Before setting into the regular routine of for this blog I thought it might be worthwhile to help you get to know me a little. Most music lovers will tell you that you can tell a lot about a person from the music they listen to and that has shaped them. Over the next several weeks I will discuss 15 albums which have the following qualities. First, these albums are for me some of the best albums ever recorded and second, they are albums that have meant a lot to me personally. I've listed them in order, starting from the most important. So, I hope you enjoy a walk through the tracks of my years.
1. U2 - The Joshua Tree (1987)
U2's masterpiece The Joshua Tree, is not only one of the great rock albums but it was also the album which changed the way I listen to music, even the way I looked at the world. It was the first album I owned. It was the first album I knew backwards and forwards in every detail. But more importantly, it opened up music for me. The Joshua Tree taught me that an album could be more than a collection of songs and that music - music for my generation - could be about more than 'Paradise by the Dashboard Light' and learning how to 'Shake your moneymaker.' [Not that good music cannot explore such themes] But here was an album that had songs about spititual longing ('Where the Streets Have No Name' and 'I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For'), the 'two-edged' (as Bono would say) nature of love (With or Without You', 'Trip Through Your Wire' and 'Exit'), Heroin Addiction (Running to Stand Still) as well as politically charged social commentary ('Bullet the Blue Sky' and 'Mothers of the Disappeared'). This was music that spoke to me about the serious issues of my time and addressed many of the more profound questions that were beginning to occupy my mind.
The album shows both a continuity and a maturing from the band's 1984 effort, The Unforgettable Fire. Also an excellent album, The Unforgettable Fire's red cover with its bleak and haunting depiction of Ireland's Moydrum Castle is, on the Joshua Tree, replaced by a black border framing the bleak landscape where the Mojave and Sonoran deserts meet in Joshua Tree National Park. The musical styles and focus have changed as well. Elements of gospel, american folk and the blues emerge on this record with political focus now firmly entrenched in the Americas - a shift which began on TUF. It is truly a shame that Bullet the Blue Sky's (a song that like 'Exit', is incredible live) challenge to more 'radio friendly' ears discouraged many listeners from getting to the other amazing tracks on the album. For many fans of this album, the second half was as strong or stronger than the first. There are no weak songs on this album - excellent from start to finish.
Regardless of what you might think of the band as musicians or as people (perhaps a topic worth discussing another time), this is a stunning album which easily deserves to be recognised as one of rock's essential albums. Like the great songs of the 60s which made it evident that rock music could confront issues that really matter (Dylan's 'The Times they are a Changin' ' or Neil Young's 'Ohio'), this is a well-crafted, well-produced (kudos to Lanois) album which took rock back to some of its essential roots.
