The Joshua Tree

Are these songs truly good - or is it just from the second i was born I've been bombarded by them non-stop? Honestly. not sure.

Def top heavy and uneven - Bono's crooning makes me want to gouge eyes out and YET - arrr they might still be really good.

It kicks off with three unmatched stadium sized anthems designed to raise hairs in the back of your neck.

If nothing else on the album quite hits those heights, every track is at least very strong.

Is it their best album? It's either this or Achtung Baby, depending on whether you want U2 with or without a sense of humour.

jotchua

There are some beautiful tracks on here. Unfortunately there are also some throwaways.
Still above average overall.

This is good but being good 11 times over makes you boring

The vibes I get off this album are like an attempt to make an epic, storytelling album. Reminds me of roots rock and Bruce Springsteen. The songs themselves don't feel too long despite the runtime. My favourite among them has to be "With Or Without You". The way it builds up and gets intense with every verse is *chef's kiss*.

Unlike the last album I got, this one is more consistent, but the production choices sound make it same-y than cohesive. That's the major gripe I have with "The Joshua Tree".

I think, we, as full-album listeners, sometimes forget that it's completely okay to be a singles band.

There's basically no way to sustain that three song opening sequence, possibly the pinnacle of rock as pop - the rest isn't bad, it's just there. But the production is the star. The guitar sound on this album is spectactular: chiming, echoey, textural and melodic at once and the interplay with the simple but thundering post-punk bass parts creates such a huge space.

Oi! Gobshite! Shut the fuck up and let us hear the guitar!

I have definitely heard The Joshua Tree enough times to be able to declare that I heard it before I died. We listened to this record constantly when it first came out; it had some inspiring instrumentation and was fun to sing along with while driving around. But then I got sick of it and haven't listened to it since. So it was fun to hear it again today, but I doubt I'll go back to it anytime soon.

Of course I have to mention that hearing "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" immediately called to mind the hilarious Negativland track "U2" that sampled that song and made fun of U2 a bit. At the time we thought it was absurd for Island Records to sue little Negativland over that? But they may have had a point, seeing as that's always the first thing I think of when I hear the original song.

3 stars for U2, 5 for Negativland

Boring but pleasant. Like sitting around waiting in someone's lounge but they have very nice wallpaper.

3.27

An interesting and even good album with being amazing .

The first 3 songs are all great but never really get going - sounding like continuous intros if anything

Taking the new wave sound of bands like echo and the bunnymen to heart. Weirdly songs about desert by a bunch of lads from Ireland are better than you would think .

The edge and bono are great together but are no Maca and Sullivan or Moza and Mar .

Tries a little to hard to be meaningful

I'll give it credit, they managed to make an album that sounds 20 years ahead of its time, but when that sound fits in with your Matchbox 20s (who I actually like the singles of, for the record) and other bands of that late 90s, early 2000's adult contemporary ilk, its not as glowing an endorsement to say it was ahead of its time.

The first three tracks were the soundtrack to the most bland radio rock I heard in the 2000's that I was waiting to end for the next song to come on, hopefully that I liked. And it doesn't help all the big songs off this album that I remember hearing all sound the same, with the same high pitched guitar sound (tremolo picking?).

Bullet the Blue Sky is a straight rip off of Ted Nugent's Stranglehold (good song, but being compared to Ted Nugent is not something you want). Yeah, I just don't like U2. Some of the most toothless sounding music I've ever heard. Apparently they have cutting political commentary, but I wouldn't know with the music being so ineffectual and dull. Writing political lyrics but setting it over really bland, uplifting stadium rock isn't a good mix.

As this site is pretty much anonymous, I'll reveal I first heard this album when my brother had it on cassette when we were kids - I have an inkling he now wouldn't want anyone to know he was once a U2 fan. I suspect he's not the only person rewriting history where U2 are concerned, but if you ask me, there's no shame in liking The Joshua Tree. There's a reason this album turned them into the biggest band in the world for a while.

Dette albumet er bedre enn jeg husker. Jeg er stor fan av de 3-4 første platene, da de var mer postpunk. Dagen før denne plata ble generert her så var jeg overlykkelig over at jeg hadde funnet en strøken utgave av October i en platesjappe på Hamar.

Men ja, altså bedre enn jeg husket fordi jeg har regnet denne plata som der det gikk nedover med U2. Men nå hører jeg mye jeg liker her. Det er definitivt et sprang fra tidligere plater, og det får kanskje være greit 5 plater uti karrieren. Det er som en miks av amerikansk roots-musikk og big music.

Plata holder seg jevnt god fram til og med "In God's Country", etter det opplever jeg at plata har en dipp, og kan godt skru av plata der. Jeg syns det er synd at folk har sin første opplevelse med bandet via denne plata, for det er en plate som jeg opplever som veldig nedtonet fra tidligere. Musikken var råere tidligere og Bono langt mer aggressiv. Og som nevnt har dette vært en plate jeg ikke har vært noe fan av før, men som jeg kan like nå.

oh fuck fuck fuck my username wasnt unique fuck FUCK fuck fuck

oh fuck fuck fuck my username wasnt unique fuck FUCK fuck fuck

I feel old.. I actually liked this. Great sounding and it really hits the feeling they were going for.

I've never met an open U2 fan.

The song "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" begins so promisingly, with exciting 360 sound, but immediately devolves into lame nonsense. The rest of the album doesn't have an ounce of fascinating stuff in it. Tired of this.

The album is mixed so well, too. Wasted on this junk!

The top review which says that a zoomer wouldn't believe that these guys sell out stadiums is correct. I know who U2 are and I don't understand. There are so many amazing bands, especially in the 80s, which aren't tripe. Maybe they're like the Irish Tragically Hip, another lousy band which people love for some reason unknown to anyone but the Lord.