Rattle and Hum
Reviews :
Exclusive Review from CMJ New Music Report
U2 has the resources to record/document themselves at will,
wherever and with whomever they desire. While that power
can make for dangerous self-indulgence (ever seen the Beatles'
Magical Mystery Tour TV show?), it can also paint a
fascinatingly diverse portrait of a band's creative process. This
album (and film) is a sprawling documentary of U2's autumn
of 1987, the peak of their popularity, and it works brilliantly.
There are nine new studio tracks (featuring contributions from
Bob Dylan, B.B. King and others-the band is exploring its
new-found roots), six live songs, hilarious interview segments,
and two song-snippets that aren't even by U2. It adds up to a
wondrous mosaic with constantly changing moods, openly
showing the band's strengths and faults. U2's popularity doesn't
seem to have effected them as much as it could've, and while
Bono's demagoguery occasionally gets out of hand, remember that
U2 thanked college radio when accepting a Grammy.
Their roots in the marketplace and in music are important to
them, and that's partly why they remain so potent. Top cuts:
"Desire"; the slower, ethereal "Hawkmoon
269," "Heartland" and "All I Want Is
You"; the reverent (verging on derivative)
tributes "Angel Of Harlem," "When Love Comes To
Town" and "God Part II"; and "Silver And
Gold" and "Bullet The Blue
Sky," which feature fierce political rants.
College Media, Inc.
Quick Quotes:
3.5 Stars - Very Good
Rolling Stone
Notes :
Additional personnel: B.B. King (vocals, guitar); Brian Eno
(keyboards); Tom Petty, Benmont Tench, The Memphis
Horns, Bob Dylan, The New Voices Of Freedom.
Recorded live during the Joshua Tree Tour in the U.S. and Europe in 1987.
2 LPs on 1 CD. This contains 9 studio and 6 live recordings.
The aural companion to the band documentary of the same name,
RATTLE AND HUM is where U2's began to tire of
being the anthem-making rock heroes they had become in the '80s.
That's not to say the songs didn't approach serious
subject matter, but there was more musical and lyrical diversity
than on albums past. They repeatedly play with the rock
& roll myth throughout RATTLE AND HUM, covering the Beatles'
"Helter Skelter" and Dylan's "All Along the
Watchtower,"
casting aspersions on "the golden age of pop" on
"God Part II" and busting out their own blistering
version of the Bo Diddley
beat on the irresistible "Desire."
The band began to explore American roots music as well.
"Angel of Harlem," a tune about Billie Holiday, was
recorded in
Memphis' famed Sun Studios. Bono makes his first official Gospel
foray on "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For."
The lads from Dublin even collaborate with B.B. King on
"When Love Comes To Town." RATTLE & HUM is
wonderfully
schizophrenic, full of passion and ambition.