U2
The Joshua Tree

THE REVIEW

Music is probably the most accessible form of art to people, undoubtedly the most exciting. And the U2 have always known this well. In their over twenty-year career, they have written many beautiful pages in history, timeless masterpieces, but always with one goal: to satisfy the common man, the one who doesn't know the niche bands, those more hidden, often the object of ostentation by the fake connoisseurs.
The four from Dublin are one of the few, very few examples that the quality-sales combination can exist, that these two possibilities can go hand in hand. From them, we have had such demonstrations, from the Boy-October-War trilogy, to The Unforgettable Fire, to the revolutionary Achtung Baby and Zooropa.
Of course, not missing is The Joshua Tree, published in 1987, which very probably represents, together with Achtung Baby, the creative peak of the Dublin band.

The Joshua Tree opens with the spectacular "Where the Streets Have No Name," a song that symbolizes an era, the sacred language of rock and blues. The initial intro is something magical, taking you to distant places, sending a shiver down your spine. But perhaps it's not easy to analyze each song individually. Because, in reality, this album constitutes a unique journey, with its rhythm interrupted only by the power of "Bullet The Blue Sky" and "Exit," dark hymns to hard and pure rock, with Larry Mullen's drumming and Adam Clayton's bass at the forefront. Because we find episodes like "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," a poignant ballad in the pure U2 style; the beautiful "With Or Without You," one of the fans' most beloved tracks, a desperate, dark scream, in which it's hard not to empathize. There's the pearl "Running To Stand Still," a bit melancholic, one of those songs that makes you want to think in the company of the love of your life, perhaps dancing gently to the notes of this song, romantic yes, but with lyrics and poetry that are not clichéd.

Then we find the "country" part of the album, "Red Hill Mining Town," "In God's Country," the latter characterized by a brilliant The Edge, unmistakable with his legendary "screaming guitar" style. "Trip Through Your Wires," to be honest, is perhaps a bit of the album's weak point, something a bit frivolous that doesn't hold up against the other songs. Perhaps a "Spanish Eyes" or a "Silver And Gold," destined for the role of B-Sides in the singles, would have had a greater purpose in this work, which concludes with the sad "Mothers Of Disappeared," dedicated to those missing in the Caribbean war, probably one of the first signs that something was changing in U2's sound. But back then, the confusion of Zoo TV was still far away. Here there is only the soul of rock, its essence, which is not about smashing guitars, it's not about sex, it's not about drugs.

The flaws of this record? Well, more than in the work itself, they are to be found in not entirely excellent production, especially in "Exit," for example, the volume is mixed way too low, preventing full enjoyment of Clayton's bass.
But there must be a reason for that too, and who knows, maybe one day we'll understand it.