The Joshua Tree

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Featured songs: Where the Streets Have No Name With or Without You I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For Bullet the Blue Sky Exit Mothers of the Disappeared The Sweetest Thing Release Date: 2000

Review

I didn't expect much from this DVD, but I was pleasantly surprised. It features recent interviews with not only the band but also the producers (Daniel Lanois, Steve Lillywhite, Brian Eno, Flood) and even a bit with the manager (Paul McGuiness). They all talk about the genesis of the album, and go into detail about the a few of the songs. There are some great anecdotes, some of which you may have heard before (e.g. Brian Eno threatening to wipe the original Streets tape because he was so sick of mixing the song) but it's great to hear it all from the horses' mouths, so to speak.

My favorite parts of the DVD were the bits where Lanois, Bono, and/or Edge are in front of the mixing desk with the original 16 (32?) track recording of a song playing. I found listening to tracks that didn't make it into the final mix pretty interesting. It's also fun to watch Bono get embarrassed by some of his bad guitar playing and vocal "fooling around" on a few tracks.

As a bonus, the DVD also includes the full video for The Sweetest Thing.

If you're a hardcore U2 fan, you should buy this DVD. If your fandom is more casual, you should probably just rent it (or borrow a friend's if you can't find it in the video store, which is likely.) It's not as "essential" as the Rattle and Hum DVD, but it's certainly worth the ~$15 price for the serious U2 fan.

siracusa@mindspring.com