The Joshua Tree
The Joshua Tree is the fifth studio album by Irish rock band U2. It was produced by Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, and was released on 9 March 1987 on Island Records. In contrast to the ambient experimentation of their 1984 release, The Unforgettable Fire, the band aimed for a harder-hitting sound within the limitation of conventional song structures on The Joshua Tree. The album is influenced by American and Irish roots music, and through sociopolitically conscious lyrics embellished with spiritual imagery, it contrasts the group's antipathy for the "real America" with their fascination with the "mythical America".
For other uses, see Joshua Tree (disambiguation).The Joshua Tree
Inspired by American experiences, literature, and politics, U2 chose America as a theme for the album. Recording began in January 1986 in Ireland, and to foster a relaxed, creative atmosphere, the group primarily recorded in two houses. Several events during the sessions helped shape the conscious tone of the album, including the band's participation in the Conspiracy of Hope benefit concerts for Amnesty International, the death of roadie Greg Carroll, and lead vocalist Bono's travels to Central America. Recording was completed in November 1986; additional production continued into January 1987. Throughout the sessions, U2 sought a "cinematic" quality for the record, one that would evoke a sense of location, in particular, the open spaces of the United States. They represented this in the sleeve photography depicting them in American desert landscapes.
The Joshua Tree received critical acclaim, topped the charts in over 20 countries, and became the fastest-selling album in British history. According to Rolling Stone, the album increased the band's stature "from heroes to superstars". It produced the hit singles "With or Without You", "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For", and "Where the Streets Have No Name", the first two of which became the group's only number-one singles in the US. The album won Grammy Awards for Album of the Year and Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal in 1988. The group supported the record with the Joshua Tree Tour throughout 1987, during which they began to perform in stadiums for the first time in their career.
Frequently listed among the greatest albums of all time, The Joshua Tree is one of the world's best-selling albums, with over 25 million copies sold. U2 commemorated the record's 20th anniversary with a remastered re-release, and its 30th anniversary with concert tours and a reissue. In 2014, The Joshua Tree was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame, and was selected for preservation in the US National Recording Registry for being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress.
Composition[edit]
Music[edit]
U2 is credited with composing all of The Joshua Tree's music.[51] The album's sound draws from American and Irish roots music more than the group's previous albums, following the counsel and influence of Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, and Keith Richards. "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" has strong gospel influences, with Bono singing of spiritual doubt in an upper register and Eno, Lanois, and the Edge providing choir-like backing vocals.[50] The slow piano-based ballad "Running to Stand Still" exhibits traits of folk music and acoustic blues in the track's slide acoustic guitar and harmonica.[50] "Trip Through Your Wires", another song on which Bono plays harmonica, was described by Niall Stokes as a "bluesy romp".[52] Summarising the stylistic direction, Chicago Tribune journalist Joshua Klein writes that the album "showed how U2's obsession with American roots flavored its art-rock".[53]
The Edge's guitar playing on The Joshua Tree is characteristic of what came to be his trademark sound. His minimalist style sharply contrasted with the emphasis placed on virtuosity and speed by heavy metal in the 1980s. The Edge views musical notes as "expensive", preferring to play as few of them as possible and to instead focus on simpler parts that serve the moods of the songs.[49] Much of this was achieved with a delay effect, contributing to a chiming, echo-laden sound.[54] For example, the riff in the introduction of the opening track "Where the Streets Have No Name" is a repeated six-note arpeggio, with delay used to repeat notes.[49] The riffs to "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" and "With or Without You" also prominently use delay, with Bono likening the guitar hook from the former track to "chrome bells".[50]
The Edge continued to employ the ambient techniques of guitar playing that he used on The Unforgettable Fire; for "With or Without You", he used a prototype of the Infinite Guitar to add layers of sustained notes, an approach he first took on his 1986 solo album, the Captive soundtrack.[55] On other songs, his guitar playing is more aggressive; "Exit" was described by Colin Hogg as a "decidedly scary... guitar-driven barrage",[56] while Andrew Mueller said the guitar sounds from "Bullet the Blue Sky" evoke images of fighter planes.[57] The Edge developed the harsh, feedback-charged guitar part for the latter song at Bono's instruction to "put El Salvador through an amplifier", after Bono returned angry from a visit to the war-torn country.[58] Bono also contributed to songwriting on guitar; the Spanish guitar melody in "Mothers of the Disappeared" originated from a song that he wrote in Ethiopia to teach children about basic hygiene.[32]
Much like on past records, Bono exhibits an expressive, open-throated vocal delivery,[59] which many critics described as "passionate".[56][60][61] Spin found that the group's exploration of roots music resulted in Bono's style expanding, saying that he "commands the full whisper-to-shout range of blues mannerisms".[62] Bono attributes this maturation to "loosening up", "discover[ing] other voices", and employing more restraint in his singing.[9] His vocals became, in the words of Thom Duffy, more "dynamic" than they had been on previous records.[63] On "Where the Streets Have No Name", his voice varies greatly in its timbre (as writer Mark Butler describes, "he sighs; he moans; he grunts; he exhales audibly; he allows his voice to crack") and its timing by his usage of rubato to slightly offset the sung notes from the beat.[64] For author Susan Fast, "With or Without You" marks the first track on which he "extended his vocal range downward in an appreciable way".[65]
