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Rattle and Hum

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Rattle and Hum is the name of both an album and a companion motion picture recorded by Irish rock band U2. Both were released in 1988.

The album, which was made following the band's 1987 Joshua Tree Tour, is an unusual mix of live recordings, covers, and new songs. To a greater extent than their previous album, The Joshua Tree, the band play roots rock, blues-rock, folk rock, and country music. The film documents the band's Joshua Tree Tour of the United States and the band's experiences with American music. Although the album and motion picture were intended to represent the band paying tribute to rock legends, critics said that U2 were trying to place themselves amongst the ranks of these artists.

History

The movie is a rockumentary, released in theaters in 1988 and on video in 1989. It was produced by Michael Hamlyn and directed by Phil Joanou. It incorporates live footage with studio outtakes and band interviews. The album is a mix of live material and new studio recordings that furthers the band's experimentation with American music styles and recognises many of their musical influences. It was produced by Jimmy Iovine and also released in 1988.

The title, "Rattle and Hum", is taken from a lyric from "Bullet the Blue Sky", the fourth track on The Joshua Tree.

Studio recordings

The album opens with a live cover of The Beatles' "Helter Skelter." Its inclusion on the album was intended by the band to reflect the confusion of The Joshua Tree Tour and their new found superstar status. Bono's introduction of the song—"this song Charles Manson stole from The Beatles...we're stealing it back"—was interpreted as U2 claiming to be the new Beatles.[2]

A live version of Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower", which can be seen as a dual tribute to Dylan and to Jimi Hendrix, who popularized the song with his own blistering rendition. Aside from the covers, a couple of songs were written for other artists. "Angel of Harlem" is a vivacious, horn-filled tribute to Billie Holiday. The bass-heavy "God Part II" is an introduction to the Achtung Baby sound, and is a sequel of sorts to John Lennon's "God", his stark denunciation of everything from Elvis Presley to Jesus Christ.

The songs are also musically in line with the predecessors they honor. The punchy lead single, "Desire", for instance, sports a Bo Diddley beat. "Love Rescue Me" (featuring co-author Bob Dylan on vocals) and the live performance of "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" (recorded with a full church choir) are gospel songs. "When Love Comes to Town" is a blues rocker featuring B. B. King on guitar and vocals.

"Angel of Harlem", "Love Rescue Me" and "When Love Comes to Town" were recorded at Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, where Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash and many others also recorded.

All of the studio tracks apart from "Heartland" were performed in concert on the Lovetown Tour, which began almost a year after Rattle and Hum's release.

Live performances

Most of the video from the movie is black-and-white indoor concert footage from the band's Denver, Colorado show on 8 November 1987 or colour outdoor concert footage from the band's Tempe, Arizona shows on 19 December 1987 and 20 December 1987.

The performance of Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower" is from the band's impromptu "Save the Yuppies" concert in Justin Herman Plaza in San Francisco, California on 11 November 1987. The video intersperses the performance of the song with footage from the band's performance of "Pride" from the same show, during which Bono spray-painted "Rock and Roll Stops the Traffic" on the Vaillancourt Fountain. This caused a bit of controversy, and ultimately, the band paid to repair the damage and publicly apologized for the incident. The phrase "Rock and Roll Stops the Traffic" reappeared 18 years later in the video "All Because of You" when an unnamed fan appeared with the sign at 1:55 in the video.[3]

"I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" is from the band's New York City show on 28 September 1987 and features the New Voices of Freedom, a gospel choir.

During "Silver and Gold", Bono explains that the song is an attack on apartheid.

"Sunday Bloody Sunday" is from the Denver show, which was performed on the day that an IRA bomb killed eleven people at a Remembrance Day ceremony in the Northern Irish town of Enniskillen (see Remembrance Day Bombing). As the band went into a long musical break, Bono condemned the violence in a furious mid-song rant—capped by an emotional cry of "Fuck the revolution!" — and led the crowd in a brief chant of "No more! No more!"

