10 Albums: The Joshua Tree

 I have a confession to make--it took me too long to discover (yes, I said "discover") U2 and, specifically, this album. 

The Joshua Tree (released March 1987) was the album that moved U2 from being a band to being rock superstars. The album was critically acclaimed and became the fastest-selling album in British history. Three singles were released from the album; "With or Without You" and "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" became the group's only number one singles in the U.S.

I was lucky to see the band perform the album, in its entirety, on their Joshua Tree tour of 2017 in Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City, MO. While the sound was muddy that evening, the craftsmanship of this iconic album was on full display. 

The Joshua Tree. The best album by the best band of the past 35 years.

10 Albums: Rumors

In February 1977, Fleetwood Mac released Rumours--arguably the best album ever to deal with love, loss, strife and relationships gone awry. The album would go on to reach #1 on both the U.S. and U.K. album charts and win a Grammy for Album of the Year. It remains one of the best-selling albums of all time.

Mac's lineup for Rumours was Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie Nicks, Christine McVie, John McVie and Mick Fleetwood. Four cuts from the album were released as singles and all made their way into the top 10 of the song charts.

The album followed Fleetwood Mac, released in 1975, with "Rhiannon" providing the band with major radio exposure in the mid-70's. Between the release of Fleetwood Mac and Rumours, the band endured:

- The divorce of the McVies.

- The on again/off again relationship of Buckingham and Nicks

- Fleetwood's discovery that his wife, Jenny, had an affair with his best friend

In all cases, the five only seemed able to co-exist when writing, producing and performing music together.

The songs "Dreams," "Don't Stop," "You Make Loving Fun" and "Go Your Own Way" were the singles but the best song appeared on the 2004 re-release of Rumours, that being "Silver Springs." ("Springs" was not part of the original release given tension in the band, which is understandable if you watch Nicks sing this song on the band's video concert release, The Dance. It's an amazing performance of an amazing song.)

Rumours--the album that produced songs saturating AM-FM radio in competition with The Eagles' Hotel California in the mid-to-late 70's.

10 Albums: Hotel California

"You can check out any time you like. But you can never leave."

So goes the lyrics to the title tune of Hotel California the lead in to perhaps the best dueling guitar back-and-forth of any rock song ever, featuring Don Felder and Joe Walsh of The Eagles. Hotel California is the band's magnum opus.

Hotel California was released in December 1976, just months before Rumours by Fleetwood Mac. Cuts from those two albums would saturate the AM-FM radio airwaves for 1977 and beyond, setting the stage for the back-and-forth commercial competition in the late '70s between these two groups.

I saw The Eagles at Kemper Arena in Kansas City, MO in November 1976 when they were touring to promote the upcoming release of the album. I then saw them in summer of 1978--the tour where they played stadiums and headlined a show with Dan Fogelberg and Linda Ronstadt. That shift in concert venue and size indicated the impact of the album on the band's success.

Hotel California is, undoubtedly, The Eagles' best work. It was the first album to feature Walsh and soared to number on on the Billboard album charts. It lost the Grammy for Best Album to Rumours but won for Best Record with "New Kid In Town." Two other singles from the album, "Life In the Fast Lane" and "Hotel California," made the Billboard top 100.

The album is associated with southern California but Don Henley stated, in an interview about Hotel California, that the LP is a "concept album...but it's not set in the old West. It's more urban this time..." and used California as the the microcosm for the United States, opining in the lyrics about themes of innocence, the perils of fame, of excess, idealism and the American Dream.

Randy Meisner, bassist, left the group during the making of Hotel California and was replaced by Timothy B. Schmit. This iteration of the group--Henley, Glenn Frey, Walsh, Felder and Schmit--would be the band's most successful fivesome and would release The Long Run in 1979. In 1980, the group disbanded before reuniting for Hell Freezes Over - the album and tour - in 1994.

Hotel California--truly an amazing piece of musical work.