U2: Rattle And Hum on PAL Laserdisc

• Cat.no: PLMPB 01191
• Cert: 15
• Running time: 96 minutes
• Sides: 2 (CLV)
• Year: 1988
• Pressing: UK, 1996
• Chapters: 20 (12/8)
• Sound: Stereo
• Presented in Fullscreen
• Price: £24.99
• Extras : None
  

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  Director:

  Phil Joanou

  (State of Grace, Three O’Clock High, Heaven’s Prisoners)

Producer:

Featuring:

Bono (Lead Vocals, Guitar, Harmonica)
The Edge (Lead Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals)
Larry Mullen, Jr. (Drums)
Adam Clayton (Bass Guitar)

U2: Rattle And Humis the reknowned concert movie filmed on theirJoshua Tree tour back in 1988.

U2 are one of, if not the, premier Irish rock band. They’ve recorded severalalbums over the past 16 years including Boy, War, which gave them moreof their rock-based hits such as New Year’s Day, Pride (In The Name of Love), and The Unforgettable Fire.

In the case of The Joshua Tree, it spawned three hit singles: With OrWithout You, I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For, Where The StreetsHave No Name, and one imported single which only made No.48, In God’sCountry, all of which are included here.

The album of this film gave the band four hits, Angel of Harlem, When LoveComes To Town (that track featuring B.B. King who joins them here too), thesix-and-a-half-minute epic, All I Want Is You, and their first Number Onesingle, Desire.

1991 brought Achtung Baby, another Number One single, The Flyas well as Mysterious Ways and the soulful One. 1992 and 1993 sawthem take a different route, putting more of an electronic sound into theirmusic for Zooropa, and their subsequent Zoo TV tour, paradingsuch tracks as Numb, Lemon and Stay.

1997 brings the band up-to-date with their latest release Pop, and athird Number One single, Discotheque which showed the band going technoat the end of the video and dressing up as the Village People believe it ornot (!)

U2: Rattle And Hum begins loudly with their cover of the Beatles classic,Helter Skelter, performed at the McNichols Arena, Denver, Colorado, oneof the indoor locations where the band were filmed. Brief interview clips,filmed at the Point Depot Recording Studios, Dublin, come between some of thesongs, and that location also forms the setting for a burst of Desire.

The band travel across America exploring new influences, and play alongsidethe legendary B.B. King on a journey which takes them from Dublin to Graceland,and from San Francisco to the streets of Harlem.

Up to the sidebreak, the film is black and white only, but here’s the cleverbit as the sidebreak is perfect, such that when you begin side 2, tracks 13-17are performed at Sun Devil Stadium, Tempe, Arizona, and in colour. However, forthe last three tracks we go back to where we started, and back to black andwhite.

Picture quality is excellent during the concert scenes, the stereo soundmatching this quality with ease. However, some of the indoor interview footagelooks a little grainy so it loses a star for that, although that could havebeen the way those scenes were shot.

There are 20 chapters, one for each song, and the track listing is shown below.It’s interesting to note that the film contains 8 tracks not included on theactual album, namely tracks: 4, 9, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18.

Side One
1. Helter Skelter
2. Van Diemen’s Land
3. Desire
4. Exit
5. I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For
6. Freedom For My People/Silver And Gold
7. Angel Of Harlem
8. All Along The Watchtower
9. In God’s Country
10. When Love Comes To Town
11. Heartland
12. Bad

Side Two

13. Where The Streets Have No Name
14. MLK
15. With Or Without You
16. Star Spangled Banner/Bullet The Blue Sky
17. Running To Stand Still
18. Sunday Bloody Sunday
19. Pride (In The Name Of Love)
20. All I Want Is You

Overall, this disc is well recommended to any U2 fan looking to own a greatpiece of demo material for their premier viewing format.

Film: 5/5
Picture: 4/5
Sound: 5/5

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 1997.