cassette

How You Know You’re Officially Old

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 2 Comments

thejoshuatree

I can still remember where I was when I first heard U2’s The Joshua Tree.

It was my first foray into the world of U2 and Bono. I recall being captivated by the sounds coming out of the headphones connected to my Sony Walkman (cassette player, no less). I bought the album on cassette, CD, and finally the deluxe 2-CD edition that came out about 10 years ago with B-sides and unreleased tracks thrown in for good measure).

I still remember what it felt like the first time I experienced it. I had never heard anything like it before. It blew my 15-year old mind.

This year, that album turns 30 years old.

I’m officially old.

Most albums from the 80’s sound very much like they came from the 80’s. You can listen to how the drums were produced and almost pinpoint the year the song came out.

The Joshua Tree doesn’t sound like an 80’s album. It sounds like a classic album whose sound is universal and timeless. It sounds as fresh and new today as it did way back in 1987.

I just discovered that U2 will be embarking on a 30th anniversary tour of The Joshua Tree, where they’ll play the entire album from start to finish (with other songs thrown in, I assume).

If they come anywhere Nashville, I might just have to sell a kidney or mortgage my cat to get a ticket. After all, it’s on my bucket list.

This album remains one of my favorite faith-based albums of all time. Actually, it’s one of my favorite albums of all time, period. I can’t overemphasize how much of an impact it had on my musical formation and appreciation. I might have had crappy musical taste back in the day, but I got at least one album right.

Guess what I’ll be listening to tonight as I fall asleep?

 

 

Quests

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

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When I was in high school, I went on a quest to find music by a band called The MC5 (which is short for The Music City Five). If you haven’t heard of them, don’t worry. Most people haven’t. I remember whenever I asked record store employees about them, they’d look at me like I had an extra eye growing smack dab in the middle of my forehead.

I remember when I found a cassette of their music. It was like finding my own holy grail. I treasured that thing and listened to it repeatedly.

Jesus talks about the Kingdom of God like that. It’s like a man finding a priceless pearl in a field. He goes and sells everything just so he can buy that field and possess that pearl.

The Kingdom of God is worth everything you have and more. What is the Kingdom of God? It is wherever God is working in His people. It’s whenever people choose life over death, hope over despair, righteousness over sin. It’s the rule and reign of God in the people of God breaking through.

Nothing is quite the way it should be. But the Kingdom of God means that one day all will be put right. As I heard it put once, Jesus will take this upside-down world and turn it right-side up again.

Recently, I found a CD of that same rock group. The sound quality is a thousand times better, but I didn’t quite have that thrill of discovery of finding that cassette. Oh well.

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