“Cathy’s Clown,” from The Everly Brothers, Creedence Clearwater Revival's antiwar anthem “Fortunate Son” and Heart Like a Wheel, from newly minted Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Linda Ronstadt, have been inducted into the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry.

Albums by U2 (The Joshua Tree), Isaac Hayes (Theme From Shaft) and Art Blakey (A Night at Birdland) and music from Celia Cruz, Bing Crosby, Elmore James, Buck Owens, The Louvin Brothers, Louis Jordan and Jeff Buckley also can be found among the latest batch of 25 “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant” recordings to be preserved, it was announced today.

The selections bring the number of recordings in the registry to 400, a fraction of the Library’s vast recorded sound collection of more than 3.5 million items. Every year, the Librarian of Congress, with advice from the Library’s National Recording Preservation Board, selects 25 recordings that are at least 10 years old.(...)



The Joshua Tree (album) -- U2 (1987)

Brian Eno, co-producer and creative guru for this album, has stated that Joshua Tree erupted from the creative tension existing in the music of the time -- between the “revolutionary form of passionate agitprop art” enacted by punk groups like The Clash and the robotic electronic pop of bands like Kraftwerk. Joshua Tree’s passion and engagement were from punk; its overt electronic sounds were from synth pop, but with the latter genre’s careful calculation replaced here by “the sound of machinery being pushed to its limits.” In this case, the specific machinery being tortured is The Edge’s amplifier on “Bullet the Blue Sky.” It is driven by slide guitar and excessive gain in order to emit controlled feedback that manages aptly to serve the song’s melody and anti-colonial lyrics. Elsewhere, most notably on the songs “Where the Streets Have No Name” and “With or Without You,” the guitarist perfects the chiming delayed guitar sound that syncs the rhythm section and complements Bono’s impassioned vocals. This combination would henceforth form the band’s signature sound, and the album on which it gelled remains an enduring classic.

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