Reviews (page 7 of 15)
Opening 3 tracks are great but after that album loses all interest and starts to become a bit cringe with the croaky vocals
I wish Bono wasn’t so insufferably smug because I’d be able to enjoy this more. This is an objectively great album and Side 1 alone is enough to put this record in the highest tier of all-time rock & roll recordings. It hurts me to say that, but it’s true.
Prime U2, I remember listening to this as a kid.
Comfortably the bands best album. And it’s not even close. Not a fan of them in the whole but this album is up there with the very best. Best album of the 80s? Possibly. Stone Roses and Appetite For Destruction also in the mix but this is definitely in the conversation.
For my money, U2 is one of the top five most overrated bands of all time (and they ain't five). Even so, I cannot argue with the influence or hits on this album. The first three songs were monster hits and are still fairly ubiquitous almost 40 years later. We all know all the words to each chorus - even if we don't want to. And they are nearly indistinguishable from each other. U2 is really just very high quality pop-rock. Which, at least to me, means there's nothing here to complain about, but there's also nothing here to get excited about. I mean, seriously, if you ask a random group of people, "what is U2 known for? What makes then unique?" I think you'd get a long pause followed by several several vague answers that have little or nothing to do with music. It's just really very mid. 3
Cada música pinga de devoção. Consegue um balanço assustador entre um hino épico e algo mais etéreo. Quase como se esse triunfo que o eu lírico busca se desvanecesse e ascendesse ao Céu. U2 tocaria o culto mais divertido da história. 7.0/10.0
Was very happy to see this one come up as there are a couple of iconic songs on this album. Found myself singing along during my work day. Four stars as there were a few samey/forgettable filler tracks.
At this point, U2 had lost their edge (no pun intended) and were now just up themselves.
Not too shabby
Some classic big hit pop singles. And some less classic filler
I have been passively exposed to this album my whole life, without ever once consenting to it being put in my ears. It is like reviewing dogs barking in the distance or engines idling in gridlocked traffic - something ubiquitous and vaguely annoying thrust upon us all
Holy crap. This album. This band. There aren't too many bands who have created their own sound and style like U2. This is gold from start to finish.
Came out when I was in high school and still stands up. Great album.
This was so dull to me. I know U2 is disliked by many but I don’t dislike them for being socially aware, I think it is a good thing to strive for generally. I wanted to like this but I have heard the first three songs way too much over the past 35+ years and the others didn’t really do it for me. Last song was ok, at least a bit more interesting. Very dull and lifeless music with overdone vocals, nothing interesting to think about or leave you with an impression.
Not a U2 fan at all, but this one had the hits and the in-between wasnt bad either. 3.5/5
Quite enjoyable all things considered
In the 80’s this was as close to a perfect album one would get…still is. Bono got a lot of grief after for being Bono but he’s a rock star in a band of rock stars and that still matters all these years.
It is okay, but I really struggle with the singers accentuation Could be a nice album for a road trip
Classic album. Good Sunday listening
Good album. Nothing too adventurous.
Awful.
For me, the last album u2 did that was worth listening to. All downhill from here.
Not a fan of Bonos voice. He tries too hard and ends up sounding like hes straining for a poo. That aside The Edge makes up for it with a fairly unique guitar sound. Drummer Larry Mullen Jnr is ok. Catchy singalong tunes but thats probably because they milked the album for singles.
I can't think of a band I am more impartial to. I have a vivid memory of hearing U2 in Kwik Save as a child, and I've really sort of only associated them with no frills shopping and walking through plastic flaps ever since. They are okay. Their music is okay. War (my first album on this) was okay. This was okay.
Just boring from front to back.
Seriously in my top 5 of all time
Beautiful album, no bad songs
I'm not a U2 person so had never listened to this album. The first three tracks are obviously wildly famous, and the whole thing is solid, honestly. Not my favourite music ever and I don't think they "deserve" their mega fame and riches, and I know they're not well liked in Dublin. But all that aside, they have a very distinctive sound here and this is an impressively cohesive record.
the rosetta stone of car commercials. at this point it feels like i could hear a million u2 records and have my feelings remain the same kind of Passively Positive...4.0 stars as far as the eye can see! ive hashed out a couple of my feelings ab the band in previous entries so theres not much left to say...except perhaps that my instinctively warm feelings towards their music are very much tied to both the earnestness and the sensory sparkles, and this record is a clear height for both. im not sure i even really agree with the frontloaded perception...the big singles are the best Songs but i care more for the Sound when it comes to U2, theyre a surprisingly loose band with lots of room for big space and ambience and melodic ambiguity, so the hardest-hitting songs arent necessarily my absolute faves...i get a comparable amount out of the last three songs! ig one last thought is that im not sure this type of "soulful" mainstream rock band exists anymore? okay maybe Mainstream Rock Bands dont exist anymore hgjsdghjsd but still, i genuinely kinda like creed for filling this niche, and even im not crazy enough to kinda like creed without liking u2 a lot more. i'd much rather ppl believe in their art to an embarrassing degree than act above it!
Очень приятный и уютный альбом, который пролетел на одном дыхании. Безусловно лучший альбом U2 до того, как Боно забыл что в первую очередь важна музыка, а не политика.
A decent album. The good songs are great and are well deserving of their legendary status, but in all honesty the second half of the album didn't set my world on fire. Things start to drag just a little bit. Vocals are consistently good of course. I get that the later tracks are a bit more introspective and subtle and they're not bad songs, I actually think the end of 'One Tree Hill' is an album highlight. I just think the track listing could have been reworked to maintain the energy a bit better. Anyway, im probably being overly critical. I did enjoy the listen. Favourite track - With or Without You. 7.5/10.
Easy 5 stars. Lots of impactful memories associated with this album. When I was 12 my uncle, a massive fan of U2, walked down the aisle to an infinite loop of the opening of Where The Streets Have No Name, which started my interest in the album. About a year later, I remember first listening to this album while on a summer trip to New Mexico with some good neighborhood friends. The atmosphere of this album is special. Sonically, across all 11 tracks, the listener gets the feeling that they are in the middle of a sacred, natural open space. While creating this album, the band was inspired by the geography of the US they’d seen while on their previous tours. Accordingly, desert plains, rain, dust, water, and mountains all act as metaphors on this album. And while the lyrics certainly have sociopolitical undertones, there is an abundance of spiritual imagery in them as well, particularly a sense of searching for meaning in the midst of a spiritual drought. My 13 year old mind was of course unaware of these deeper lyrical meanings at the time I was in New Mexico, but traveling through the deserts of the western US while listening to this album seemed fitting in some perfect way, and the album has been cemented in my mind and my ears ever since. Six years after that, I visited the same uncle who walked down the aisle to WTSHNN, in California, three weeks before leaving for college. I had just begun waking up to the world, and felt that sense of searching, for identity, for meaning, for who I wanted to become, that I suppose most people around that age start to feel. When I was 13, the album originally drew me in because of its sonic atmosphere; now, once again finding myself in the American west, this time grappling with all the new existential questions of a young man, the lyrics profoundly resonated with me. The first three tracks are often cited as the greatest three-song opening sequence in music history. It’s hard to argue with that statement. However, I think that leaves the rest of the album somewhat under-appreciated today. There are some true gems on the second half that get overlooked, like Red Hill Mining Town, In God’s Country, One Tree Hill, but isn’t a weak track on the album. They all have their place. After many listens, I think the album would feel like it was missing an important piece without any of the 11 songs. 17 years after that New Mexico trip and 11 years after that California trip, I am still just as captivated by this album, if not more so, now that I can appreciate its finer details. This is an easy 5 stars, and always will be for me, even though I will admit Bono can be a bit annoying. Regardless, The Joshua Tree is truly a timeless album, with an atmosphere no one has ever been able to replicate. Everyone should give it a listen - bonus points if you can do so while driving through the American west. You won’t regret it.
