The Joshua Tree

I used to do "CD Reviews" on my old blog. Really it's just my opinions about songs on CDs that I get. Actually, it's just me gushing about how much I love each song. But I wanna try doing that for U2's "The Joshua Tree" anyway, since it's so wonderful. Gosh, I love this new blog. I feel so free!

WARNING: This post contains extreme fangirly-ness and music-freak-ness. Because I've become a fangirly music freak, as opposed to the normal music freak I used to be (yeah, right).

Let us begin, shall we?


1. Where The Streets Have No Name - I like the intro. It's really nice. On the "U2 Go Home" Slane Castle concert DVD from 2001, I LOVE how they transitioned from All I Want Is You to this song. It was genius and it made me stop breathing for a little while. That's how wonderful it was. Interesting fact: my uncle's band played this song with Bono back in the day when U2 happened to go in a bar where my uncle's band was playing. When exactly? I can't remember. But yeah. My uncle's apparently met Bono. And I guess maybe the rest of the band too. I'm very jealous. Sigh. ANYWAY. The song! It's wonderful! I love the bass line, especially near the beginning when it slides up an octave. The guitar is pure Edge - instantly recognizable.
I love all the details of Bono's vocals here. I don't really know what I mean either. Well. Yeah, I mean all the little things he adds between the words and at the ends of phrases and whatnot. There are many textures to his voice in this song. God, I sound like Paula Abdul now ... okay. How about we move to the next song, huh?

2. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For - What a voice! I try - I really try - to successfully sing along with this song ... but only about the first verse, first chorus, and half of the second verse work. And then I fail. Miserably. Because only the original can do this well. This music video is actually my favorite U2 music video right now. It's so simple - they're just walking around Vegas. But it makes me happy. Especially the part at the end where Bono gets on the front of that car and looks through the windshield at the (I'm guessing bewildered?) people within. It's a pretty incredible music video, I must say.

3. With Or Without You - I think this is pretty much the perfect song. The lyrics are amazing, yet so simple. The singing: *faints*. The instrumentation: *faints again*. I love the structure of this song (among other things, but I thought I'd quit fainting for a second). I love how it starts out very mellow and ... *faints* ouch. Ahem. And then it builds up ... it's just very nice. There's a performance of this song from 2001 that I found on Youtube ... about which I should stop talking now ... don't want to faint again. Anyway. The reason for my loss of all coherent thoughts about this song is, quite simply, the amazingness of this perfect song. It's become one of my favorite songs of all time. It reduces me to a fainting, rambling mess.

4. Bullet The Blue Sky - Well. I might lose coherent-ness for this one too. I'll try not to. The "U2 Go Home" performance of this one was AMAZING. You'd have to see it to know what I mean (ahem, link: http://youtube.com/watch?v=t4LJFSCgxvk). I love the spotlight action in that video. I also love the speaking part in the song, especially the "one hundred, two hundred" part, in both the original version and that live version. I love the differences between the speaking parts in those two versions. I just generally love the groove of the song. Great rhythms, great guitar riffs. Great great song.

5. Running To Stand Still - Poetry. This song is beautiful. I've just been sitting here listening to it, not typing, for the first half of the song. It's captivating. I can't tear myself away from it to type about it. Absolutely captivating.

6. Red Hill Mining Town - I like how the rhythm changes after the intro. Very cool. And I love the melody! The chorus is amazing. Vocals! Don't make me faint again, Bono. It's just not fair. I've fallen off this chair enough today. He sings with so much passion. I love it. The ending's very nice too.

7. In God's Country - Another one with a very nice melody. And this one has very nice harmonies in the chorus, too! I like the mood of this song ... with the reverb on the vocals and all ... geez. Song after song on this album. They're all so great! That one was too short, though! I was enjoying it so much and then it ended. Well. It's a good thing I own the album so I can listen to it whenever I want.

8. Trip Through Your Wires - I think this is one of my very favorites on this album. The harmonica is wonderful. Melodies and harmonies are wonderful. It's just a nice song. Honestly, I'm trying to say valuable things about these songs, not just, "I LOVE IT" but ... sometimes I can't be a technical music critic. I just love this song. Why? Because it's wonderful. Deal with it ... *Faints* This album should come with a warning.

9. One Tree Hill - I'm not going to be able to finish this post. Why am I so light-headed and faint-y? I'm thinking it's mostly due to this incredible voice ... but really ... the whole of this music is just Great. It's just genuinely great music. This is another song with a great melody. The instrumentation is great, too. I love the refrain at the end. Very gospel-y. This whole album is sort of gospel-y, right? Very nice. And all the songs have such awesome hooks. I love great songwriting.

10. Exit - Uh oh. This is another captivating one. I can't type for listening. ... ... Yeah. I'm thinking this is one of my favorites on this album too. And it's difficult to pick favorites. It's a very rhythm-driven song. I love it.

11. Mothers Of The Disappeared - This is sort of an odd sounding song. I love it! It's very pretty. I just read up on the story behind this song. It's actually very sad. I need to listen closer to the lyrics. It is sad, but it is very pretty.


This post took me almost 3 hours! Geez! I kept getting sidetracked, and I am ashamed. But I finished. Now I'm gonna start the album over. Haha. I love it!!


Oh, and one last thing. It's U2 related, so I can stick it in this post. I got e-mails this morning from Barnes & Noble and UPS saying my book's been shipped! I just checked UPS, and it says my book's on its way. It was in Edison, NJ a couple of hours ago. This is so exciting. If you don't know what book it is, here's a link to it: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp?EAN=9780641860799&x=07181305

Okay. That's all. Bye!