It made U2 the musical voice of my generation, and I enjoy remembering its impact to this very day.So this guy comes up to me His face red like a rose on a thorn bush Like all the colours of a royal flush And he's peeling off those dollar bills Slapping 'em down One hundred Two hundred And I can see those fighter planes I can see those fighter planes Across the mud huts where the children sleep Through the valleys and the quiet city street We take the staircase to the first floor We turn the key and slowly unlock the door A man breathes into a saxophone And through the walls we hear the city groan Outside it's America Outside it's America So I'm back in my hotel room with John Coltrane and the love supreme In the next room I hear some woman scream out that her lover's Turning off, turning on the television. I first heard “Rattle and Hum” as a 17-year-old high school junior, and it was a life-changing experience for me. In fact, it is everything a rock album should be. U2 has always been political, and Bono does a bit of sermonizing at various points over the course of the album, but it isn’t marred by rants.
King appears on “When Love Comes to Town.” “Love Rescue Me” was co-written by Dylan, who provided duet lead vocals. “Angel of Harlem” was recorded at Sun Studios in Memphis and was a tribute to Holiday.
Along those lines, The Edge provided lead vocals on “Van Diemen’s Land,” a folk number which is one of the album’s best tracks. The LP aims to establish the group as roots rockers and also strives to pay tribute to the band’s influences such as John Lennon, Dylan and Billie Holiday. Even with the noted missteps, “Rattle and Hum” stole the hearts of fans with quality songs like “Desire,” “Hawkmoon 269,” “Angel of Harlem,” “Love Rescue Me,” “When Love Comes to Town” and album finale “All I Want is You,” all of which can be counted among some of the group’s most charming material. His work here was masterful, and the album’s original studio material is what added to U2’s legendary status. The LP was produced by Jimmy Iovine, who has worked with the likes of Stevie Nicks, Tom Petty and Heartbreakers and Lone Justice. Less successful live cuts included covers of the Beatles’ “Helter Skelter” and Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower.” It included excellent renditions of classic cuts like “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” “Bullet the Blue Sky” and “Pride (in the Name of Love)” that are admirable and helped to establish the quartet’s reputation for having an enormous stage presence.Īnother nice inclusion was “Silver and Gold,” an anti-apartheid anthem originally written by Bono for Steven Van Zandt’s 1985 “Sun City” compilation, which brought together rock and rap stars to fight the now-defunct racial segregation policy of South Africa. Robert Hilburn, pop critic for the Los Angeles Times, said that the 17-track double album made U2 “what the Rolling Stones ceased being years ago, the greatest rock ‘n’ roll band in the world.” While that description seems a bit lofty, especially in retrospect, the LP, which was followed by a concert film/rockumentary a couple of weeks later, was definitely a musical work for the ages. Regardless, it would only strengthen U2’s place in the musical landscape.
Although some critics greeted “Rattle and Hum” with praise upon its initial release, others trashed it as arrogant and bombastic. In October 1988, Irish band U2 was sitting on top of the rock world when it issued the half-studio, half-live album “Rattle and Hum.” The release of “The Joshua Tree” the previous year had bolted the group, long praised by critics but only modestly successful commercially, into superstardom.
1988 double LP broke new ground, remains relevant 30 years later
0 kommentar(er)
