From the opening keyboard drone of Where the Streets Have No Name to the closing drumbeats of Mothers of the Disappeared, U2's fifth and best album, The Joshua Tree takes the listener on cinematic aural exploration from the big themes of 1980s Cold War political realities through the eternal personal, emotional themes of the human condition. In fact, mixing politics and the personal is what U2 is probably known best for. And when they do it well, they do it better than anyone else.
The Joshua Tree is not only a musical masterpiece, but lyrically and thematically it evokes a movie-like journey. With the American desert as its backdrop, the narrative in song moves from the US to Central and South America to the streets of Dublin south to Africa and all the way down under to New Zealand. Telling stories of love found and lost in With or Without You, wrestling with faith and doubt in I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, and exploring the full range of grief and bereavement in One Tree Hill, this record is profoundly personal. In Running to Stand Still, we are taken into the dynamics of a relationship dominated by drug addiction and in Exit we hear the demented thoughts of a cold-blooded killer. But this album is also political. Bullet the Blue Sky and Mothers of the Disappeared address the Cold War's effect on Latin America, and Red Hill Mining Town deals with Thatcher's policies in 1980s Britain.
As always, Bono's words, The Edge's strumming, and the rhythm section of Adam and Larry catapults their audience on a musical adventure of imagination. But where The Unforgettable Fire had been heavy with ambient tonality and an impressionistic feel, The Joshua Tree is more stripped down and straight forward. It's 11 standout songs that fit together to make one of the all-time greatest records in popular music history.
U2 The Joshua Tree - Released March 9, 1987
Album Charts - #2 Ireland, #1 UK, #1 US
Worldwide Sales to Date - 27 Million
Singles - With or Without You, #1 Ireland, #4 UK, #1 US. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For #1 Ireland, #6 UK, #1 US. Where The Streets Have No Name #1 Ireland, #4 UK, #13 US. In God's Country #48 UK, #44 US. One Tree Hill #1 New Zealand.
Standout Songs - Every Single One
Weakest Tracks - None
Hidden Gem - Mothers of the Disappeared
This brings us to the end of this blog series ranking U2's albums from worst to first. U2 has released 14 studio albums of original material. If they are not all excellent, they are all at least pretty good. Their best, especially The Joshua Tree, are some of the all-time greats in rock n' roll history. Will U2 release a new record soon? Let's hope they still haven't found what they're looking for. - Shay
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