Good that
Excellent start but drops off quite quickly after track 4
bangers by bono.
Huge sounding production, widescreen vocals, emotional lyrics, a sound so big, it truly seems like you're listening to the Great American Desert, and made by an Irish band. This is definitely U2's best moment of their early years, and it's not even close. The first three tracks are possible the greatest three-track run on any album. The album may not reach those heights again, but there's plenty of great moments throughout the rest of its runtime. U2 get a lot of hate these days. I get Bono can be insufferable at times, but that never really bothered me, he always seems well-intentioned. But in reality, their last couple of record absolutely suck. Maybe they should ask Brian Eno back to produce because his work here is just phenomenal. Key tracks: Where the Streets Have No Name I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For With or Without You Bullet the Blue Sky Red Hill Mining Town One Tree Hill
Day 47 First listen- U2's vibe is simply great. This album showcases their talent beautifully. (4/5)
Not bad. But I prefer first 2-3 songs. Everything else is too repetitive. But will listen more.... maybe.
U2 can absolutely write a ballad, but Joshua Tree suffers from too much of a good thing. The toothless, heart-on-sleeve, songwriting here doesn't impress for long, and all of these songs sound pretty similar. That said, it's less the album is bad, and more that I just don't jive with U2's radio-friendly post-punk as much as some of their contemporaries.
oh fuck fuck fuck my username wasnt unique fuck FUCK fuck fuck
I can remember the first time I listened to this album. It is the one that sent me down the U2 rabbit hole. Truly fantastic. Love them or hate them, this was their breakthrough to big mainstream success. All that said, U2 has better albums. Joshua Tree would only be 3rd, maybe 4th, on my list of the best U2 albums.
classic, really enjoy listening
Not bad but not good! Good tracks in my opinion: where the streets have no name, with or without you!
Much better than Achtung Baby.
The end of the War, Unforgettable Fire, Joshua Tree era. An amazing album that translated to amazing live performances. The peak of stadium U2 in my humble opinion.
Can’t believe it took me so long to get a U2 album!!! Here’s the thing, U2 are corny as hell, we all know that, but the early albums especially are ungodly good. The first three songs on this album is arguably the best sequence of three songs of all time. Massive, huge, life-affirming mega hits back to back into back. Unreal. The rest is less good, but still pretty solid!
I think U2 is cringe and avoided their music. The hate may have stemmed from that album being forced on everyone’s iPhone/ipod. It may have stemmed from Bono being wildly obnoxious. Who knows. Anyways, I committed to Listening to this album, and I must say…it’s very good. Not as good as many album lists have them ranked. But good nonetheless.
Richtige Banget drauf
Perfection in Audio. This album can really take me away after the 100th (or more) spin.
Discussions of U2 typically range from considering them an overhated group that is actually excellent to being an overhyped band with nothing worthwhile to say. Personally I think they're boring, and whils this album is perfectly listenable to, I struggle to envision coming away from it feeling a great deal of impact.
I can see why this album is so loved, but U2 ain't really my type of rock.
This album sounded familiar, and then I realised it started strong with the singles as I recognised it all. The album os overall ok, you can tell Bono can be a skilled vocalist and the guitars scream U2. I can see why The Joshua Tree put them in the map. The album is good bit not great 3.5/5 round to 4
The hits are great. The nots are....not. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For has always been great, and With Or Without You is incredible. Trip Through Your Wires and Exit were decent. The rest of the album is ok. Best song: With Or Without You
Não sou fã de U2, mas é inegável que este álbum é muitíssimo bom! São grandes músicas atrás de grandes músicas!
It's a great, well-rounded album. I don't know how to say this...U2 is pompous in a way I can't put my finger on. Still a grand album.
this vs achtung baby is guns vs frocks for normies
I mean, its just really good. You can't really dislike this music. 4.6
Save en grosse Ihfluss gha, aber scho kennt und nid so mega min vibe gsi.
This was all the same U2 formula, it works fine but it's quite predictable
Not for me.
I enjoyed! U2 is older than I thought, but their shuffle has several great groups.
Not my thing. Only stayed for with or without you and still haven’t found what i’m looking for, which I can confirm Glee did better. It’s just so boring, unenthusiastic and lacking any depth to me. Maybe I would understand if I were around when it was released, but I could very happily never listen to this album ever again. Some songs I did enjoy of course, it’s not a top ranked album for no reason. I just think it’s appreciated heavily mainly due to nostalgia for the sound.
One of those albums that when you listen through it for the first time your just like... Goddamn... They really nailed it huh.
не отличаю песни ю2 кроме ранее знакомых, так что в среднем тоскливо + прекрасный уиз ор уизаут ю)
I really enjoyed this album! It kicks off strong with classics like "Where The Streets Have No Name" and "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" (seriously, what’s with these long track names?). The second half explores new territory for me, and while it’s a bit different, there are still some nice tracks. I’ll definitely be revisiting that first half.
Amazing. One of those albums where you know every song
good 7/10
Rock. Good songs that make you think of your ex as you go through the different stages of loss while walking on the highway.
4.8
Never heard mothers of the disappeared before. Pretty good otherwise everything is known 3.4
This is awful. It sounds like someone is torturing a cat. Not looking forward to 3 more U2 albums. Listened before? N Saved to library? Absolutely not! Favorite track(s): N/A
I'm not a part of the generation that grew up with this but I can absolutely see why it was so big
Definitely the best from U2. Everyone has heard the first three songs a million times. I've always really liked Bullet The Blue Sky, I think that's one of U2's best. After that the album sort of falls off a bit, it's good but doesn't stand out as much as the first 4. Not much else to say about this album though. It's a solid album from a band I don't really care for. 4/5
Prima album voor achtergrond. Niet helemaal mijn ding. 3/5
Pretty good, ahead of it's time. But after the first couple of songs it all started to run together
mjög high highs en nokkur ekki svo góð lög
Probably their best 8/10
U2 the second. It’s been way, way too long since the first U2 album. 201 albums ago, to be precise. I don’t remember liking Achtung Baby much, but in all fairness I don’t trust the reviews I’ve written prior to my hundredth. U2 strike me as a very polished, strait-laced rock band, so I’m willing to give these guys a second chance. Yeah, what I said in the previous sentence is pretty much what this is. No-nonsense, rock-solid rock music, albeit with a bit of a grandiose atmosphere this time. This style of music is vaguely within my sphere of interest, though a lot of it admittedly loses me along the way. This site has inflicted me with way worse listens than this one, so far be it from me to complain. I’m pretty sure I’ve heard “The Streets Have No Name” before, but I could be mistaken. Standard U2 fare, really. In any case, it’s good. I like these kinds of songs that build and intensify. The guitar outro isn’t half-bad, either. I’ve definitely heard “With Or Without You” before, though I much prefer the succeeding song, “Bullet the Blue Sky”. The atmosphere of that track is pretty sweet – I quite dig the reverberating sound. “One Tree Hill” is a good tune. The lead guitar hook is pretty gripping, and I like how it devolves into a pluckier sound before eventually being engulfed by the great strings near the end of the track. I’m inclined to agree with this inclusion solely because of how massive U2 are, though I’m still curious as to why this is in here regardless. I’m checking the book. The album where U2 found their footing. A whole lot of waffling thereafter, though I think that single reason is good enough. I cosign this inclusion.