The noise of the crowd was sampled extensively by the The KLF for 'the Stadium House Trilogy' of singles on their 1990 album The White Room.[4]

Reception

After the success of The Joshua Tree, the album received a generally positive reception. Writing in Rolling Stone, Anthony DeCurtis said, "The album ably demonstrates U2's force but devotes too little attention to the band's vision". The album received an 8/10 marking in the NME from Stuart Baillie but was controversial as Mark Sinker originally gave it a much poorer review, which was pulled in favour of Baillie's more positive one. Sinker left the NME shortly after.[5]

Roger Ebert slammed the movie saying the footage was badly lit and monotonous, with little use made of the crowds. However, review partner Gene Siskel was more sympathetic, praising the music and finding the footage of the Harlem gospel choir particularly moving.[6]

"Rattle and Hum was conceived as a scrapbook, a memento of that time spent in America on the Joshua Tree tour. It changed when the movie, which was initially conceived of as a low-budget film, suddenly became a big Hollywood affair. That put a different emphasis on the album, which suffered from the huge promotion and publicity, and people reacted against it."[7]

— The Edge

At the time, the album and film were derided as self-indulgent by many critics who claimed U2 was trying to enshrine itself in the great pantheon of rock legends (influences ranging from B. B. King, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, and The Beatles are all referenced in the project) as opposed to honoring its newly-found influences. Many found the project—with its focus on earnest roots music and its many political diatribes—to be too serious.

Others, to the contrary, find the album to be a fine representation of a great band at the height of its artistic powers and popular influence. To date it has sold nearly ten million copies worldwide and earned the band its first number one single in the UK, "Desire".

Due slightly to the poor reception of Rattle and Hum, but mostly from the exhaustion of touring (Larry Mullen Jr. was quoted as saying that he felt like a human juke box on the "Joshua Tree" and "Lovetown" tours), Bono announced at a concert in Ireland on December 30, 1989 that they needed to go away for a while to "dream it all up again". Many fans feared the band was going to split up, which it nearly did. Instead, the band took a drastic and critically-acclaimed change in direction with 1991's Achtung Baby.

Album

Track listing

No.TitleWriter(s)PerformerLength
1."Helter Skelter" (Live)Lennon/McCartneyU23:07
2."Van Diemen's Land"The EdgeU23:05
3."Desire"U2U22:59
4."Hawkmoon 269"U2U26:22
5."All Along the Watchtower" (Live)Bob DylanU24:24
6."I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking
For" (Live)		U2U25:53
7."Freedom for My People"Adam Gussow and Sterling MageeSatan and Adam0:38
8."Silver and Gold" (Live)BonoU25:49
9."Pride (In the Name of Love)" (Live)U2U24:27
10."Angel of Harlem"U2U23:49
11."Love Rescue Me"U2U2 with Bob Dylan6:24
12."When Love Comes to Town"U2U2 with B. B. King4:15
13."Heartland"U2U25:03
14."God Part II"U2U23:15
15."The Star Spangled Banner" (Live)John Stafford SmithJimi Hendrix0:43
16."Bullet the Blue Sky" (Live)U2U25:36
17."All I Want Is You"U2U26:30
Total length:72:27


Track listing

  1. "Helter Skelter" (live) - 3:07
  2. "Van Diemen's Land" - 3:05
  3. "Desire" - 2:59
  4. "Hawkmoon 269" - 6:22
  5. "All Along the Watchtower" (live) - 4:24
  6. "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" (live) - 5:53
  7. "Freedom for My People" - 0:38
  8. "Silver and Gold" (live) - 5:49
  9. "Pride (In the Name of Love" (live) - 4:27
  10. "Angel of Harlem" - 3:49
  11. "Love Rescue Me" - 6:24
  12. "When Love Comes to Town" - 4:15
  13. "Heartland" - 5:03
  14. "God Part II" - 3:15
  15. "The Star-Spangled Banner|" (live) - 0:43
  16. "Bullet the Blue Sky" (live) - 5:36
  17. "All I Want Is You" - 6:30



Chart positions and sales

Country Peak position[citation needed] Certification Sales[citation needed]
Australia 1
Brazil Gold[citation needed] 50,000+
Canada 7x Platinum[8] 700,000+
Finland Gold[9] 28,632
France 34 Gold[10] 100,000+
Germany Platinum[11] 200,000+
Netherlands 1 Platinum[12] 80,000+
Switzerland 1 (9 weeks) 2x Platinum[13] 100,000+
United Kingdom 1 4x Platinum[14] 1,200,000+
United States 1 5x Platinum[15] 5,000,000+

