The Joshua Tree

U2

Released

There is some kind of epochal argument embedded in this album, because soon enough U2 go from town heroes to supervillains. But if you want to hate, would you really put your hand on a stack of Bibles and say you don’t believe in Track 1 (“Streets Have No Name”), Track 2 (“I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”), and Track 3 (“With Or Without You” aka “Ross and Rachel”)? They got the power to torture us all because, for ten years, they were devil magicians. The ability to pace and reframe songs with just guitar, bass, and drums—this practice went light years into the future because of U2. And Bono, so easy to throw into the canyon now, was still a true wizard of dynamics on this album. It’s actually a bit like another Eno project (though he didn’t produce this one): Bowie’s Heroes. Half of this is pure hits, and the other half is a heat-dazed wasteland of echo and harmonica and steel.

Sasha Frere-Jones

Suggestions
Sucker cover

Sucker

Charli XCX
Enemigos De Lo Ajeno cover

Enemigos De Lo Ajeno

El Último de La Fila
Sublime cover

Sublime

Sublime
O Passo do Lui cover

O Passo do Lui

Os Paralamas do Sucesso
Runt cover

Runt

Todd Rundgren
Hero cover

Hero

Maren Morris
Futurology cover

Futurology

Manic Street Preachers