I've been thinking about and trying to come up with some of my favorite albums. In the process, I could only think of two right off the top of my head and one of those was
The Joshua Tree by
U2.
This is probably a huge statement, but as for now anyways, I'd have to say this is my favorite album. It has everything I love about music in it--good musicianship, interesting guitar parts, good vocals, interesting lyrics, passion, and the ability to take me away to a place of ponderance and reflection. I'd say U2 has a certain way of nailing that last one right square in the face. I can't tell you how many times I've listened to this album while looking out my bedroom window at the stars. This is the perfect album to get my mind off small, insignificant things to thinking about the bigger ones. I tend to find myself in some sense of awe when I put this one on, which is why it's wonderful for star gazing. There's just such a (I'm going to make up a word here for my own purposes) BIGness to it and yet it's so simple. [Sound like God to you?!] There's nothing show-offy at all about it and that's one of the reasons I really appreciate their guitarist, the Edge. He knows what to say and how to say it without going overboard and that's something I'm always trying to achieve in my own music. And oh my...the groove of this album, ah! If you're one of the very few people who know me well enough, you'd know that any musician who can give me a good groove will instantly drive me crazy and I probably won't know what to do with myself except say, "This is so good!" "Bullet the Blue Sky" does that to me. It has one of the best grooves I've experienced and that guitar...ah...and then you have "Red Hill Mining Town" and "Trip Through Your Wire." They're just so wonderful!
Bono's lyrics really get me thinking, too. I like to find new ways of understanding God, His Kingdom, and/or my Walk in them pretty much everything I listen to and especially with this album. A particular favorite is "I believe in the Kingdom come where all the colors bleed into one." Beautiful imagery! My favorite song on the album, though, is "Running to Stand Still." I like to imagine myself saying the lyrics and meaning, in summation, "I'm in this Walk for life. I'm running so that one day I may stand still." As I've come to better understand God's grace, I know that I don't have to constantly strive and wear myself thin and that there are times when it's appropriate to stand still, yes. And now that I have, this song has come to mean quite a bit more to me as I've processed this understanding of Grace, but I still like to allow that "lifer" thought to keep me going. To me, good music will do that to you, get you pondering and processing things differently and all. Enter U2.
So my suggestion is to give this album a try if you haven't already. I'm only 19 [it came out in '87...] and I love it, so go for it! You might find yourself thinking all kinds of awesome things. :)
