Inspired by American experiences, literature, and politics, U2 chose America as a theme for the album. Recording began in January 1986 in Ireland, and to foster a relaxed, creative atmosphere, the group primarily recorded in two houses. Several events during the sessions helped shape the conscious tone of the album, including the band's participation in the Conspiracy of Hope benefit concerts for Amnesty International, the death of roadie Greg Carroll, and lead vocalist Bono's travels to Central America. Recording was completed in November 1986; additional production continued into January 1987. Throughout the sessions, U2 sought a "cinematic" quality for the record, one that would evoke a sense of location, in particular, the open spaces of the United States. They represented this in the sleeve photography depicting them in American desert landscapes.
After recording vocals for Steven Van Zandt's anti-apartheid project Sun City in August 1985, Bono made an additional contribution to the album in October that was inspired by his burgeoning interest in roots music.[4] While in New York, he spent time with musicians Keith Richards and Mick Jagger, who played him blues and country music. Bono was embarrassed by his lack of familiarity with the genres, as most of U2's musical knowledge began with punk rock in their youth in the mid-1970s. He realised that U2 "had no tradition" and felt as if they "were from outer space".[6] This inspired him to write the blues-influenced song "Silver and Gold", which he recorded with Richards and Ronnie Wood and convinced Van Zandt to add to Sun City.[4] Until that time, U2 had been apathetic towards roots music, but after spending time with the Waterboys and fellow Irish band Hothouse Flowers, they felt a sense of indigenous Irish music blending with American folk music.[2] Nascent friendships with Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, and Richards encouraged Bono to look back to rock's roots and to focus on building his skills as a songwriter and lyricist.[7][8] He explained: "I used to think that writing words was old-fashioned, so I sketched. I wrote words on the microphone. For The Joshua Tree, I felt the time had come to write words that meant something, out of my experience."[9] Dylan told Bono about his own debt to Irish music,[10] while Bono further demonstrated his interest in music traditions in his duet with Irish Celtic and folk group Clannad on the track "In a Lifetime".[10]
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Based on their success with producers Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois on The Unforgettable Fire, U2 wanted the duo to produce their new album.[16] Mullen was excited about working with them again, as he felt the pair, Lanois in particular, were the band's first producers who "really [took] an interest in the rhythm section".[1] Mark "Flood" Ellis was selected to be the recording engineer for the sessions, marking the first time he worked with U2.[14] The band were impressed by his work with Nick Cave, and Bono's friend Gavin Friday recommended Flood based on their work experiences together when Friday was a member of the Virgin Prunes.[16] U2 asked Flood for a sound that was "very open... ambient... with a real sense of space of the environment you were in", which he thought was a very unusual request at that time.[1]
On 3 July, the band experienced a tragedy when Greg Carroll, their roadie and Bono's personal assistant, was killed in a motorcycle accident in Dublin. The 26-year-old's death overwhelmed the U2 organisation, and the band travelled to his native New Zealand to attend his traditional Māori funeral; the experience inspired the lyrics to "One Tree Hill".[29] After the funeral,[30] Bono and his wife visited Nicaragua and El Salvador, where they saw firsthand the distress of peasants affected by political conflicts and US military intervention, experiences which formed the basis of the lyrics for "Bullet the Blue Sky" and "Mothers of the Disappeared".[31]
Much like on past records, Bono exhibits an expressive, open-throated vocal delivery,[59] which many critics described as "passionate".[56][60][61] Spin found that the group's exploration of roots music resulted in Bono's style expanding, saying that he "commands the full whisper-to-shout range of blues mannerisms".[62] Bono attributes this maturation to "loosening up", "discover[ing] other voices", and employing more restraint in his singing.[9] His vocals became, in the words of Thom Duffy, more "dynamic" than they had been on previous records.[63] On "Where the Streets Have No Name", his voice varies greatly in its timbre (as writer Mark Butler describes, "he sighs; he moans; he grunts; he exhales audibly; he allows his voice to crack") and its timing by his usage of rubato to slightly offset the sung notes from the beat.[64] For author Susan Fast, "With or Without You" marks the first track on which he "extended his vocal range downward in an appreciable way".[65]
