Product Description

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'snot 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 Americanroots music as well. "Angel of Harlem," a tune about BillieHoliday, 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.

Track Listing

1. Helter Skelter
2. Van Diemen's Land
3. Desire
4. Hawkmoon 269
5. All Along The Watchtower
6. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
7. Freedom For My People - Adam Gussow, Sterling Magee
8. God Part II
9. Pride (In The Name Of Love)
10. Angel Of Harlem
11. Love Rescue Me
12. When Love Comes To Town - U2, B.B. King
13. Heartland
14. God Part II
15. The Star Spangled Banner - Jimi Hendrix
16. Bullet The Blue Sky
17. All I Want Is You

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6297 in Music
• Released on: 2005-05-30
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 72 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
The ill will that initially greeted Rattle and Hum--the follow-up to the band's massively successful Joshua Tree album--was due in large part to the bloated and self-important feature film that accompanied it, which showed the band as being simultaneously naive and pretentious as it "discovered" America. But as the film mercifully slips from memory, the music has remained, from the furious swirl of "Desire" and a clutch of live hits to insightful musical nods to heroes such as Bob Dylan, John Lennon, and Billie Holiday. Songs like "When Love Comes to Town", a supercharged blues duet with B.B. King, suggests the quartet knew more about America from listening to its music than Phil Joanou's unintentional mockumentary suggested. --Daniel Durchholz

Customer Reviews

Right up there with U2's best
I can't understand why any U2 aficionado would criticise RATTLE AND HUM. I have THE JOSHUA TREE too, which seems to be everyone's favourite, but this one is surely on a par. Well, it's all a matter of opinion, and mine is that it is! Seventeen tracks, no less, and some classics among them. For me the best include Desire, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, Pride (In the Name of Love), Angel of Harlem, God Part II, and the best of a fantastic lot: All I Want Is You. Even if you removed all these outstanding songs the album would still be pretty decent. 25 years down the line and this one album contains some of the best rock music in an entire generation. Forget the 'Americanist' allegations, the moaning about the accompanying feature film - this is U2 at their best. A landmark musical creation by any standard, and an indicator of what made U2 one of the greatest rock bands on earth.

Poor, very poor
U2 once again prove how they are all image (Pseudo American especially) and little substance. Their vastly over-rated songwriting "talents" are very obvious in this sequel to the even-more-over-rated Joshua Tree. As if to highlight the point, this album features mixed in among the new offerings of meaningless pop nonsense and cover versions re-hashed editions of their own back catalogue. U2 lack attitude, they lack originality and most importantly, they lacked the good grace to disband after the hugely impressive catalogue up to and including Under Blood Red Sky.

Buying it again!
As far as I'm concerned this was some of their best work before and after they went all "poppy" and mainstream. There is a certain distinction in their early work, which I felt was unique and this was the last of their early work before albumns like Achtung Baby were released. Don't get me wrong all their work, old and new, has so far impressed me but some more than others and Rattle and Hum is top of my list. I remember buying this on vynl when it was first released. I couldn't stop playing it back then and look forward to playing it over and over again now.