Rediscovering The Joshua Tree

Happened upon a documentary discussing the making of U2's The Joshua Tree on, I think, one of the Sky Arts channels. Not an especially interesting or enlightening programme, but it did send me back to the album for the first time in over a decade. Back in the day, U2 were one of my favourite bands but over the years they just dropped off my radar. It happens - what seemed astounding, exciting or meaningful when you're 19 can seem deeply gauche and annoying and dreary as you grow older.

So, after such a big break, what was it like to revisit this record? Well, it was something of a Proustian experience, that threw up some vivid memories of 1987.  I recalled buying the album from Tower Records in Piccadilly on the first day of its release. I remember spending hours poring over the album art - moody pictures of the band standing grim faced in front of vast American vistas - as the music seeped into me. I recall arranging my day off so that I could get onto the phone at 9am and book tickets to the Wembley gig - then 4 of us from work travelled up to that shabby old stadium to watch my first ever concert.

Then, in July we went to Australia.  The in flight entertainment included a handful of 'in-house' radio stations.  One of these featured Red Hill Mining Song and I can remember listening to this track during the final phase of the journey - across the Indian Ocean from Singapore to Perth.

In Australia we stayed with one of Dad's cousin's and borrowed a car from one of his son's mates.  It was a big-engined Ford - a young bloke's car with plenty of welly.  I recall sitting in the passenger seat, elbow resting on the open window, a cassette of The Joshua Tree blasting away as we drove through Western Australian landscapes - endless blue skies and unbroken horizons - the music chiming perfectly with the location.

And that's what the album is to me - a portal back to my final teenage summer.