Having not listened before, the album felt strangely balanced. The big singles being the first three songs before coming down in pace and intensity. I liked the songs in the second half, but would have preferred a more varied order.
So strong out of the gate and then nice enough but a little flat after that
Some great song writing, but I just can’t really enjoy U2 anymore
Classic album. U2 at their best.
I find the album tracks to be a lot more interesting than the singles. The radio friendly first half sees the band in overly bombastic territory, though I admit I was a little touched by the chorus to With Or Without You. Fans will often present this as the album to listen to if you’re a U2 skeptic, I unfortunately remain a skeptic, though I think in the right light they can be a powerful band.
Lovely production and some decent tunes but still a bit annoying - low to solid 3
Lots of reviews didnt like this album, I wonder why, maybe im missing some context about this band. But personally i liked it, it was good, maybe the songs blurred between each other too much, but i liked what i heard
really good perfectly matched the low energy transformative vibe I'd been looking for that whole week lol
tenía temazos que no sabía que eran de U2
U2 is my mothers favorite band. In spite of this fact, I haven't listened to a lot of their stuff. Although I have listened to some of the hits off this album, and can say ***if you don't have the patience to listen, at least listen to With Or Without You and I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For***. These tracks to me are the quintessential U2 songs. The album itself was good but those two songs are the real highlights.
Very solid album. Not typically my type of thing but I still loved it. I always love it when I'm listening to a famous album and can hear the influences it had on artists I love (ex, Smashing Pumpkin & MCR) and the whole time I kept thinking about how much of an influence U2 must've had on The Killer's "Sam's Town". Highlights: With Or Without You & Bullet The Blue Sky
I love this album. Reminiscing to my years of youth! Fantastic!
The first three songs are brilliant! The rest of the album doesn’t hit those heights, but are great all the same 4/5
I found that if the song I was listening to wasn't fully boring me, then it was actively annoying me.
Christ he’s whiny isn’t he
Milestone
Ich habe U2 1983 beim Rockpalast Festival auf der Loreley das erste Mal gehört und war begeistert. 1987 lag dann dieses Album in D auf Platz 1 (wie auch fast alle Alben danach). Die ersten 3 Titel damals in Dauerschleife im Radio - seitdem bin ich raus.
Is this their seminal album, is this when they turned insufferable, did they ever have another all-rounder album in them again after this? Lots of questions. To me it is surely along with The Unforgettable Fire an amazing one-two. I would also accept the duo of Achtung Baby and Zooropa maybe being in the running as a strong rallying duo. Back in the dinosaur ages I listened to War and Boy back-to-back on a cassette on my Walkman for months. Months. So I take this one as an always listen, tier one U2 album along with the earlier ones mentioned. As an aside I found October to be not as gripping as its predecessor and successor for whatever reason. But since the slightly diminished in comparison duo of AB and Zoo they haven’t been able to put the lightning into the bottle again. It’s been a long time in spite of the fact they have had other albums that somehow charted much better in the post-period. That’s why I’m ranking this up there with the best of the best.
A great album by a mediocre band.
This album takes me back in the day to when I was a kid. I was at my uncle’s house and he’s trying to tell 12yr old me that where the streets have no name is the greatest song made. It’s a pretty good song. But not that great. Still really liked this album
Very classic
Some iconic songs on here and overall a good listen.
I love Eno. I love Eno/Lanois collaborations. I love that U2 hired them multiple times and that Eno/Lanois made a mountain of money on these albums. But I just can't listen to U2 any more, this album in particular. PLAYED. TO. DEATH.
Everyone knows the hits from this one, but the rest of the album is pretty good too. Certain tracks hit more than others, but I don’t think there’s necessarily a bad one. It’s very good, and I say that as someone who’s not really a fan but more so knows the radio songs and thinks they’re “ok”. But this was good.
Rating: 1.3 God, what the is this? These guys are hacks of the highest order. How did they stumble into a massive hit record where every song sounds like a song you’d be tortured with at a supermarket in hell? I mean not the worst thing I’ve ever heard but if this is their most popular album I’m going to be found dead by the end of this exercise, as I know there’s a few more U2 records in here. Arrest everyone involved.
Equis, no me encantó, además es hombre en vocalista
Great album, solid all the way through. Reminds me of high school / church youth dances though, LOL
My mother liked Boy. She liked other things too - weirder post-punk, stuff I only half-heard from upstairs, doing homework or trying not to - but the boy on that cover she liked especially. She would have told you it was the music, but I think she also liked the look of him, standing there with his hair all a mess, cheeky, right in the middle of something. U2 was my first concert. PopMart. A stage set like an exploded Argos catalogue, a yellow arch reminiscent of the McDonald’s M, only larger and less ashamed. .Somewhere in the house there was The Joshua Tree on cassette. You could stop after the first side of singles and feel you’d had the better part of it. We never played it much. Too grand for my mother. Too earnest for me, who liked the song from Batman Forever: it had a respectful joke about Jesus! There were lots of – I think - respectful jokes about Bono too. He is easy to slag and I think he takes it pretty well. But it’s not an easy thing, being in a position of cool when the band you front is, by common consent, not cool at all. Maybe The Joshua Tree fitted perfectly into those uncool years, waiting for Grunge to shake things up. Rock stars aren’t supposed to care about much other than their hair, but Bono cares a lot. And he uses the cultural capital of cool to care. That's why he ends up joining hands with George W. Bush and David Trimble. They think he's cool. They think they look cool beside him. However, the photo opportunity, even if it makes available some funding or raises awareness or ends a civil war, makes everyone involved much less cool. I don't know if that was the effect or the aim: he got big, so felt the responsibility or he wanted to do something, so tried to get big. Maybe a bit of both. What’s the point of having a reach if you’re not going to stretch? Yes, there’s ego in all that - self-love even - but also a kind of wide-armed generosity. The evangelist’s excess of love: for he so loved the world he gave it these misbegotten songs. But they're not really his songs. Back at the start, U2’s songs were theirs in the most direct sense: ragged, strident, maybe not entirely in tune, but theirs. The Joshua Tree was something else. It was an operation, in which the band were the troops not the generals. It is the product of their more accomplished collaborators: Brian Eno, Flood, Steve Lillywhite, Pat McCarthy, and – as the generator seems intent on highlight by following our last record with this one - Daniel Lanois. Fresh from So with Peter Gabriel, which had just gone nuclear, and halfway through coaxing a solo debut out of Robbie Robertson. He’d worked with U2 before, on The Unforgettable Fire, but now he had the confidence of a man who’d just delivered a global hit. In the intervening years, U2 – the Edge especially – had tried to become better musicians. We know this was not Eno's idea. It was Lanois who had them practising more, specifically so he could get them to do what he wanted without having to translate it into beginner’s terms. Lanois who steered them towards American roots music. This would bear rotten fruit on Rattle & Hum, but, on The Joshua Tree, it sounds like pop-rock populism. It's the same well as Sprigsteen and Tom Petty. It was calculated. I wonder if Lanois believed Bono's message or if he thought the media was message enough. Strangely, in one interview I read, Lanois also mentioned My Bloody Valentine as an influence on the record. In 1986, when they were recording, MBV had only released a minialbum that sounded more like the Jesus and Mary Chain than anything you associate with the band. It is nice to imagine the goth record that never happened: Flood