Yes, ladies and gentlemen, there was a U2 before The Joshua Tree.
OK, I'm sure you knew that. And I'm sure you probably knew that they were already good before they busted out what many consider to be the greatest rock album of all time. Perhaps I've made the above statement as a reminder to myself, more than to inform you of U2's prior existence. Why? Well, the earl-to-mid-80's period of U2 output, while yielding some early classics, has proved to be the most difficult period for me to explore. Perhaps my backwards approach is to blame - I started with All that You Can't Leave Behind and went in reverse through their 90's trilogy. Between that, the hit-and-miss collection Rattle and Hum, and the aforementioned The Joshua Tree, I got a feel for how prolific and captivating this band could be, even when they mellowed their sound a bit. By comparison, their earlier material seems to want to take the world by storm, and it's apparent in the more militant musical approach and Bono's often piercing vocals that they intended to take no prisoners. That doesn't automatically make their music bad, but early U2, as heard on Boy, October, and occasionally even War, can get overbearing at times.
However, their fourth album, The Unforgettable Fire, is a horse of a different color. Bringing in producers Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois, the band demonstrated a more subtle, ambient approach on a number of this album's songs - a move which presumably led to the sweeping grandeur of The Joshua Tree. It seems that this album is sometimes viewed as the training ground for that one - The Edge's famous ringing guitars are often heard in a smoother, less cluttered context, and Bono's songwriting seems to tamper with different moods and flavors, allowing the listener to feel more of the lyrics than the otherwise might have if everything were being practically shouted at them. At the same time, it's one thing to experiment and another thing to make a cohesive album out of your experimentation. That might be the one downfall that causes The Unforgettable Fire to be viewed as more of a stepping stone between War and The Joshua Tree rather than a great album in its own right. Especially in its second half, it's easy to see that The Unforgettable Fire is better viewed as a series of separate thoughts rather than a cohesive single statement. You've got your somber instrumental over here, your gentle eulogy there, your upbeat tribute to the same hero earlier on, your epic two-chord rock song midway through, a strange free-form poem disguised as a song near the end, and a little bit of ethnic influence grafted into a few songs. It's definitely a mixed bag. Fortunately, because this is U2, the "unforgettable" stuff makes it all worthwhile.
A Sort of Homecoming
The city walls are all come down
The dust, a smoke screen all around
See faces ploughed like fields that once gave no resistance...
I believe that this song marks the first time that U2 started one of their albums off with a more pensive number rather than with the big bang of an obvious hit single. Still, the rolling drums and rippling guitar effects keep it upbeat and almost celebratory, and Bono doesn't slack off in terms of hitting passionate high notes. As the title suggests, it's a song about returning to a familiar place after being far away for a very long time. It may refer to the band's beloved Ireland, but the unexpected use of what sounds like an African-style chant partway through the song seems to indicate that the song is about someone coming from, or returning to, that particular continent. That's only a guess - a lot of the songs on this album seem to be written as poetry, so there are very few of them that I can actually decipher. The song takes its time and never fully rocks out, choosing instead to wash over the listener with its warm ambience as it rolls through nearly its nearly five-and-a-half-minute play time.
Pride (In the Name of Love)
Early morning, April 4
Shot rings out in the Memphis sky
Free at last, they took your life
They could not take your pride...
This stunning tribute to the late Martin Luther King, Jr. is definitely the song that this album will be most remembered for. It's definitely the best example of the transition between the "militant" style of their older material and the generally moodier approach of their late 80's material, which results in a triumphant, echoing guitar riff that floats above the song like a banner heralding the arrival of a hero. The sound alone is enough to grab the attention, but the lyrics - which are some of the album's most straightforward and specific - are the real clincher here, describing King as a man who made a big sacrifice in the name of love. Not glossing over his death, the band even goes so far as to draw parallels between his assassination and the betrayal of Jesus Christ, implying that marytyrdom for something one strongly believes in is to be viewed as a badge of honor. It's interesting to see U2, an Irish band who was probably popular enough in the U.S. by this point to have toured it quite a bit and become more acquainted with the country's lifestyle and ideals, record a song like this as an affirmation that they were becoming an American band more and more as time progressed. I love the soaring, defiant chorus, which seems to express that another will rise up in the place of every man who dies for a worthy cause - "In the name of love, what more in the name of love?" It's tough to write a song like this without sounding like you're just schmoozing to make a new audience like you, but U2 pulled it off with grace and style here.
Wire
Innocent, and in a sense I am
Guilty of the crime that's now in hand...
