MY MUSIC LISTENING JOURNAL: DAY 339: TUESDAY JANUARY 22, 2019

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ALBUMS

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  • U2: RATTLE AND HUM: 1988: 4 STARS OUT OF 5 STARS: Looking back I am surprised that just over a year after The Joshua Tree and their tour- that they came out with a movie and double soundtrack. The soundtrack was made up of 17 songs- some live- some studio- the album was much more successful than the movie. The movie is of U2 traveling America on their tour- and they meant it as a tribute to their musical heroes- but it turned into a back last against the band. Bono in particular came across in the film as pretty full of himself. The album though went to #1 and Desire #3 and Angel Of Harlem were hit singles. There were four top 10 hits in the UK off this. I like the album- the movie which I went to see in the theaters on the first night- interesting but flawed.

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  • R.E.M.: ACCELERATE: 2008: 4 1/2 STARS OUT OF 5 STARS: A return to form. A key before even listening was seeing there were 11 songs in under 35 minutes- back to a guitar driven sound and not the experimental meandering of a few of their more recent albums. This album goes down well. It was also a return up the album charts after the previous album the turkey called Around The Sun failed to crack the Top 10- Accelerate went to #2 even without a hit single.

A square montage of square photographs arranged in a 4 by 4 grid. The photographs are mostly blue and red in tint, but some are monochrome. They are candid in nature and mostly show four men in various locations, including in an empty street, a crowded festival, under a bridge, in a car, and standing on sand. One photograph is a close-up of a man's hand wearing two rings bearing the characters "U" and "2".

  • U2: ACHTUNG BABY: 1991: 5 STARS OUT OF 5 STARS: Another masterpiece from U2- reacting to the criticism of Rattle and Hum [especially the movie} the band didn’t do The Joshua Tree II but came out like mid 60’s Beatles- changing their sound. While The Joshua Tree is my favorite U2- I wouldn’t put up a big argument against the claim that Achtung Baby from beginning to end might be their best album.

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  • THE BAND: HIGH ON THE HOG: 1996: 2 STARS OUT OF 5 STARS: I really liked the previous Jericho- this one not as much. Again The Band without Robbie- and his songs. While they made excellent choices of songs to cover on Jericho- on this the material isn’t as strong. A 45 minute album that sounds longer. Mostly covers only two originals.

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  • THE BAND: JUBILATION: 1998: 3 1/2 STARS OUT OF 5 STARS: Maybe they realized as a band that just doing covers wasn’t going to do it again- they came up with fresh material on their own and the last album by The Band [again no Robbie Robertson} isn’t too bad. Eric Clapton guests on Last Train To Memphis- a highlight.

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  • U2: ZOOROPA : 1993: 3 1/2 STARS OUT OF 5 STARS: Coming after The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby this was a major disappointment- it only sounded a lot better after their next album that turkey called Pop. An experimental album for the band-there is nothing wrong with that- making The Joshua Tree over and over again wouldn’t have been a good idea- but the experimentation was only partly a success. The tour was good though. The singles all flopped in the US- probably because there is nothing on here that sounds like a hit single.

3 responses to “MY MUSIC LISTENING JOURNAL: DAY 339: TUESDAY JANUARY 22, 2019”

  1. I love Achtung Baby, so many excellent songs. A line from one: “You can’t even remember what I’m tryin to forget.” I like Rattle & Hum but not crazy about it. There is a dark vibe to Zooropa. I think Edge went a little overboard with his wa-wa peddle (j/k). I like Zooropa, not as much as Achtung and Joshua Tree, but it ranks up there. Never heard of REM’s Accelerate and that is sad. The Band’s failures never heard of those either…

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