bringing everything he learned from Some Bizarre, Lillywhite replicated the sound he created with the Banshees, U2 taking a left turn into the shadows: Shadows and Tall Trees on Boy hints at the gothic. However, the record we got has all the edge of post-punk taken off. The reverb and flange of that genre is replaced with the “infinite sustain guitar,” a Canadian invention Lanois brought along. Its long notes are all over the album, especially on With or Without You. It became The Edge’s calling card - awkward when he later appeared with Jimmy Page and Jack White and was effortlessly outplayed. The songs are so processed you can’t tell if playing skill mattered. There’s a two-note solo - One Tree Hill or Trip Through Your Wires, I can never remember - that’s no more complicated than the two-note solo on Buzzcocks’ “Boredom,” except the Buzzcocks’ version had fire and a wink in it. U2 have both fire and wink at different points in their career, but not on The Joshua Tree. That is the band's fault. They let themselves be shaped. Perhaps they asked to be shaped that way: vessels of their producer or vessels of God. They made the album for the biggest possible audience. Sometimes that works, sometimes you give everyone a free album on iTunes and wish you hadn’t. But, at the time, The Joshua Tree made them the biggest band in the world. It left behind people like my mother, like me. That’s the trade-off. Probably not a big trade-off. The bigger cost is that you must give up something of yourself. Even if you are cool and funny and humble, like we know Bono actually is, you can no longer be any of those things. You become a medium for the message. That, though, was not the end. After Rattle & Hum, they had to retreat - “to dream it all up again.” And this time, the band reclaimed the reins, for better or worse. 2.5 “I’ll show you a place, high on a desert plain, uuugch, where the streets have no nameuuuhh” Bono I thought I’d open with a quote from a Bono lyric. No one ever quotes Bono lyrics. I checked Etsy for specific examples presented as wall art or ceramic pruck, just to be sure it wasn’t my poor memory. I found only a cartoon of the band captioned ‘I want to run, I want to hide, I want to tear down the walls that hold me inside’ and a key ring reading ‘It’s a beautiful day, don’t let it get away’. How is it that a band going forty-plus years with that level of commercial success, who often write about the big stuff - Love, God, America, Political Struggle, the Sky, War etc - have so few catching lines or couplets that look good on a coaster? I suppose because it’s not what you sing it’s how you sing it. Bono spouts this sixth-form shite with the conviction of the best student in the sixth-form drama class. He sings it all as if it’s important, as if it’s poetry and as if it’s at all insightful about the serious things some of these songs are, allegedly, about. Here is hammy, transparent performance. The vocal ejaculations, like the one in the middle of the line I’ve quoted above, are the necessary ad libs of a man who knows he must do something, constantly, to cover up the utter lack of substance in his work. After staring off into the desert and dedicating this next one to the Statue of Liberty, Bono could sing the phone book and make millions of (almost) listeners believe that they’d really heard something profound. But God help them if they go looking for a tasty line to cross-stitch into immortality. There is no particular call to pick on the lyrics here but then this won’t be our only U2 album. There’ll be ample opportunity to reflect on the musical limitations of this ‘rock band’. To speculate on how firm and constant was the hand-holding from the brilliant Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois. For now it will do to say that this album is bad, worse than I remember. So I sign off with a quote from an artist who also tackled the big subjects but, unlike Bono, produced work that people are always quoting. He was writing about ‘Life’ here but he could just as easily have been writing about The Joshua Tree: “It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” Shakespeare 2/5
Listening to this record, it made me shed a tear...for the loss of the dynamic, forward-looking version of U2 that made *Boy* and *October*, fantastic albums that sounded like nothing that had ever come before. By contrast, the grossly oversimplified arena rock lunkheadedness of *The Joshua Tree* is unforgiveable. Every song sounds like it was designed to get those lighters in the air. Oh, and the emoting. So much emoting.
An example of great songwriting and production. Bono’s voice is incredible throughout, very powerful. These songs all have great soundscapes. The album does feel a bit long, but I don’t know what I’d cut because every track is strong. 4/5
That 3 track run at the start
4.5
In general I can't really stand U2. This album mostly follows that rule, though I do like the song In God's Country quite a bit for some reason. But it's not quite enough to get me to want to listen to the whole album again. 2.25/5
This might be the best U2 album 2/5
So many good classics
It’s difficult to listen to this without thinking about what first class tw*t Bongo is, but there are some decent pop songs on here. Bullet in a Bluesky is probably the best.
Listened Before: Y This is the beginning of the era of U2 that I really enjoy. From this one through Pop. I'm a big fan of the lesser-known second half tracks here. Added to Library? N Songs added to playlist: Bullet the Blue Sky
What a stellar album; the start is front loaded with gold and the rest is still so good. This is my first U2 album and I feel lucky. I'm surprised that a few of these songs aren't mainstream, but can really feel the album losing momentum as it descends. Great listen, really impressed, and I want to give it a 5, but I think it's just missing a certain something to get there. Favorite songs: I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For With Or Without You Bullet The Blue Sky Running To Stand Still
A classic! took me back. U2 at their finest
Vi tar det positiva först: Bullet in the blue sky, den är jättebra. Så nu var det färdigt. Faktiskt ännu sämre än jag mindes den. Kom på mig själv att sitta å lyssna på hur trummorna var mixade för att hitta nåt förmildrande. Men insåg då att när man nått dit, då är kanske bristen på innehåll i det här skrytbygget som är problemet inte att ljudteknikern spillt sitt örtte över bordet eller att Edges hatt är lika malplacerad som en kristdemokrat i Prideparaden. Fråga: varför gav man inte bort alla låtar till Pet Shop Boys istället? Det hade samtliga inblandade inklusive lyssnarna tjänat på. Står väl och väger, men känner mig gramse och besviken så det trillar nedåt., Etta Lyssna hellre på The Waterboys - This is the sea, U2 - Achtung baby, Imperiet - Tiggarens tal
Fyra odödliga anthems radar upp sig redan på A-sidan. På B-sidan något mer anonyma låtar. Ovanligt luftig och organisk ljudbild för att vara 1987.
Detta borde väl vara irländarnas starkaste album (har i ärlighetens namn inte lyssnat ordentligt på något de släppt de senaste 20 - 25 åren). Bono är som vanligt lite hård i magen, men inte så det stör allt för mycket. En samling riktigt bra låtar. Lyfter gärna fram Exit, förutom den givna inledande trojkan.
Irländare som lajvar myten om Amerika. Det här ger mig inte mycket. Medelmåttigt.
I really lined their vibe, love their chill rock style
One of my all time favorite albums. Bono writes beauruful lyrics that are both deeply personal and have universal meaning and appeal. Edge's guitar playing is outstanding, and Bono's voice siars. Where the Streets have No Name, I Still Haven't Found..., With or Without You are all perfect songs. Deeply moving, heartfelt, musically engrossing, pulling you in, but always the giving prominence to and supporting Bono's lyrics and the powerful lyrics. Top 10 for me
Easy pop! Undeniable classic! Can’t believe I know some of these!
Not my favorite U2 album but a damn fine one just the same
Seriously it’s just noise. It’s not ‘groundbreaking’.
One of the best albums of all time.
U2 gets a bad rap (mostly Bono) but this album was actually good. Some of their big hits, and a lot of emotional balads. It was a little one note, but I think the band sounded good and the songs were enjoyable.
Didn’t really do much for me… sorry Brian eno
Side One is one of the greatest collections of popular music ever made - by turns tender and fierce, containing multitudes. Side Two is less immediately rewarding but no less rewarding ultimately. With this band it is sometimes difficult to remember that all the hype was ever justified = but it was, and is, and this album is why.
