namkcuR
ONE love, blood, life
25 years ago this week, on October 10, 1988, Rattle And Hum was released.
Certainly one of the most unique albums, if not the most unique album, they've ever released with regards to format and its hodgepodge makeup - it's their only album to be accompanied by a film, and the only one to mix studio and live material - and it's been argued practically since its release that it should've been two separate releases: one new album of studio material and one live album documenting the Joshua Tree tour. As it is, naysayers argue that the mix causes the studio material to lack cohesion and flow and the live material to feel out of place. This is without mentioning that some of the best live material recorded for the album was only included in the film.
All flaws aside, however, much of the studio tracks here are loved by die-hard U2 fans like us, and three of them were successful singles that are still live staples to this day(Desire, Angel Of Harlem, All I Want Is You). Also, imo, the music video for All I Want Is You is one of the very greatest they ever made.
Roughly a month after the album was released, on November 4, 1988, the film opened in theaters.
If the album got a mixed reaction, the film got blasted. The film critics just hated it. They thought it was self-indulgent, that U2 were putting themselves in the rock pantheon with the Beatles, Elvis, Dylan, Hendrix, B.B. King, etc., and that they were presumptuous and arrogant to do so. The band, and particularly Bono, have maintained to this day that their intent in the film was misunderstood, that they weren't putting themselves in the pantheon with all those greats, but rather were showing themselves as fans of those greats, and expressing that fandom by playing covers, collaborating with some of them on new songs, and by visiting places close to those greats(Larry's pilgrimage to Graceland, the band visiting Sun Studios, etc).
The critics also didn't like the interview portions, and for this, frankly, I'm not sure I can fault them. I think the band later admitted that they were kind of deer-in-the-headlights when it was time to record those segments, and the result is that, although there are some interesting things that are said, they don't have a whole lot to say a lot of the time.
Whatever one thinks of the documentary or interview parts of the film, I think most would agree that the performances - the main draw, and culled mainly from two Joshua Tree tour shows in Denver and Tempe - are nothing short of vintage U2 and essential for any U2 fan. I think even a lot of the critics that blasted the film admitted that the performances themselves were great.
So, there is a lot of imperfection both on the album and in the film, but both are important documents of where the band was at that point in time. There is both a freshness and a weariness in this material; freshness in the new material, and in that these are performances, in many cases, of some of the band's biggest warhorses before they were warhorses, of Streets, With Or Without You, Bullet The Blue Sky, Running To Stand Still, etc, when they were just the 'new' songs; weariness in that, specifically in the film, you can already see the weight of their newfound superstardom causing some cracks, and you can already see the end of their road in the 80s in sight. There is no question that a lot of the studio tracks on the album and the live performances in the film stand the test of time as enduring and indispensable entries in the U2 catalog, even if the album and film as wholes are ultimately seen as flawed.
It must also be stated, of course, that the album spawned the Lovetown tour, a tour that has gained mythical status among die-hard U2 fans, particularly here on Interference, for its dynamic setlists, party-like atmosphere, and also, for its lack of officially released material(I think there's only the Point Depot show that was released as part of the iTunes Complete U2 package, and the not-widely-seen Lovetown Documentary).
It is worth noting that that Rattle And Hum and Pop(let's not open that can of worms in this thread) are the only pre-ATYCLB U2 albums that have yet to see a remaster/re-release(if we assume that the Achtung Baby re-release is it for Zooropa). It would've made sense to do that this year, since it's the 25th anniversary, but I guess they're busy with the new album. Maybe in five years for the 30th? There's a lot of unreleased material they could include with it; the unreleased Sun Studios tracks, She's A Mystery To Me, full band Can't Help Falling Love, and If I Had A Rocket Launcher among them; the full Denver and Tempe shows that were recorded/filmed for the album and film, although U2 might not own those recordings; the Lovetown documentary; the full Sydney Lovetown shows that were filmed for said documentary; other things I'm probably forgetting. I hope for and look forward to such a release in the future.
That's about it. Let's discuss, appreciate, and commemorate Rattle And Hum and its 25th anniversary.
