![]() Instead, they elected to record in Danesmoate, a two-story-over-basement Georgian mansion in Rathfarnham on the southside of the city in the foothills of the Dublin Mountains. Slane was a once-off, and there seemed to be little enthusiasm for returning to Windmill Lane the band, and Bono in particular, had often stated their distaste for the “sterile” environment of recording studios. For The Unforgettable Fire they had taken the unusual decision to work at Slane Castle, the ancestral pile of Lord Henry Mountcharles, located thirty miles north of Dublin. The first three U2 albums had all been recorded at Windmill Lane, a high-spec facility located in a narrow street by the River Liffey in Dublin’s (then) dilapidated docklands. With the production team in place, the next question was where the LP would be made. The pair had forged strong relationships with the band during the making of the previous album. The decision to return to The Unforgettable Fire production team of Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois on The Joshua Tree was easy. The Joshua Tree had it all: songs of love and loss such as “With or Without You” and “One Tree Hill” politically inspired polemics like “Bullet the Blue Sky” and “Mothers of The Disappeared” gospel songs of hope and faith like “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.” Epic in scope and unlimited in its ambition, the album and subsequent tour saw the quartet rise to the major league of international rock stardom. ![]() The result of a new-found musical and personal exploration, these eleven songs made up U2’s strongest and most cohesive collection of songs to date. As Hot Press writer Bill Graham put it, U2 had been “surfing a wave” since their triumphant appearance at Live Aid: “Their Irish optimism, curiosity and adaptability gave them a special empathy with America… the chance for their breakthrough arrived just as their recording and songwriting skills reached maturity.” Though already hugely successful, particularly as a live act, there was a feeling abroad that they had not yet delivered the definitive, classic album. “ For U2, The Joshua Tree, their fifth studio album, released in the spring of 1987, came at precisely the right time. Before that, the U2 Songs website let us know the history of one of the all-time best albums: I usually work my way to a review of an album I am highlighting on its anniversary. Influenced by American experiences, literature, and politics together with spiritual imagery, it is one of the Irish band’s most affecting and interesting albums. A more widescreen, expansive and deeper than 1984’s The Unforgettable Fire, The Joshua Tree is inspired by American and Irish sounds a search for a sort of mythical America. Arguably their best work, The Joshua Tree is thirty-five on 9th March. Fairly recently (as Pop turns twenty-five very soon), I wanted to mark another album that celebrates an anniversary in March.
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