Something to watch tonight: Saturday 13 July

Classic Albums: The Joshua Tree (King/O’Connor, 1999)

So, I had a draft of this on the go yesterday when the plans for the day started to disintegrate faster than the El Reno cinema in Twisters.

Rather than wait a few days or ditch it entirely, I thought I’d break policy and slip it out on the weekend.

The Classic Albums series of documentaries has been running since 1997 and is up to 64 episodes by now. Although they’ve never really been seen as a series by programmers or streamers. Selected episodes seem to crop up regularly and then disappear while others have only seen the light of day on DVD.

Each episode focuses on one recording from a well-known artist. It looks at how that record was constructed in the studio – often quite forensically – while also placing its in the context of that artist’s career.

It’s a lot to get through in roughly an hour and the editing is crucial to how well the storytelling works. That, and access to the storytellers themselves.

The Joshua Tree episode came out in 1999 and has two great things going for it. Firstly, it’s an album that – in my opinion – bears endless repeating and secondly the co-producers of the record, Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, are astute and articulate witnesses. Lanois focuses on the studio, managing the mixing console to demonstrate how the soundscape was put together, and Eno is all about working with the band and sharpening the creativity.

On the subject of U2’s utter uncoolness – even in 1987 – he points out that “cool” is often a defence. It’s a mask that hides sincerity, and for U2 being uncool is like their secret weapon. I like to think of them as a serious band that knows how ridiculous they are and that tension is one of the things that spurs them on.

I’ve been fond of them since “Sunday, Bloody Sunday” and then the momentous performance of “Bad” at Live Aid, the Wide Awake in America EP with a wonderful live version of “A Sort of Homecoming”, and then, of course, The Joshua Tree.

I’m not a fan as such. In fact, I’m not a ‘poster on the wall’ fan of anyone musically these days. I used up all of my fan energy in 80s which means, despite an ongoing fondness for U2, I still think of Achtung Baby as ‘the new stuff’ even though it’s 33-years-old.

Anyway, the Classic Album series is real ‘dad rock’ and I only watch the ones for records that I love: Steely Dan’s Aja, Tears for Fears’ Songs From the Big Chair and Peter Gabriel’s So (also featuring Lanois).

And there are some that I would watch but have never come across my path: Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life, Duran Duran’s Rio.

U2 always seem to find themselves the subject of good documentaries so you may find they return here before too long.

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Where to watch Classic Albums: The Joshua Tree