I leave you with these awesome posters for the film that I saw in full for maybe the first time(I'm not entirely sure) today:
Certainly one of the most unique albums, if not the most unique album, they've ever released with regards to format and its hodgepodge makeup - it's their only album to be accompanied by a film, and the only one to mix studio and live material - and it's been argued practically since its release that it should've been two separate releases: one new album of studio material and one live album documenting the Joshua Tree tour. As it is, naysayers argue that the mix causes the studio material to lack cohesion and flow and the live material to feel out of place. This is without mentioning that some of the best live material recorded for the album was only included in the film.
All flaws aside, however, much of the studio tracks here are loved by die-hard U2 fans like us, and three of them were successful singles that are still live staples to this day(Desire, Angel Of Harlem, All I Want Is You). Also, imo, the music video for All I Want Is You is one of the very greatest they ever made.
Roughly a month after the album was released, on November 4, 1988, the film opened in theaters.
If the album got a mixed reaction, the film got blasted. The film critics just hated it. They thought it was self-indulgent, that U2 were putting themselves in the rock pantheon with the Beatles, Elvis, Dylan, Hendrix, B.B. King, etc., and that they were presumptuous and arrogant to do so. The band, and particularly Bono, have maintained to this day that their intent in the film was misunderstood, that they weren't putting themselves in the pantheon with all those greats, but rather were showing themselves as fans of those greats, and expressing that fandom by playing covers, collaborating with some of them on new songs, and by visiting places close to those greats(Larry's pilgrimage to Graceland, the band visiting Sun Studios, etc).
The critics also didn't like the interview portions, and for this, frankly, I'm not sure I can fault them. I think the band later admitted that they were kind of deer-in-the-headlights when it was time to record those segments, and the result is that, although there are some interesting things that are said, they don't have a whole lot to say a lot of the time.
Whatever one thinks of the documentary or interview parts of the film, I think most would agree that the performances - the main draw, and culled mainly from two Joshua Tree tour shows in Denver and Tempe - are nothing short of vintage U2 and essential for any U2 fan. I think even a lot of the critics that blasted the film admitted that the performances themselves were great.
So, there is a lot of imperfection both on the album and in the film, but both are important documents of where the band was at that point in time. There is both a freshness and a weariness in this material; freshness in the new material, and in that these are performances, in many cases, of some of the band's biggest warhorses before they were warhorses, of Streets, With Or Without You, Bullet The Blue Sky, Running To Stand Still, etc, when they were just the 'new' songs; weariness in that, specifically in the film, you can already see the weight of their newfound superstardom causing some cracks, and you can already see the end of their road in the 80s in sight. There is no question that a lot of the studio tracks on the album and the live performances in the film stand the test of time as enduring and indispensable entries in the U2 catalog, even if the album and film as wholes are ultimately seen as flawed.
It must also be stated, of course, that the album spawned the Lovetown tour, a tour that has gained mythical status among die-hard U2 fans, particularly here on Interference, for its dynamic setlists, party-like atmosphere, and also, for its lack of officially released material(I think there's only the Point Depot show that was released as part of the iTunes Complete U2 package, and the not-widely-seen Lovetown Documentary).
It is worth noting that that Rattle And Hum and Pop(let's not open that can of worms in this thread) are the only pre-ATYCLB U2 albums that have yet to see a remaster/re-release(if we assume that the Achtung Baby re-release is it for Zooropa). It would've made sense to do that this year, since it's the 25th anniversary, but I guess they're busy with the new album. Maybe in five years for the 30th? There's a lot of unreleased material they could include with it; the unreleased Sun Studios tracks, She's A Mystery To Me, full band Can't Help Falling Love, and If I Had A Rocket Launcher among them; the full Denver and Tempe shows that were recorded/filmed for the album and film, although U2 might not own those recordings; the Lovetown documentary; the full Sydney Lovetown shows that were filmed for said documentary; other things I'm probably forgetting. I hope for and look forward to such a release in the future.
That's about it. Let's discuss, appreciate, and commemorate Rattle And Hum and its 25th anniversary.
I leave you with these awesome posters for the film that I saw in full for maybe the first time(I'm not entirely sure) today:
Despite its so called imperfections of mixing studio and live material, it was one of the first few albums of theirs I heard and it shaped my fandom as to how it is now. Some of the studio tracks here are simply magical.