Film

Rattle and Hum
Film poster
Directed byPhil Joanou
Produced byMichael Hamlyn
StarringBono
The Edge
Adam Clayton
Larry Mullen Jr.
CinematographyRobert Brinkmann (color)
Jordan Cronenweth (B&W)
Edited byPhil Joanou
Music byAdam Clayton
Larry Mullen Jr.
The Edge
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release dates
27 October 1988 (Ireland)
4 November 1988 (U.S.)
Running time
99 min
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box officeUS$8,600,823 U.S.
  1. "Helter Skelter" (live)
  2. "Van Diemen's Land"
  3. "Desire" (demo)
  4. "Exit" / "Gloria (Them song)" (live)
  5. "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" (rehearsal)
  6. "Freedom for My People" excerpt by Adam Gussow and Sterling Magee / "Silver and Gold" (live)
  7. "Angel of Harlem" (demo)
  8. "All Along the Watchtower" (live)
  9. "In God's Country" (live)
  10. "When Love Comes to Town" (rehearsal/live/recital)
  11. "Heartland"
  12. "Bad" / "Ruby Tuesday" / "Sympathy for the Devil" (live)
  13. "Where the Streets Have No Name" (live)
  14. "MLK" (live)
  15. "With or Without You" (live)
  16. "The Star-Spangled Banner" excerpt by Jimi Hendrix / "Bullet the Blue Sky" (live)
  17. "Running to Stand Still" (live)
  18. "Sunday Bloody Sunday" (live)
  19. "Pride (In the Name of Love)" (live)
  20. "All I Want Is You"

Music by U2, words by Bono, except:

  • "Helter Skelter" is a Lennon-McCartney song.
  • "Van Diemen's Land" was written and performed solely by guitarist The Edge.
  • "Gloria", which appears as an excerpt in "Exit", was written by Van Morrison.
  • "Freedom For My People" is a short interlude written and performed by Sterling Magee on guitar and percussion and Adam Gussow on harmonica. Magee and Gussow later recorded three albums as the blues duo Satan and Adam. A full-length version of "Freedom For My People" can be found on the album Mother Mojo; Gussow's description of the duo's encounter with U2 can be found in his 1998 memoir, Mister Satan's Apprentice.
  • "All Along the Watchtower" was written by Bob Dylan.
  • "Ruby Tuesday" and "Sympathy for the Devil", both snippeted in "Bad", are Rolling Stones songs.
  • "Love Rescue Me" is based on an old gospel song and features lyrics co-written with Bob Dylan.
  • "The Star-Spangled Banner" is an instrumental rendition of the national anthem of the United States. The recording used here is an excerpt of Jimi Hendrix's famous Woodstock performance in 1969.

"Desire," "Angel of Harlem", "When Love Comes to Town", and "All I Want Is You" were released as singles.

All tracks were produced by Jimmy Iovine, except "Heartland", a left-over from The Joshua Tree that was produced by Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois.

Personnel

Guest performers

  • B. B. King – guitar and vocals on "When Love Comes to Town"
  • Bob Dylan – Hammond organ on "Hawkmoon 269", vocals on "Love Rescue Me"
  • The New Voices of Freedom – vocals on "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For"
  • The Memphis Horns – horns on "Angel of Harlem" and "Love Rescue Me"
  • Benmont Tench – Hammond organ on "All I Want Is You"

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Rattle and Hum > Overview". Allmusic. Retrieved 2008-08-01.
  2. ^ Graham (2004), p. 36.
  3. ^ "U2 All Because of You".
  4. ^ "KLF Interview". http://cardhouse.com. Retrieved 2008-09-26. {{cite web}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
  5. ^ "Mark Sinker". Rocksbackpages.com. Retrieved September 25. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ "At the movies - Rattle and Hum". Bventertainment.go.com. Retrieved September 25. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  7. ^ atu2.com
  8. ^ CRIA
  9. ^ IFPI Finland
  10. ^ Disque En France
  11. ^ IFPI Germany
  12. ^ NVPI
  13. ^ IFPI Switzerland
  14. ^ BPI
  15. ^ RIAA

References

  • Graham, Bill (2004). U2: The Complete Guide to their Music. London: Omnibus Press. ISBN 0-7119-9886-8. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
Preceded by Billboard 200 number-one album
November 12 - December 23, 1988 		Succeeded by
Preceded by UK number one album
October 22, 1988 – October 28, 1988 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
New Jersey by Bon Jovi
 Australian ARIA Albums Chart number-one album
October 31 - December 4, 1988 		Succeeded by


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