The drop off after the 1st 3 tracks is gigantic. From brilliant to barely tolerable
Socially and politically powerful
So much anticipation for this record in 1987 and I think they nailed it. Almost 30 years later, it's a really good rock album, held back by some of Bono's overwrought everything. Bullet the Blue Sky is kind of terrible. I understand why Streets and With or Without You were HUGE. When Bono sings about losing a friend or the heroin addiction in his hometown, it's not over the top. Running to Stand Still and One Tree are perfect songs. God's Country is the sleeper.
bah
Tree named Joshua:
Sounds modern
Two legendsry tracks and a reat of an album that backs it up. Minus for being lacking some excitement.
Just a bit boring really
Amazing Album Tracks to Track: I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, With Or Without You
I really like this album. It seems spiritual in a way.
This is such a great record. I come back to it often.
This album and band burst on the scene for me the fall of my freshman year of high school - the songs were all over the radio and everyone clamored for tour tickets. I kind of stayed away - something about my religious upbringing and trying to not get too wrapped up in the world. And then Rattle and Hum, shot during the Joshua Tree tour, came out and my entire taste in music changed. It was so big, bold, and sounded so great in the theater. This album was on constant repeat along with Boy and War through much of high school - it is an absolute top 20 all time for me. What came later Zooropa and such were letdowns compared to this and by the time iPhone debacle occurred I had well moved on. U2 has since shown themselves to be a mediocre band. But they have this one. No doubts, no concerns. 5/5.
It's just so beige, isn't it? I've tried multiple times with U2, each time sure that I was missing something. I just don't think I am. I think they're beige.
Really great sounds, especially enjoy the guitar. Not quite a 5 for me but I'm not fully sure why.
The distinctive sound makes the album a great front-to-back listen, with a handful of standouts.
u2 is the epitome of average.
as im listening to it i feel this isn’t for me. not too big on it the opener was great but everything following so far doesn’t really move me much it’s just eh. just heard with or without you and man this one is great too beautiful sounds. love the singing on it and the drawn out vocals. running to stand still is another highlight wow the build to this is nice. wasn’t a fan of the end of the album over all it was decent but don’t see myself revisiting it much. yeah not to big on this not too big on U2
I think this is an album that benefits form context, the big stadium sounds here was brand new. But sort of sound stale at this point of time. But even taking in the above this is still a solid album 4*
Canzoncine anche carine, ma nel complesso l'album è noioso e confermo che la voce di Bono alle mie orecchie è insopportabile
Bullet The Blue Sky was a banger, and it was overall really mellow (not a bad thing)
Insane intro, 10/10, no notes Après la deuxième chanson, j’étais un peu moins into it. Mais c’est quand même très bon
U2's best album. Played this CD a lot. Love it.
U2 get a lot of flak these days and possibly rightly so, but there's no doubting their earlier output. The start of this album is just incredible! and the quality remains high throughout. I wasn't really a fan of them back in the day but have come to appreciate and in some cases love some of their stuff.. And because of that, I don't have the same over-saturation of their really popular songs that might afflict others so it still sounds relatively fresh to me.
A few good songs and the rest didn't do much.
This is an album I’ve heard so many times that it’s difficult to objectively evaluate - I don’t need to hear “Where The Streets Have No Name” ever again. That said, it’s an undeniable anthemic statement, taking the proto-stadium rock of “War” and amping it up another level. The tunes are universally strong with zero filler, but you can also see hints of what would eventually make U2 annoying with the cloying and preachy rock star posturing. Still, this is an undeniable classic.
My favorite U2 album on the whole. I like songs on a lot of their work from the early days up until Zooropa. After that, I began to dislike their music more and more. Nowadays, I pretty much only listen to their early work. Zooropa was the last album that I truly liked. The Joshua Tree is/was their best album in my eyes. They put it all together. Massive hits from this one. You can't deny Bono. 5/5
First time I got a U2 album where I kinda started to see why they were popular. First three tracks were well known singles. The whole album was enjoyable
U2 went to America and all I got was this lousy album. Pompous twattery.
One of the big albums I’ve never listened to on this list. Blegh. It’s like if you had a boring Irish Bruce Springsteen who sucked
Theres nothing entirely massive about it, it sounds nice but nothing compelling or relistenable
I've always disliked U2, and despite going into this album with an open mind, I found it only made me dislike them even more. The whole album's just so bland and the songs so same-y and basic that I found myself completely checking out before I even made it halfway through the album, I genuinely felt like I was listening to the same song over and over again. Like, the choruses of Where the Streets Have No Name and With Or Without You sounded almost identical to me. I simply couldn't finish it.
I enjoyed the first 3 songs. The rest was kinda boring
U2 front loaded this album with all of their best songs, and I don't like them very much. The rest of the album gets worse. I'm honestly not sure if the music on this deserves a one, or it's just residual Bono that's colouring my opinion. I'm going to be generous and give it a 2 because I don't want to listen to it again to see if I truly hate it or if I just dislike it.
CLASSIC, best U2 album.
Is there such thing as a perfect album? Yes. I know every song on it and it is a pleasure to listen to and enjoy.
big 3
Started so strong, ended middling....
Literally the worst album in existence. U2 can fuck right off to fuck off land.
jak zobaczyłam U2 to odrazu wiedziałam, ze będzie dobre, ale nie jest to najlepszy album jaki słucham, i guess jakby się dało dałabym 4,5…
Can’t get into U2. I appreciate what they did for music and they definitely have some hits I wouldn’t skip but not for me
Utter turd
Epic in scale, sound and ambition. A sweeping outsider’s perspective of America.
2.7 Stars Bland. Soft Rock. Pop/Rock with the worst parts of each. Downhill from track 1. I don't get the hype. Best: Where The Streets Have No Name
Last night I tried to save money on line £19 and ended up wasting £45🤬I then fucked off everyone in the house and ended up in the spare room🤬 my wifes parting words "Don't rush home" so when this came on I was 😄 first good thing in 8hrs Not worthy Not worthy This was an album where the band could have stopped at perfection. Say what you like about Bono but to let that get in the way of judging this album is churlish. Every track is beautiful. Such memorable lines, my favourite being... "Outside it's America, outside it's America" I was late to the U2 party mainly because when they were hip I rejected it. I love the ambiguous nature of the lyrics leaving you to do the work Favourite track: Exit
++: Bullet the Blue Sky, Running to Stand Still, Trip Through Your Wires, One Tree Hill, Exit +: Where the Streets Have No Name, Red Hill Mining Town, In God's Country, Mothers of the Disappeared +-: I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, With or Without You 5,8/10
5 even though some of the songs near the end are forgettable.
Maybe not a perfect album, but the first half is so strong that I don't really care. I didn't grow up with but came to it in college, so the nostalgia factor is not strong. It made an impression then and still grabs me now.
Boy, they sure can write an anthem, can't they? There are moments on this album where I think, "Is this one of the greatest albums ever made?" But then something else from the era will follow it -- Daydream Nation & Sign O' the Times are the same year; Surfer Rosa is a year away -- and I'll remember that U2 just doesn't turn me on or have its way with my soul. Alas.
Better than I thought it'd be. Definitely trying it again in the future. U2 still ass though
This is the second U2 album where I considered giving it a second star. I didn't hate the first half of the album nearly as much as their other albums. But the second half was just awful and firmly cemented its ⭐ score.