Release[edit]
Just prior to the release of The Joshua Tree, Bono was stricken with a sudden panic about the quality of the completed album. He said that he contemplated calling the production plants to order a halt of the record's pressing, but he ultimately held off.[93] Island Records spent over $100,000 on store displays advertising the album; president Lou Maglia called it "the most complete merchandising effort ever assembled".[94] The Joshua Tree was released on 9 March 1987,[94] with an initial shipment of 300,000 copies in the US.[95] It was the first new release to be made available on the compact disc, vinyl record, and cassette tape formats on the same date.[94] Record stores in Britain and Ireland opened at midnight to accommodate the large number of fans who had queued outside to buy the album.[31][96]
"With or Without You" was released as the lead single on 21 March 1987, with the B-sides "Luminous Times (Hold on to Love)" and "Walk to the Water".[97] The single quickly topped the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the band's first number-one hit in America.[16] The song topped the singles chart in Canada,[98] while reaching number four in the UK[99] and number two in the Netherlands.[100] The group originally planned to use "Red Hill Mining Town" as the second single.[101] However, the group were unhappy with the music video filmed by Neil Jordan,[16][102] and Bono had difficulty singing the song.[103] Ultimately, the group canceled the single.[101][104] Instead, "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" was chosen as the second single, and it was released in May 1987 with the tracks "Spanish Eyes" and "Deep in the Heart" as B-sides.[105] Like its predecessor, it topped the Hot 100, giving U2 consecutive number-one singles in the US.[16] The single peaked at number six in the UK,[99] Canada,[98] and the Netherlands.[100]
"Where the Streets Have No Name" was released in August 1987 as the third single, with "Sweetest Thing", "Silver and Gold", and "Race Against Time" as B-sides.[106] The single reached number seven in the Netherlands,[100] number four on the UK Singles Chart, and number 13 in the US.[16] The album's first three singles all topped the Irish Singles Charts,[107] while charting within the top 20 of the singles charts in the UK,[99] the US,[108] Canada,[98] New Zealand,[109] and the Netherlands.[100] "In God's Country" was released as a fourth single exclusively in North America in November 1987,[110] peaking at number 44 on the Hot 100[108] and number 48 as an import single in the UK.[99] "One Tree Hill" was released as a fourth single in Australia and New Zealand in March 1988,[111][112] and having been written for the New Zealand-native Carroll, it reached number one in his home country.[109]
In 1996, Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab remastered the album and released it as a special gold CD. This edition rectified the incorrect track splitting between "One Tree Hill" and "Exit" that affected some CD releases; the quiet coda that concludes "One Tree Hill" had previously been included in the same track as "Exit".[113][114]
Following its 30th anniversary reissue, The Joshua Tree re-entered the Billboard 200 chart the week of 8 June 2017, climbing to number 16—its highest position on the chart since 13 February 1988. That week, it shifted 27,000 album-equivalent units, 23,000 of which were sales, making it the album's highest-selling week in the US since 3 January 1993.[115]
20th anniversary remastered edition[edit]
On 20 November 2007, a 20th anniversary edition of The Joshua Tree was released.[197] The album was remastered from the original analogue recordings under the direction of the Edge,[198][199] with the original vinyl album artwork restored.[168] The release was made available in four formats: a single CD; a two-disc deluxe edition with a bonus audio CD of B-sides, rarities, and demos; a three-disc box set with the bonus audio CD and DVD, photograph prints, and hardcover book; and a double vinyl edition. All editions included liner notes by author Bill Flanagan and previously unseen photographs by Anton Corbijn.[198] Manager Paul McGuinness explained, "There has been continuous demand from U2 fans to have The Joshua Tree properly re-mastered. As always, the band had to make sure it was right, and now it is."[198] Some formats include expanded liner notes from the band members, the production team, and Anton Corbijn.[200] In an otherwise favourable review of the remastered album, Andrew Mueller of Uncut said that "any casual listener who can perceive a meaningful difference between this and the original has i) ears like a bat and/or ii) needs to get out more".[57]
The bonus audio CD contains 14 additional tracks,[201] including the B-sides "Luminous Times (Hold on to Love)", "Walk to the Water", "Spanish Eyes", "Deep in the Heart", "Silver and Gold", "Sweetest Thing", and "Race Against Time".[198] Two versions of "Silver and Gold" are included—U2's version, and the original recording from the Sun City album by Bono, Keith Richards, and others.[202] The edited single version of "Where the Streets Have No Name" appears on the bonus CD. "Beautiful Ghost/Introduction to Songs of Experience" contains lyrics from the introduction of William Blake's Songs of Experience,[57] while "Drunk Chicken/America" contains an excerpt of Allen Ginsberg's recitation of his poem, "America".[203] "Wave of Sorrow (Birdland)", "Desert of Our Love", "Rise Up", and "Drunk Chicken/America" are all previously unreleased recordings from The Joshua Tree sessions.[204]
The bonus DVD includes live concert footage, a documentary, and two music videos. The disc includes Live from Paris, an 85-minute concert from 4 July 1987 that was originally broadcast on British television in celebration of the 25th anniversary of Island Records.[200][205] The documentary, titled Outside It's America, was a 1987 MTV production about The Joshua Tree Tour. The two music videos are an alternate version "With or Without You" and the previously unreleased video for "Red Hill Mining Town". Footage of U2's alter ego country band, the Dalton Brothers, is included on the disc as an Easter egg.[200]