Featuring a dizzyingly fast beat that is bound to make one wonder if Larry Mullen, Jr. is actually a person or a super-precise robot as he bangs away on his drum kit, this song sounds like a remnant from the band's War days. That's not a bad thing, even if it does mean that Bono has a few vocal moments here where he yelps out a lyric in a way that might make you wince. The Edge is all over this one with some wonderfully gritty little guitar runs that add a different flavor to territory the band had previously mined on songs like "New Year's Day" and "Gloria". The song seems to be about a person who is content to throw their life away and who doesn't want to be judged by others - it's clear as Bono plays the role of this person that this defense of his self-destructive habit is a shoddy one at best. The song clatters along right up to the end, when Bono lets out an odd string of fast-paced rhymes and the protagonist seems to be handing his accuser a noose and saying, "Swing away". A tough song to decipher, but definitely one of the more captivating moments on the album.
The Unforgettable Fire
And if the mountains should crumble
Or disappear into the sea
Not a tear, no not I...
I've always said that I don't like most 80's music. More specifically, I hate the whole "new wave" thing that came along and converted pop music into a wasteland of rubbery novelty songs. And I've always commended U2 for sidestepping that particular trend when so many other bands allowed it to infiltrate their music. Interestingly, though, this is one song that feels like it might have been U2's take on the whole 80's pop style. It's slowed down a bit and definitely more serious than your average new wave pop ditty, but there are little snippets such as the strong keyboard presence throughout the song, the dramatic fake string hits in the middle, and the breathy "ah, ah ah"s at the beginning that sound incredibly dated when looking back twenty years later. The thing is, all of these elements add an irresistible sheen to the song, making it one of my favorite tunes from early U2. How does that work? I don't know. Probably because they were more subtle about it where other bands would have shoved the full extent of their newfound technology in your face. As for Bono, while his vocal approach on this track is an acquired taste, he does a good job of wandering in and out of falsetto and modulating the volume of his voice to fit the lyrics, which seem to describe a desire to escape from a city of depravity. It's not the first time Bono has made subtle hints at Biblical imagery - the word picture of mountains falling into the sea seems to be a nod to the book of Revelation, but then I could be smoking crack as well.
Promenade
In the cracked streets trampled under foot
Sidestep, sidewalk, I see you stare into space
Have I got closer now behind the face...
This quiet, short little number was one of the last ones that I really noticed on this album. I love the subtle tapping of the drums and the way The Edge's guitar gently dances around the lyrics, offering a sneak peak at some of the more intimate numbers that U2's future would have in store. This song is a rather abstract bit of poetry that seems to depict a man wanting to get away from the hustle and bustle that his celebrity has provided, and just enjoy a simple evening alone with the woman he loves. I like Bono's little list of little things that he enjoys at the end of the song - "Slide show, seaside town, Coca-Cola, radio radio radio..." As those "radio"s echo off into the distance, it's like he's disappearing from the spotlight to go be with his wife and enjoy all of those things without our constant intrusion.
4th of July
Smile! You're on Candid Tape Recorder! Apparently that's what happened to The Edge when he and bass player Adam Clayton were fooling around with this slow, moody, roughly-textured bit of guitar noodling one Independence Day. The ominous tune loops around for about two minutes, making for a segue between two of the album's quieter songs. On its own, it's not terribly memorable, and it seems like a bit of a ripoff when one of only ten tracks on an album is a short, impromptu instrumental, but as these sorts of things go, it's not bad.
Bad
If I could throw this lifeless lifeline to the wind
Leave this heart of clay, see you walk, walk away...
Now this is bad. Literally. And I mean "bad" meaning "good", but not in the Michael Jackson sense. Sprawling out over six minutes, this song is a classic example of U2 taking a quiet, introspective ballad and building it to a roar of a climax. What's really amazing here is the fact that the entire song is comprised of two chords alternating back and forth. Two chords! The fact that it doesn't get overly repetitive is a testament to the skill of the entire band. Once again, The Edge is bathing the song in shimmering light rather than going for the full-on guitar attack. Larry Mullen is thumping away on the drum kit, eventually allowing a fast-paced rat-a-tat to bring the song to a boil. Bono is once again moving from quiet to loud as he becomes more desperate in his plea to reach out and save someone who is hurting. When he finally gets to the chorus of "Let it go, and so fade away!", his earnestness is comparable to the cries of "And you give yourself away" that would later lead to the big payoff in "With or Without You". Here, when he arrives at that big payoff, his voice seems to nearly break as he practically screams, "I'm wide awake!" This song became legendary after an extremely long version of it was played at a Live-Aid concert, I believe, and it's not surprising that it was also the inspiration for the band's mini-live album, Wide Awake in America. (One wonders why U2 hasn't given us a full live album in audio format yet, as legendary as their concerts seem to be.)
