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
8. Silver And Gold
9. Pride (In The Name Of Love)
10. Angel Of Harlem
11. Love Rescue Me
12. When Love Comes To Town
13. Heartland
14. God Part II
15. The Star Spangled Banner
16. Bullet The Blue Sky
17. All I Want Is You

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2922 in Music
• Released on: 1990-06-15
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Live

Album Description
Limited edition double LP vinyl pressing of U2's soundtrack to their documentary of the same name. **Please note that this vinyl pressing features 'For Promotional Use Only' printed on the artwork. 2007

Amazon.com
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

A U2 CLASSIC! LIVE!
This album is one of their best. A great LIVE cut for this band. Bono's passion for what he sings ignites the audience. The Edge and the rest of the band putting forth extraordinary energy in every note. Buy this and enjoy it for years.

helter skelter.....
U2 don't deserve to be allowed to cover that awesome song. Get motley Crue and the BEatles up there to kick bono's arse.

Great studio tracks. Pity about the live tracks.
This album is considered the poor relation of U2's output up to and including Achtung Baby. But in fairness it could have been a great studio album and amazingly for a band who excel in live performances, the live tracks here show Bono at his pompous, self-important worst. It was released with the forgettable movie of the same name, showing four Irishmen (really three and one Englishman)and I hate this expression "searching for America". Dear Bono. America has been found and has been doing pretty well overall, Thank You. Why do artists feel they have to go out and search for America anyway? Why not Estonia, or Denmark or Canada?

The studio tracks are up there with the best U2 with a few exceptions. DESIRE, LOVE RESCUE ME, ALL I WANT IS YOU, HEARTLAND and possibly WHEN LOVE COMES TO TOWN are some of the best songs they have written.

As for the live tracks. Let me see why else I dislike them so much.

"This is a song Charles Manson stole from The Beatles. We're stealing it back". (HELTER SKELTER). Like the song had gone missing for the previous 19 years. Please!!!
"Am I bugging you?. Don't meant to bug ya" (SILVER AND GOLD)
"For The Reverend Martin Luther King. SING!" (PRIDE). Just hate the wayhe instructs the audience.
"All I have is a red guitar, three chords and the truth" (ALL ALONG THE WATCHTOWER)
"And the sky is ripped open like a gaping wound pelting the women and children, pelting the women and children who run, who run into the arms of America" (BULLET THE BLUE SKY)
By the way Bono, it is South Africa, not "Suthefrika". Ironically it sounds like he has an Afrikaans accent (SILVER AND GOLD)

He does have one great line in BULLET... "The God I believe in isn't short of cash, Mister". Have to admit that is a great one!

All the above and more are spoken by Bono during the songs and it is commendable that he thinks of troubling issues around the world. But having them all contained within 70 minutes of music makes you groan each time he goes off.

Anyway I digress. They had so many non-album B-sides that could have been included and scrap the live tracks. SILVER AND GOLD is the best live song but it is practically ruined by Bono's sermon at the end. The covers: ALL ALONG THE WATCHTOWER and HELTER SKELTER are surprisingly ordinary. I STILL HAVEN'T FOUND... has to be on nearly half of all U2 albums at this point! It is an interesting arrangement with nice backing from The Voices Of Freedom choir. But again at the end it goes off the rails with the lead male and female singers trying to outdo each other in vocal prowess.

Just wish there more songs like DESIRE. This is what U2 does so well. A three minute rock explosion that never lets up. ALL I WANT IS YOU is very tender with Beatlesque strings and a tour de force from The Edge at the end. HEARTLAND seems to be the crux of the whole album as the lyrics to this song are the first you will see inside the sleeve notes, although it is Track #13. WHEN LOVE COMES TO TOWN features a searing vocal by BB King. Unfortunately the last verse is very bizarre and I cannot figure out what it has to do with the generally upbeat song. ANGEL OF HARLEM could have been better. Does not really say much about Billie Holiday who inspired the song. But the song is redeemed by contribution of The Memphis Horns

Other tracks:
VAN DIEMEN"S LAND. Sung by The Edge on guitar alone about an Irish prisoner being sent to what is now Tasmania and leaving behind loved ones. However the fade-out is badly timed.
HAWKMOON 269. Maybe overlong and repetitive but has an intense build-up and wonderful backing vocals from Billie Barnum, Carolyn Willis and Edna Wright. Also is that Larry pounding those kettledrums?
FREDOM FOR MY PEOPLE. Perfromed by two street musicians and is basically a snippet.
GOD PART II. Quite a good song apart from the title. It is not remotely in the same league as John Lennon's GOD but I think Bono thought he was the next Lennon at this time. The title makes the whole thing come accross as very pretentious.
STAR SPANGLED BANNER/BULLET THE BLUE SKY: Again it is a fine version until Bono decides to keep talking at the end. The anthem is a recording of the Jimi Hendrix version.