U2 – The Joshua Tree Review

Working the conventional song structure to its very limit is what U2 does best. They did so with War, and they did so with The Joshua Tree. Two of their very best albums. There are few better works in their discography than their follow-up to The Unforgettable Fire. A harsher sound, a flicker of their Irish punk roots, but also a turn of the contemporary, Americanised format. The band has a clearer view of what they wish to do, how they want to react and respond to their preceding releases. What could have been a disastrously conventional piece of work is carried further by the wilder performances from the band. Bono and friends are in incredibly tight form, and it is easy to forget about the bar they set with The Joshua Tree after consistently flying below it on every record released afterwards.

Some of their very best works can be found on The Joshua Tree. There are few better stretches than the opening trio here. Where the Streets Have No Name, I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For, and With or Without You are perfect songs. A trilogy of tracks bettered only by a feature of Red Hill Mining Town to kick off the B-side. Those songs are a mixture of the band finding a new love in instrumental spontaneity and accepting that their punk roots are no longer acceptable. Not because they are no longer interested in the plight of everyday people, but because it is hard for any band as big as U2 to consider themselves champions of the working class. Bono receives his fair share of criticism for this now, but when The Joshua Tree was released, it sounded as though he was actively considering how to reposition his rage. The very core of War features in little flickers throughout The Joshua Tree, just enough to remind you of the band’s strong roots and worldview.  

Bono still comes across as a sincere frontman with a strong read on the world. Running to Stand Still is a wonderful song which provides an impressive vocal performance from the U2 frontman. But its real beauty is in the contrast found in the lyrics. Running to stand still, weeping without crying, these are binary opposites which make little sense without the conviction of Bono as a performer. A few blows of the harmonica secure a writing style which ties the subconscious spirit to the active rebel against the woes of the world. The Joshua Tree offers plenty of that across its B-side, too. Catchy pop-rock is not the only strength of songs like In God’s Country and Trip Through Your Wires. There is sincerity in the wordplay, brilliant moments of guitar and percussion work to be heard throughout.  

Where Bono may have a brief lapse in lyrical clarity, The Edge and Larry Mullen Jr. are there to pick up the slack. The Joshua Tree features an inspiring sound from The Edge, and though it may run rather similarly across the album, his guitar work is nothing short of fantastic. He manages to find the space for standout solo moments on In God’s Country and fits the Irish rock and fundamental American folk stylings of Trip Through Your Wires brilliantly. Though The Joshua Tree opens with its very best efforts and trails off from there, the momentum it kindles, the rock-oriented feeling it provides, is a startling experience even now. Bono and the band prove to be a lightning strike on the genre, a slight punk tinge still found in their words, lost after this release.