Indian Summer Sky
To lose along the way
The spark that set the flame
To flicker and to fade
On this the longest day...
For some reason, the swirling, busy fade-in of this song reminds me very much of "Discotheque", from the ever-unpopular Pop. (I'm just weird that way.) This one is fairly straightforward as U2's rock songs go, and again, it probably wouldn't have been out of place on War, though the lyrics, which draw heavily from nature for their inspiration, seem to be more of a precursor through the desert journey chronicled on The Joshua Tree. Listen carefully and you can hear The Edge singing along with Bono on the chorus. I'm guessing that this is probably one of the more overlooked songs in the U2 catalogue, and while I can't say it's an immediate standout, it's pretty enjoyable if you can block out the contrived use of what sounds like Native American chanting during the chorus. (U2's attempts to be "ethnic" have never really worked very well.)
Elvis Presley and America
And you know
And though no one told you so
And you know, blue sky
Like a harder shade of blue...
Here, taking up almost six and a half minutes of my life that I'll never get back again, is one of the most useless songs that U2 has ever put to tape. You won't find me saying that often, because even when they've had songs like "The Sweetest Thing" or "In a Little While" that got on my nerves, I've been forced to admit that they're really not that bad, and I just dislike them because I expect so much out of U2. But this song is truly awful and pointless. It's an example of the two-chord thing being stretched beyond its reasonable limit, because there's no building whatsoever, and the instrumentation sucks to begin with. A similar rolling drum cadence to the one in "A Sort of Homecoming" is used - perhaps it's that same recording slowed down or otherwise manipulated, and some vague keyboard-type sound floats about for the duration of the song, providing a less than captivating background. Bono is basically singing tossed-off lyrics that he came up with on the fly right before recording the song (or possibly during the recording; who knows?), and he stretches out words and phrases to the point where I don't care if they mean anything or not, I just want him to shut the hell up. And the song sounds like it was produced inside a tin can. I'll give 'em credit for trying something interesting in terms of using studio trickery to construct a song, but this tune serves as an example of the lesson that just because you can doesn't necessarily mean that you should. File this one at the very bottom of the relatively small U2 garbage heap.
MLK
Sleep, sleep tonight
And may your dreams be realized...
At this point, any hope of momentum on this album has been dashed by the previous track, so this short closer, which is essentially Bono singing a quiet eulogy with only the low hum of keyboards in the vast darkness behind him, doesn't quite come across with the power it undoubtedly intended to have. One needs this sort of thing as a comedown after an emotionally intense rocking experience, I think. Nevertheless, it's a solemn but lovely little shot, kind of a coda to "Pride (In the Name of Love)" in the sense that it refers to Martin Luther King once again, basically affirming that he can rest in peace because he's done good work here on Earth and his dreams are on their way to being realized.
While it's almost tempting to label The Unforgettable Fire as the 80's version of Zooropa due to its disjointedness and the presence of a few tracks that a lot of U2 fans might have a tough time getting into, I have to admit that I liked Zooropa for the different approach that it took, and for that same reason, I like The Unforgettable Fire. It's not an album that I'd run out and purchase if you're new to the band, but I definitely think it's worth picking up if you enjoyed War and The Joshua Tree and you're looking for something in a similar vein. If you just want the hits from this album, I think that The Best of 1980-1990 covered those nicely, because while I can enjoy some of the other tracks, I don't find myself being as partial to any of the underdog songs as I am on almost every other album U2 has put out.
Wow, it's been over a year since I started this U2 project! Seven down, three to go - tune in next time for my take on the classic War.
ALBUM WORTH:
A Sort of Homecoming $1.50
Pride (In the Name of Love) $2
Wire $1.50
The Unforgettable Fire $2
Promenade $1.50
4th of July $.50
Bad $2
Indian Summer Sky $1
Elvis Presley and America -$.50
MLK $.50
TOTAL: $12
CONCLUSION: Look for a used copy. It shouldn't be too hard to find one for $10 or less, as old as this album is.
Band Members:
Bono: Vocals, guitar
The Edge: Guitar, vocals
Adam Clayton: Bass
Larry Mullen, Jr.: Drums, percussion
Website: http://www.u2.com
Great Music to Play While: Observing any of the holidays mentioned on this album.
Recommended:
