Star Hits reviews The Joshua Tree

It’s been seven years and four albums since U2 came roaring out of Dublin, droning fire and brimstone and breathing new life into new music. With The Joshua Tree it’s obvious the flame is still alive&endash;in fact, six of the eleven songs have images of flames or burning&endash;but the heat it gives off is far from comforting. The music is mainly the patented U2 sound, but there are a few oddball bits thrown in.

And they don’t always work, such as Bono’s almost laughable throaty spoken rant in “Bullet The Blue Sky,” which lurches numbingly through a haze of neo-Hendrix guitar. Fortunately, it segues immediately into a beautiful Lou Reed-ish tune called “Running To Stand Still” which features Edge playing a lazy blues acoustic guitar. No doubt this is a BIG record, and also no doubt you’re going to think twice about playing it for your cousin Francine who has a bit of an emotional problem and tends to get very depressed very easily. Geez lighten up fellas.

Source: Star Hits magazine/Jeff Spurrier