Meh, middle of the road
Jeg er ikke helt stolt af, at U2 var et af mine første 5/5 albums på listen, og er ikke helt stolt af at de får en mere heller! Men jeg synes simpelthen det er stærke sange fra start til slut, det lyder altsammen som noget man ville spille i en stor amerikansk ørken. Bono har det med at oversynge, som nogen gange bliver for meget, men på det her album spiller det rigtig godt sammen med guitar og synths
Jeg føler mig primet til ikke at kunne lide den her plade, men man kan altså ikke slippe udenom at der er nogen KÆMPE bangers her
I feel old.. I actually liked this. Great sounding and it really hits the feeling they were going for.
Was so so strong when it came out, but as it has aged, I still have not found what I am looking for in it.
I remember being in high school U2 were huge. I wouldn’t call myself a fan but was familiar with the hits. When this came out I recall being a little disappointed because it was so mellow. But definitely a fan of the record and it took them to another stratosphere. Record still holds up. Good stuff. They are often cited as one of the most overrated ever but I disagree.
Auch wenn's völlig ausgelutscht und totgenudelt ist: ein Klassiker. 5/5
I am very tired of U2 and Bono, at this point, and I think most of their albums are actually not good and several are very bad. However, this is one of 2-3 that I do think is good, both in songwriting and vibe and for what it did to music. Only a band from where they're from and their influences and their own view of roots and Americana music could make this album. I think it is maybe actually a 4 to 4.5, but I think it is definitely an extremely influential album deserving of this list.
J'y arrive pas u2
I mean, they were big. But then they got HUGE.
Often considered U2’s Magnum Opus, and I gotta say, it’s pretty darn good. Great production throughout (thanks Brian Eno!), without any pure stinkers throughout. Sure not every song is at the same level, if you ask me no song reaches the heights found on the opener Where the Streets Have No Name but it gets close with songs like Bullet the Blue Sky and Red Hill Mining Town. I know U2’s reputation these days isn’t very favorable but I thought this was a really great album.
I still haven’t found what I’m looking for on this album. The first three songs are incredible - it might be one of the best openings of a record ever, but the rest are definitely not up to par
I have read all the lyrics I have heard all the notes But I still haven't found what I'm looking for.
Considering all I know U2 for is having one of their albums forced into every iTunes library and nobody liking that I must say I'm pleasantly surprised. Pretty damn good especially the first few songs.
I've never met an open U2 fan. The song "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" begins so promisingly, with exciting 360 sound, but immediately devolves into lame nonsense. The rest of the album doesn't have an ounce of fascinating stuff in it. Tired of this. The album is mixed so well, too. Wasted on this junk! The top review which says that a zoomer wouldn't believe that these guys sell out stadiums is correct. I know who U2 are and I don't understand. There are so many amazing bands, especially in the 80s, which aren't tripe. Maybe they're like the Irish Tragically Hip, another lousy band which people love for some reason unknown to anyone but the Lord.
Felt like a battle between quality celtic rock and self-indulgent wankery. Hit and miss
Not so bad but it hasn’t caused a super impression on me, I’d rate it 6.85/10 The music is good but just that, I feel like it tries to make something to reach a concept but doesn't fully execute it
U2 from the early ’80s was absolutely incredible and groundbreaking. But this era? It’s where things started to go downhill, and fast. Honestly, this period was full of middle of the road, run of the mill songs that barely left an impression. Fast forward to 2004, and somehow, with three decades of experience as professional musicians, they managed to produce one of the most annoying, cringeworthy songs in human history. The one where Bono repeatedly belts out “YEAH! YEAH! YEAH!” over and over again. It’s a crime against music, and possibly the worst thing ever inflicted upon humanity by a band. Just when I thought they couldn’t sink any lower, they managed to set the bar even lower, hitting rock bottom, and surpass even my worst expectations. So, when I look back at this album now, I actually feel a sense of relief and newfound appreciation, knowing just how much worse it can get.
Flertalet bangers och överlag fyllt med deras klassiska sound. Jäkligt starkt!
Gött band
Borde kanske gilla detta ännu mer men det är nåt jag stör mig lite på
U talking U2 2 me?? 3 stars for the first 3 songs, the rest is meh to me. Enjoyed Red Hill Mining Town which I don’t think I’d heard.
Great and beautiful woman
Well-produced, but nothing particularly exciting
prve tri pjesme na albumu s razlogom hitovi ostalo sve bez veze nemrem slusat bonu lik samo zavija da su sve pjesme instrumentali bilo bi puno bolje
Done
I think I’m biased because my dad really likes U2 but I enjoyed this album! More so than the other one I’ve listened to on this list. I think it starts out stronger than it finishes.
Great album back in the day and still great. Just like other reviewers have said Bono is very irritating as a person ut the music is great
Went into this knowing I don't like U2 but trying to keep an open mind. I can't really put my finger on what I don't like about their sound, but I've always just found it too open, too flowy, maybe too earnest? I also tend to gravitate towards artists with vocals that really speak to me, which just isn't the case with Bono's rasp. I think I'm just looking for harder-hitting songs - faster tempos, thicker textures, more excitement. Everything about this album just felt bland and flat to me - same-y songs, safe for radio, nothing that tries too hard.
Pompous, overblown, portentously meaningless lyrics. Another decent band with a completely unbearable singer.
Strange. It's close to the type of music that I actually like, but I really cannot take to it.
389/1001 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑
If this track list was a baseball lineup; the first three songs are all-stars and the rest are barely scrapping by
This was bad. It was so boring and after the first 3 tracks, it sounded like 1 big song The only thing saving this from a 2 star rating is the fact they have 3 big songs on this. Them I enjoyed. The rest of this album I did not Rounded up to 3 ⭐️
some classic songs but a lot of filler, I still prefer Simple Minds ;-)
Tis good. Lots of it holds up well. Bit of filler so a high 4.
I really want to hate U2. But they did this. And I saw them about 1989. Just the four of them. A basic light show. And they were incredible. This should be 3 stars but that’s allowing for the history and the gobshite that Bono became. The Edge changes guitar. The rhythm section is solid. This is the last truly great album though rattle and hum has its moments and achtung baby is good. Ignoring the band’s future, it’s a solid 5. So that’s what I’m giving it.
I had some friends in high school who were massive U2 fans, but I never got that excited about the band. U2 were _so_ earnest, but I could never quite put my finger on exactly what they were on about (except for their highly controversial “war and poverty are bad” stance). When the Joshua Tree came out, it was ubiquitous. It was a breath of fresh air at the time, quite out of step with the prevailing fashions of the time. There were no drum machines or prominent synthesizers or gated reverbs. It felt organic and spacious and honest and rough in the right ways. The singles cut through most of what was on the radio. This was clearly a big and important record, designed not for the moment but for history. Because it got so much radio play, I did not feel the need to go out and buy a copy. I own one now, but I can’t remember if I acquired that as a hand-me-down or from a bargain bin. I didn’t _love_ it then or now, but I have a grudging respect for this record. The Joshua Tree really was the defining moment of U2’s career. Everything they have done since is a reaction to the Joshue Tree and its success, ranging from a deliberate rejection through to a loving re-embrace. The Joshua Tree is U2 at its most U2-ishness. U2 took a huge swing for the boundaries and knocked it out of the park. Is it pompous? Is it self-important? Is it humourless? Well, yes, yes, and yes. And their rhythm section can’t swing. But The Joshua Tree _is_ cinematic and moving and spacious and emotional; lots of really big emotions. That said, part of its wide appeal is the fact that it is not located in a specific person of emotion. Its all very grand scale, abstract and universally vague. The grand gestures are a blank screen where the listener can project their own interpretations and world view. Side one is front-loaded with three all-time great singles and two other very strong songs, which makes it one of the strongest sides of vinyl ever released (many thanks to Kirsty MacColl for this world-class sequencing. She was a major talent, and her tragic death was a great loss to popular music). I don’t often choose to play The Joshua Tree, but I have to give it its props. It _is_ a classic album, and one you must hear.
