Bullet" is, I never really liked the album version. If there's one thing I agree with, it's that "Bullet" should have been moved in placement on the album. Having it as track 4 really destroys the mood created by the first 3 songs. Destroying that mood would be fine if the album continued in theme of "Bullet", but instead it returns right back to the mood of the first three songs.

And, I've always hated "Trip" - that song should be eliminated from memory.

So while I agree that JT could use some tweaking, it's not at all what this author suggests.

I actually agree with most of thus is. I think Bullet should stay on, but you are spot on about it's placing. I mean, WoWY -- BtBS -- RtSS? I never really liked that. I think it would work if it was closer to Exit in the tracklisting. And about The Sweetest Thing - I agree with that too because even though it's a good song, it doesn't fit the mood because it's kind of fun and uplifting - but you do have that track already in TTYW. But I quite like TTYW.

 

[Clawgrabber]

i like the extebded album, but don't think silver & gold works between streets & i still haven't found