Prior to 1987s The Joshua Tree, U2 had built up a respectable following through it’s soaring, anthemic music that was based on the Edge’s ’’wall of echo’’ style of playing guitar. The Joshua Tree, however, transformed the band into arena-filling stars. That’s no surprise as this disc holds up as one of the finest from U2 and one of the best rock albums available in the 1980s.
What really pushes this disc along is the texture laid down by the Edge’s guitars and the swirling keyboards of Brian Eno. The Edge developed his guitar style because he couldn’t play all that well, but could disguise his simplistic playing by draping it in tons of echo. That crisp, biting sound always sounded great, but the Edge’s skill had improved a bit by this album. So, combining his rhythm guitar style with some fills, runs and fairly competent solos really pushed his guitar to the front a bit more.
As for Eno, he ran around trying to create some strange ’’emotional soundscapes’’ with a synthesizer. That never sounded great on its own, but when combined with U2, those keyboards added some true depth and beauty to the songs. For example, the swirling opening on ’’Where the Streets Have No Name’’ serves as a perfect introduction to the album. You’ve got Eno banging out some shapeless, formless bits of synthesized stuff that finally gives away to the Edge’s chattering guitar. Bam! The effect is amazing.
And, Bono truly contributed some emotional vocals to the album. ’’With or Without You’’ sounds like a rather tormented love song, while ’’I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For’’ sounds like Bono can identify closely with the title of the song. ’’Where the Streets Have No Name’’ is, quite simply, one of the most powerful songs U2 ever recorded, and conveys an almost tangible sense of longing and a desire to be truly free.
Perhaps the best thing about this album is that U2 managed to achieve something very rare with this one -- the thing is consistently good all the way. While I’ve always appreciated U2, the majority of their albums have contained some songs I loved, some I hated and others that were merely okay. The Joshua Tree is fantastic from start to finish.
One thing about this album is that it’s kind of a brooding one. A general sense of being rather unsettled and in search of a meaning of life is stamped all over the disc. Still, the music is powerful and absolutely brilliant, even if the general mood of the album is rather dark.
If you don’t own this, you need it. That’s all there is to it.