Over several days in December 1986,[35][81] U2 travelled with Corbijn and Averill on a bus around the Mojave Desert for a photo shoot.[32] The group stayed in small hotels and shot in the desert landscape, beginning at Reno, Nevada, before moving to locations in California such as the ghost town of Bodie, the Harmony Hotel in Twentynine Palms, Zabriskie Point, Death Valley Junction, and other sites in Death Valley.[80][81][82] Corbijn rented a panoramic camera to capture more of the desert landscapes, but having no prior experience with the camera, he was unfamiliar with how to focus it. This led to him focusing on the background and leaving the band slightly out of focus. Corbijn said, "Fortunately there was a lot of light."[31] Averill filmed portions of the trip with an 8 mm film camera. The photo shoots took place in the mornings and evenings, with mid-days spent travelling and on preparation.[80] Corbijn later recounted that the main idea of the shoot was to juxtapose "man and environment, the Irish in America".[83] Averill said of their photographic approach, "What I was trying to do with the way we shot the pictures and framed the cover was to suggest the landscape vision and cinematic approach that was taken to the recording."[80]
Like their previous tours, the Joshua Tree Tour was a minimalistic, austere production,[156] and U2 used this outlet for addressing political and social concerns.[157] One such issue was Arizona Governor Evan Mecham's canceling the state's observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.[31] Throughout the tour, the group continued to explore American roots music: they collaborated with folk artist Bob Dylan, blues musician B. B. King, and Harlem's New Voices of Freedom gospel choir; U2 also visited Graceland and Sun Studio in Memphis, where they recorded new material.[31] These new songs and the band's experiences on tour were documented for the 1988 Rattle and Hum album and Phil Joanou-directed motion picture.
"Then, when one looks into it, one finds that thisquestion about the onset of symptoms is left very vague.Various doctors came here and told you about their ownexperiences and the cases quoted by medical authorities inbooks, and you will have noticed that there is no certaintyat all about the time when the symptoms may be expectedto appear. Sometimes it is a quarter of an hour or half anhour, sometimes two hours, sometimes as much as five orsix, and, I believe, in one case as much as seven hoursafter taking the poison."
"Peter!" said his mother, "I do wish you'd go and seewhat's happened to Gerald. Tell him his tea is gettingcold. I think he's in the stables talking to Freddy aboutthrush or cracked heels or something, so tiresome the wayhorses are always getting something the matter with them.You haven't trained Gerald properly, Helen, he used to bequite punctual as a boy. Peter was always the tiresomeone, but he's becoming almost human in his old age. It'sthat wonderful man of his who keeps him in order, reallya remarkable character and so intelligent, quite one of theold sort, you know, a perfect autocrat, and such mannerstoo. He would be worth thousands to an American millionaire,most impressive, I wonder Peter isn't afraid he'llgive warning one of these days, but I really believe he ispositively attached to him, Bunter attached to Peter, Imean, though the other way on would be true too, I'msure Peter pays more attention to his opinion than he doesto mine."
Miss Climpson finished her letter in the privacy of herbedroom, and secured it carefully in her capacious handbagbefore going downstairs. A long experience of boarding-houselife warned her that to display openly an envelopeaddressed even to a minor member of the nobility wouldbe to court a quite unnecessary curiosity. True, it wouldestablish her status, but at that moment Miss Climpsonhardly wished to move in the limelight. She crept quietlyout at the hall door, and turned her steps towards thecentre of the town.
And then there had been the quaint little man from thePsychical Research Society. He had stayed a fortnight inthe same private hotel with her at Bournemouth. He wasskilled in the investigation of haunted houses and thedetection of poltergeists. He had rather liked Miss Climpson,and she had passed several interesting evenings hearingabout the tricks of mediums. Under his guidance shehad learnt to turn tables and produce explosive crackingnoises; she knew how to examine a pair of sealed slatesfor the marks of the wedges which let the chalk go in on along black wire to write spirit-passages. She had seen theingenious rubber gloves which leave the impression ofspirit hands in a bucket of paraffin-wax, and which, whendeflated, can be drawn delicately from the hardened waxthrough a hole narrower than a child's wrist. She evenknew theoretically, though she had never tried it, how tohold her hands to be tied behind her back so as to forcethat first deceptive knot which makes all subsequent knotsuseless, and how to flit about the room banging tambourinesin the twilight in spite of having been tied up in ablack cabinet with both fists filled with flour. Miss Climpsonhad wondered greatly at the folly and wickedness ofmankind. 2ff7e9595c
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