Surprisingly I enjoyed it this time around. Probably something to do with what I was doing at the time and other factors but still not as horrible as I expected from U2
It pains me to say it because the people in U2 just seem so annoying and pretentious, but this album was frustratingly good. The best songs are definitely in the first half, but the music stayed pretty strong throughout. It’s nothing mind blowing - you won’t exactly find a Bohemian Rhapsody here - but for pop rock it definitely kept me engaged. And to be completely honest, I wanted to dislike it, which genuinely says a lot for the quality of this album.
The album starts with 3 songs I've known my whole life, none of which I've heard in years or listened to on purpose in longer but still feel overplayed. The Edge uses delay prominently in those songs, to the point where it became a sort of hallmark of his. Wikipedia says the album was influenced by American and Irish roots music, which I hate, so it's no surprise I find this album uninspiring and boring despite its commercial reputation. Yeah I really disliked this.
Just a great album
Have always liked that album
Fantastiske minner fra det albumet. Mye nostalgi som kicker inn her. Hodet sier 4, hjertet sier 5. I dag følger vi hjertet ❤️
Meh I don’t love u2????
Iconic, although With or Without Chew will forever offend my articulation sensibilities. Best track - Running To Stand Still
Oh, ne. Kakav izljev proljeva od benda. U2 je kao iskustvo kad pojedeš previše ljutog za ručak i nakon toga pola kile trešanja - pa onda ono što uslijedi. Ljude koji slušaju U2 stavljam u isti koš kao Thompsonovce, jednostavno nekako ima smisla. Zabranila bih ih zbog duševne boli dok slušam njihove pjesme, u oba slučaja. Kad ti ovako počne ponedjeljak, znaš da će biti kurčev tjedan. 1/5, 1/10
This is still my favorite U2 album of all time. This put them on the map of beat bands ever.
It is a top 100 album of all time
This was my first time listening through this all the way and it is a masterpiece. The three opening songs are just works of art. They showcase Bono’s vocals so well, lyrics are phenomenally written, the drums and bass provide the perfect background canvas for the Edge to float over top of, it’s just all done so, so well. Underrated gems, at least for me personally, “Bullet the Blue Sky” and “Exit”. This is such a well conceived album that perfectly captures the feeling and idea they are going for of wide open spaces and the American west. Just phenomenal.
the first few tracks got chronically overplayed on radio & MTV when this was released. still solid, classic ones but I really enjoy the 2nd half of this album the best. love the sounds, the storytelling & imagery. this album propelled them from stars to mega stars
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
They could never make me like U2
I was surprised that this came out in 1987. Many hits that I haven't listened to in awhile. I like U2 as long as it's on my terms. Don't put them on my cell phone without my permission.
Three unforgettable songs on this album !
First 3 songs are good and recognizable, but after that I am quickly reminded why I don't like Bono.
I was dreading and looking forward to this one. I know that U2 is great to alot of people and I truly wanted to like it. I’m sorry It’s just so boring and Bono is trying so hard at doing absolutely nothing. I couldnt help but think Michael Hutchence sounds like a more convincing Bono after this
Love this album. Huge songs
Classic
If there's an easier 5 to be given, I don't know about it. I remember driving through Death Valley National Park, fighting back tears at my gratitude of where I was and who I was with. It's a biting commentary of what America thinks it is, and what America actually is, and a love letter to the tension between the two. It might be my favourite album EVER.
This album is frustrating, because it’s almost pretty decent, but there are just a few things with U2’s sound that I kind of just can’t do. Either way, I’m not sure this has earned the classic status that it is often given. I will say that if you heard this when it came out, I can kind of get it. At the time, I could have seen the Edge’s signature tone and effects being atmospheric and kind of futuristic, but unfortunately, time has not been kind to The Joshua Tree, and this guitar sound is, to me, synonymous with advertising, which really is too bad. That being said, it is sorta U2’s fault, if your signature guitar effect is a delay pedal, then you can’t complain if it doesn’t sound all that exciting to future generations. Something I can more confidently blame on U2 is Bono’s performance here. Something about the way he sings makes me feel like a cat being pet backwards. His pitch isn’t always there, he tries ducking off into expressive little detours that just don’t feel right to me, and when he gets a little growly, it kind of sounds like he has something stuck in his throat. A lot of the songs here, on a writing level, are at least melodically decent, if melodramatic, but what often really makes or breaks an individual song for me is Bono. For example, on I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For, he plays it pretty straight and let’s the melody speak for itself, and as such, it’s one of my favorites on here. Conversely, Bullet The Blue Sky is pretty good, until Bono starts doing his thing, and I’m immediately sucked out of an otherwise atmospheric song. I would also like to note the baffling Trip Through Your Wires, which stuns me with Bono yelping to no particular gain, and harmonica playing which feels as though it has no place on this album. Although, I did actually like the subdued approach of the last two tracks here: Exit and Mothers Of The Disappeared. They both tone it back and let the atmosphere speak instead of trying to coat then in obnoxious vocals and huge choruses. Overall, this was actually kind of interesting to me, I just didn’t like it that much. But I do think there’s value of some kind here.
As ubiquitous as these songs were in the late 80s, they're actually pretty good. 4/5 #106
4,7/5
Say what you like, but this is a classic
First 4 songs are some of the most classic songs of all time but the rest of the album wasn't as strong
Some great singles
Still love this album as much as the first time I heard it. Part of my university days memories.
Liked it and remembered it.
A classic
Well made album. It is classic at this point, but feels very forgettable to me.
This has an insane track run massive influence and one my dad would play in the car growing up and definitely influenced my music taste
This feels like Chase bank at a pride parade. I like the attempt at a message but trying to convey an anti-capitalist message with squeaky clean layered vocals and guitars feels like you’re just here to sell. They write bangers but don’t connect with me emotionally.
Iconic album from an iconic band.
I think this album had a solid start with some of U2's best songs, but the latter half wasn't as interesting for me. Also I can't listen to U2 seriously because Bono is apparently like super weird/horny at their concerts. LOL
This record was decent. I feel like after the first 3 tracks passed, it just took a nosedive into decent. Favourite Track(s): I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For Least Favourite Track(s): Exit
Peak 'Nirvana Killed My Carreer'
3/5
It was fine.
If you can get over the endless epicness.......
god bullet the blue sky is so fucking good... rest of the album is great too
Where the Streets Have No Name: Such a great song, love everything about it I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For: Amazing song, one of my top songs of all time, love the Christian connections With or Without You: Amazing, I don't what else to say Bullet the Blue Sky: Heavier, love the drums, I could see this being Roland Running to Stand Still: Another banger, beginning is a little weird Red Hill Mining Town: Decent In God's Country: Oh yeah, banger Trip Through Your Wires: Ehh, sounds too folky One Tree Hill: Love the tropical sound Exit: More heavy, which is a good thing, don't love how it slows down Mothers of the Disappeared: Very mellow I seriously don't think there's a better first 3 tracks of an album, absolutely amazing album Best Song: I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For Worst Song: Trip Through Your Wires New Song I Liked: Either In God's Country or One Tree Hill
Simplistic beat, minimalisticc. A powerful voice, i do think it lacks the instrumentality a little bit. The lyrics are simple too.
