The Joshua Tree
Front Sleeve | Purchase Album
Release Date: March 9, 1987
Highest Chart Position: UK: 1 USA: 1
Liner Notes:
Produced by: Brian Eno & Daniel Lanois. Recorded by: Flood. Additional Engineering: Dave Meegan with Pat McCarthy. * Mixed by: Steve Lillywhite. Mix Engineered by: Mark Wallace. Assisted by: Mary Kettle. Words: Bono. Backing Vocals: The Edge, Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois. DX7 Programmes and Keyboards: Brian Eno. Tambourine / Omnichord / Additional Rhythm Guitar: Daniel Lanois. Harmonica: Bono. One Tree Hill - Radd Strings: Recorded by Bob Doidge. Played by the Armin Family. Red Hill Mining Town - the Arklow Silver Band. Red Hill Mining Town - Brass Arranged and Conducted by Paul Barrett. Studio Crew: Joe O'Herlihy, Des Broadberry, Tom Mullally, Tim Buckley, Marc Coleman, Mary Gough, Marion Smyth. Manager: Paul McGuinness. Principle Management, Dublin: Anne-Louise Kelly. Principle Management, New York: Ellen Darst. Drums, Keyboards, Outboard Equipment: Yamaha. Cymbals: Paiste. Sticks: Pro Mark. Strings: Superwound, Rotosound - James Howe Industries. Infinite Guitar invented by: Michael Brook. (Part of this album was recorded on Edge's Amek Mixing Console). Recorded and Mixed at Windmill Lane Studios, Dublin. Photography by: Anton Corbijn. Design and Layout by: Steve Averill. Artwork by: The Creative Dept. Ltd, Dublin. To The Memory of Greg Carroll 1960-1986.
Track List:
- Where The Streets Have No Name * (5:37)
- I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For (4:37)
- With Or Without You * (4:56)
- Bullet The Blue Sky * (4:32)
- Running To Stand Still (4:18)
- Red Hill Mining Town * (4:52)
- In God's Country (2:57)
- Trip Through Your Wires (3:32)
- One Tree Hill (5:23)
- Exit (4:13)
- Mothers Of The Disappeared (5:14)
Catalog:
- Canada: Island CID 1127, Island ISXC 1127
- Germany: Island 258 219/CID U2 6
- Ireland: Island U2 6
- Israel: BANU26
- Japan: Island R280-2066, Island PHCR-1706
- Spain: Island 5F 208219 (White Label Promo / Press Kit)
- Sweden: Island U26 (Pink Vinyl / 50 Copies)
- UK: Island U2 6, Island CID U2 6, Island UC2 6, Island U2 6 (Black / Gold Pizza Box Promo), Island 842 298-5 (Digital Compact Cassette)
- USA: Island 7-90581-1, Island 90581-2, Island 422 842 298-2, Mobile Fidelity UDCD 650
Media Review:
Review: The Joshua Tree
5 stars (out of 5)
By Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
Using the textured sonics of The Unforgettable Fire as a basis, U2 expanded those innovations by scaling back the songs to a personal setting and adding a grittier attack for its follow-up, The Joshua Tree. It's a move that returns them to the sweeping, anthemic rock of War, but if War was an exploding political bomb, The Joshua Tree is a journey through its aftermath, trying to find sense and hope in the desperation. That means that even the anthems -- the epic opener "Where the Streets Have No Name," the yearning "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" -- have seeds of doubt within their soaring choruses, and those fears take root throughout the album, whether it's in the mournful sliding acoustic guitars of "Running to Stand Still," the surging "One Tree Hill," or the hypnotic elegy "Mothers of the Disappeared." So it might seem a little ironic that U2 became superstars on the back of such a dark record, but their focus has never been clearer, nor has their music been catchier, than on The Joshua Tree. Unexpectedly, U2 have also tempered their textural post-punk with American influences. Not only are Bono's lyrics obsessed with America, but country and blues influences are heard throughout the record, and instead of using these as roots, they're used as ways to add texture to the music. With the uniformly excellent songs -- only the clumsy, heavy rock and portentous lyrics of "Bullet the Blue Sky" fall flat -- the result is a powerful, uncompromising record that became a hit due to its vision and its melody. Never before have U2's big messages sounded so direct and personal.
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