Issue with Joshua Tree
1) Mothers of the disappeared pretty much blows. A monotonous repetitive song that doesn't justify the song length.
2. The 2nd half is considerably weaker than the first half of the album. In fact turning off the album after Running to stand still you won't lose anything essential. Red hill mountain town and trip through your wires and in God countries and one tree hill are basically unremarkable songs with above average melodies. Decent but ultimately unspectacular, uninspiring and inessential songs.
3. Exit was done better in the Rattle and Hum live album and by Radiohead with "where I end and you begin"
4. The first half although are all great songs. They mostly sound better live. the definitive version of those songs aren't on Joshua tree and they mostly sound better on Rattle and hum dvd barring Bullet the blue sky (although that song sounds better in Popmart dvd). The consequence is that I more likely to listen to audio rips of dvd than listen to Joshua Tree itself. I still haven't found what I'm looking for sounds better stripped down to just Bono and Edge, running to stand still sounds better via solo piano theory intro with gradual introduction of the band, with or without you sounds better with the extra live onl verse.
5. I don't worship Where The Street have no name unlike most
U2 fans who consider it the quintessential U2 song. The intro with the organ and the Edge is absolutely brilliant and one of the greatest riffs of Edge career. However when Bono comes in, the actual song itself is bit of a let down from the intro. The intro sounds like the beginning of something grand and magical and inspirational and it seems like there is a built up to bigger things. Instead the song deflates in intensity instead of building on it when the verse begins. Also the live version is superior to the album. The tone of the organ sounds better live on the Rattle And Hum DVD as it sounds less murky and more treble and has a sense of clarity to it. There's also a better build up of instruments in the live version with the drums come in and the guitar comes in and the bass arrives in a more space out manner.
Joshua tree to me is a borderline Hex B/C album. Before I discovered Zooropa, I thought U2 were the most overrated band of all time as I believed that U2 just writes great singles that are mostly in the first half of the CD instead of great
albums.
