U2 were completely panned by the press and some hardcore U2 fans for 'Rattle & Hum' (1988), which is purported to be U2's ill-fated egocentric exploration into American music. Leaving pretentiousness in the eyes of the beholder, a lot of people liked this record, a mix of studio songs and live tracks from 'The Joshua Tree' tour and for good reason. Here's a song-by-song:

1. "Helter Skelter" [Live]. OK, the ego does get a bit out of hand here, but this is one of the standout cover tunes.

2. "Van Diemen's Land". The Edge takes vocals on this nice ode to the working man which is abruptly cut off in mid-verse.

3. "Desire". The first single, an obvious musical tribute to blues legend Bo Diddley, continues to be one of their most popular and infectious songs.

4. "Hawkmoon 269". Although there is some lyrical help from Bob Dylan, this is one of the studio tracks that really does not work.

5. "All Along the Watchtower" [Live]. An uninspired cover which is memorable only if you saw the movie.

6. "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" [Live]. With embellishments by a real gospel choir, the song is performed the way it was meant to be.

7. "Freedom for My People". This is just a snippet of a street performer.

8. "Silver and Gold" [Live]. A great live version of a non-LP track, seethingly delivered by Bono toward an apathetic American audience.

9. "Pride (in the Name of Love)" [Live]. What live record would be complete without the consumate U2 anthem.

10. "Angel of Harlem". As one of the songs recorded at the historic Sun Studios, complete with a horn section, this lyrical ode to Billie Holiday is a U2 classic.

11. "Love Rescue Me". With the accompanyment of Bob Dylan, this one never really picks up.

12. "When Love Comes to Town". Although many U2 fans did not appreciate the prominent vocals and guitar of B.B. King, the lyrics are "fantastic" (as the King puts it in the movie), and if you love the blues . . .

13. "Heartland". You can almost see the Mississippi going by on this song, a mood piece which works much better than "Love Rescue Me".

14. "God Part II". A great rocker about contradiction and a lyrical and musical prequel to U2's "reinvention" in the 1990s.

15. "Bullet the Blue Sky" [Live]. With a recorded intro of Jimi Hendrix doing "Star Spangled Banner", this is the consumate version of this song.

16. "All I Want Is You". Although it seems a bit out of place on this record, this is simply one of the best U2 ballads ever.

Rattle & Hum is the soundtrack to the band's documentary on their 1987 tour through America. The album is a mix of live tracks and studio recordings. The album takes on an American sound to it as the band traveled through the States visiting such places as Harlem, Graceland & Sun Studios. "Angel Of Harlem" is a tribute to Billie Holliday and the band shows they've got some soul with the song's stirring horn section. "When Love Comes To Town" is a duet with blues legend B.B. King and he lets loose with some terrific guitar playing. "God Part II" is the band's sequel to John Lennon's "God" from his Plastic Ono Band album. Much like the original, U2 question their own beliefs and the beliefs about them. "Desire" is a blistering song and Bono's harmonica work is impressive. "Van Dieman's Land", "Hawkmoon 269" and the appropriately titled "Heartland" find the band playing sounds with a folky, Midwestern vibe. "All I Want Is You" closes the album with a powerful beauty. The live tracks include a gospelized version of "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For", a take on the Beatles "Helter Skelter" in which Bono adds one of his more famous lines "three chords and a dream", a simmering take of their anti-apartheid song "Silver & Gold". "Bullet The Blue Sky" shows all the power and force of the band on stage. It opens with a snippet of Jimi Hendrix's take of "The Star Spangled Banner" and then merges into a booming Larry Mullin drum beat. Adam Clayton plays an extremely heavy bass while Bono expands on his sermon in the middle of the song and The Edge's guitar soars up and down. The critics dismissed this album when it first came out as bombastic and egotistical, but that probably had a lot to do with the film. U2 had been untouchable up to that and the project gave them a chance to jump on them. The album is uneven in places and the film is precocious at times, but their overall passion and feeling override any flaws and ten years later those feelings are still strong.

A very overrated album by a very overrated band. U2, with its incantatory vocals, its asthmatic guitar riffs and its sententious messages, has always been closer to church music than to rock n'roll. If you think this is rock, you must be either 15 or 85.

When U2 made Rattle and Hum, they confused people. They started out with a live album to go with their concert film, but then they added some new live tracks --- one of their own (Silver and Gold) and one by the Beatles (Helter Skelter). They cut 6 or 7 new songs. Some of them were with guest stars like BB King and Bob Dylan. Then the Edge got a lead vocal. Then they added a bit of Jimi Hendrix playing the Star Spangled Banner.

Okay guys. Are you really wondering why people were confused and/or disappointed? You have to commend the band for taking a few chances, of course. They took a perfectly good live album and squeezed an EP of "American roots music" songs into it. They thought it would work, but it didn't.

The whole thing would be an afterthought, but this is U2. When they make an album between "proper" albums, they have trouble making it modest. It happened again with Zooropa: After a big tour, they tried to make a little post-tour CD of outtakes and experiments, but it grew into a full-sized album.

In the end, just about everyone likes half of Rattle and Hum. But few people agree on exactly which half. I prefer the studio tracks that either sound like Joshua Tree outtakes (like Heartland) or the noisy stuff like God Part 2. I don't have any use for live versions of the Joshua Tree songs. They're overproduced and dull. Fans will always come back to this CD for their favorite parts. Non-fans can probably live without it.

What are we to make of RATTLE AND HUM? It's definitely an oddity in the U2 canon, being, by far, their least coherent album. Can we blame this lack of coherence on the fact that it's supposedly a soundtrack to the film, and therefore was restricted by the format that this implied? Probably not, as the assembly of the album didn't seem to feel bound by what had appeared in the film. After all, the order of certain songs is different, some songs are missing and others sound slightly different. So we can make no excuses and just judge the material by what we have.

It's difficult to even sum up this one. It's a mixture of live songs and studio material. It combines old songs and new. It contains tracks performed by U2 as well as cover versions of other famous songs. This results in a meandering feel, as though the track listing was put together totally at random. On the best U2 albums, one can change the tone simply by reordering the songs; you cannot do that here. Little thought seems to have gone into the make up of album. Some tracks are just filler. Some tracks don't feel quite finished. And some tracks just don't sound like they have anything to do with the rest .

Musically, this CD is also a bit of a mixed bag. The cover versions range from the wonderful rendering of The Beatles' "Helter Skelter" to a lackluster performance of Bob Dylan's "All Along The Watchtower" (note to any bands considering which of somebody else's songs they should perform: never cover a song that Jimi Hendrix already covered, because you're setting yourself up for a formidable task of matching him). "All I Want Is You" and "Hawkmoon 269" are bordering on sheer brilliance, but where did "Love Rescue Me" and "Heartland" come from?

RATTLE AND HUM is an album that ends up being less than the sum of its parts. While containing some fabulous individual tracks, this release never seems to come together in the way that it should. There's too much filler, too much stuff that simply doesn't feel like it belongs. This CD should be recommended, as there is some marvelous stuff contained on it, but bear in mind that U2 have done much better.