WHERE DA STREETS HAVE NO NAME
I don't understand all the U2 hate. This is great and years ahead of their contemporaries. Their tracks still get stuck in my head.
It’s a nice album but it never really did much for me
This is a terrific album that brings a lot of nostalgia. As a child I thought because it was called The Joshua Tree that referred to a single mystical tree, that there existed only one Joshua tree. It amused me to remember this visiting Joshua Tree National Park as a child. :)
The hits are good, not sure much else stood out.
Very nice
A whole album is too much U2.
One of my favs of all time.
Listens: 3 Standout tracks: Where The Streets Have No Name, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For The album starts off strong enough, probably because I recognize the first two songs. After that, I really have no desire to keep listening. It's fine background music, but I'm not looking forward to any of the tracks. Usually by the third listen of an album, I tend to hone in on songs I like (or dislike). I've encountered no such songs. They all sort of blend together. I could stop listening to this and will most likely never have any interest to go back to [the album] again.
Very disappointed when the album cover appeared in this app - destroyed a lot of enthusiasm for this project. Starts with 3 or so huge hits, will that help? The hits were actually painful. I guess they're so overplayed and negatively associated for me. Slightly more interested in the rest of the album. Find myself wondering if there was an age when I would have heard this and been interested. It feels like it has a sound that I would have appreciated as a teenager maybe? The angsty vocals might be the thing that bothers me the most. Some of the tones are kind of post punk, so maybe it is the vocal style that makes me feel like I would never have got into them? Slught reminder of "the music" but they had funky self awareness. Is it the pompousity that I'm reacting to & lack of self awareness?
A definitive classic
Never been a big U2 guy. Album's alright, the hits are pretty good.
Really good album
Booooring
I’m far from the first person to notice this but: Bono seems like a bit of a cunt, doesn’t he? It’s all technically fine, I suppose. I’m just quite bored by it, and the ones I know already I wasn’t excited to hear. It drags. I think it’s for blokes who identify as stoic and see their volatile hometown relationships as reminiscent of Burton and Taylor. The harmonica interested me when it reared its head - I liked Trip Through Your Wires. But overall, a big old shrug from me.
I don’t dislike the music of U2 as much as you’d think. This kind of sound & the singles from this are very familiar to me. I’d prefer them much more if Bono was a different person. But there’s some enjoyable stuff here. With Or Without You was the first song I learnt on the bass guitar (it’s really easy. 4 notes repeated in the same order!) The Joshua Tree is the ‘Friends’ of albums. There’s a thousand better albums, it’s dated a bit but it’s strangely familiar and comforting at the same time.
Having only really heard 'Beautiful Day' on countless Match of the Day end credit goal highlight sequences, my only other experiences with U2 have been watching a live performance on BBC 2 from the 80s when they shared a stage with Stiff Little Fingers before U2 got big; listening to my dad's copy of the live album they did which has the orange cover with Bono in a silhouette on tape; and my dad showing me the Las Vegas sphere live experience thing they did fairly recently. This is the first time I've properly listened to one of their albums. Firstly, I'm blown away by how many bands that came after who must've been influenced them. I can hear James, The Alarm (obviously to any Alarm fans reading (Mike Peters R.I.P)) and even some Big Thief-esque vocals in there, plus other big artists such as Coldplay, The Killers etc. Basically, I think anyone who wanted to take stadium rock seriously (i.e. not hair metal Bon Jovi types) post 00s would've probably gone to see U2 in the 80s/early 90s. Being of the inclenation to not pay more than £25 for a ticket to see someone live, with the hope that I can see more bands and redistribute my wealth (this rarely happens - I don't see enough live music !), I have only just started seeing Big Bands live over the last year (e.g. Foo Fighters, err Texas and err Kaiser Chiefs - with two of those being gifted as free tickets anyway). But this album would make me want to see U2 live. I am not quite sure what to think of this album. Is it a 4 because it's obviously very good, made incredibly well, still sounds fresh, probably could've only been made in the desert at that time, but I am not in love with it? Or is it a guilty pleasure 5 as I may not listen to this again unless I am playing the album in full on a record player, alone in my room, while the light slowly dies and day turns into night? It is special, but it is hard to tell if I love the songs enough to fully commit 100%. I am going to have to listen to it in the car on the way home from work to see if I still enjoy it or if it fully grates on me. Part 2: I think this album is the pinnacle of it's genre (Irish(/American) Christian rock). It's difficult to summise what makes this album so great; I don't even particularly like any one song, and I couldn't have told you that the first 3 songs were the singles. I read somewhere that the band wanted this album to be a bit like a film, and I can see that. I think it is an 'album' in the truest sense of the word. Having listened to a lot of albums for this project so far, rarely do I find a choice more than some songs, sort of put together, in some semblance of coherence. Maybe it's just the 15,000 pedals The Edge uses to make that reverb-y tremolo sound, but more than most there is no real duff sound in the album to my ears. Often I will like an album for some of the songs, with some clangers, leading to an uneven journey through; other times I understand why it is regarded as an all-time classic, yet just not 'get' some of the actual songs themselves. This album, I don't particularly 'love' any of it, but I think it just works so well it has to be a 5. It sort of sounds timeless (probably because bands still sound like this now) and the many subsequent imitators (U2 included) create a faux sense of feeling that I think this just about gets away with; with 'The Joshua Tree' actually being earnest, and not solely to satisfy the tastes of the mainstream. Sadly this has led to the death of many an interesting rock band becoming big, and a lot of the shite pop-rock today (Coldplay, basically any other all-male 4 piece since the 90s) but basing my review wholly on the piece of art itself, I guess it'll have to be a 5. Great stuff.
Classic
Never really rated U2, but this album was better than I thought it would be.
I didn’t like it when U2 put their music on Apple Music and I don’t like it now.
Easy to listen to with some iconic songs on here - much better than most of the drivel on this list.
drei plus
Favorite album of all time.
Killer
Never been a huge U2 fan, but this has a nice sound.
U2 might be the most overrated band of all time. This album is certainly their best but.. i stuggle to put my prejudices aside
Oh no. I was in high school when this came out and it was everywhere, but I really don’t care for Bono’s voice and U2 in general. I’m giving it 3⭐️ for the sheer number of massive hits. PS I did buy the album WAR in grade 7 because I liked the song New Year’s Day (still do).
Like it
Not really much to say about this one. It has decent variety, which is uncharacteristic for a pop rock album. There are a couple of great songs, but some of the other are meh. Other than that, good album, but nothing impressive. 7/10
3.5/5
u2 is pretty fuckin good even if bono sucks
Another aggressively "fine" album from U2. They seem to be one of those bands people hate because other people hate.
Boah, ja klar. Klassiker, all killer no filler blabla Trotzdem - Bono nervt.
U2 is kind of a joke now, it’s nice to remember when people took them seriously.
POSITIVES: The first three songs are all-time classics. Really amazing songs. The production is truly incredible. If the album was rated only by how it was sounding, I would say it's one of the best albums of all time. However... NEGATIVES: The rest of the album is almost completely a rehash of the forst for songs, but worse. It's very boring and I couldn't wait for it to end. All in all, it was a very mediocre experience. The album started great and then it went down-hill into indifference for me. I truly believe that U2 is one of the most overrated bands and this album (considered by most to be their best) has, unfortunately, not changed that. 3/5 (more of a 2.5) only because of the first three songs that kick ass.
Definitely the best so far. Really good flow to this one and all songs were good. A few you might need to listen to again to get used to. Solid.
I've said a lot of negative about U2, but this album was great.
Masterpiece!!