The Bottom Line: October is the least interesting of U2's many studio albums. If you're a fan of the band and MUST have everything, then you need October. Otherwise, skip it.
After twenty-five years of releasing music, U2 continues to please fans worldwide. Their albums are consistently entertaining and highly regarded in the music community. It’s amazing that the original four lads from Dublin are still together after all these years.
October was released at a crucial time for U2. They’d already made a huge splash with their outstanding debut Boy and were poised for what could amount to a great career. However, no band can be automatically exempted from the curse of the sophomore album. Bono (vocals), The Edge (guitar), Adam Clayton (bass), and Larry Mullen (drums) were four young guys full of both themselves and piss and vinegar. It was really unclear as to how their career would unfold and in the early 1980’s nobody would have thought it could turn out as well as it has.
Early on, the band absolutely oozed confidence despite each being just twenty years old. It was this oblivious confidence paired with stupidity of youth that carried them through those tumultuous early years. Boy was unabashedly political, religious, and inflammatory. It was the kind of rock album that makes or breaks a band. Had it spoken so freely of puppies, flowers, and love people wouldn’t have paid attention. The heavy-handed lyrics initially got them noticed.
It was of course U2’s third album that earned them real respect. War (1983) was a special album populated by special songs and is by most people considered a modern classic on par with later U2 albums The Joshua Tree (1987) and Achtung Baby (1991). Between Boy and War there is a modest sophomore effort that often gets lost in the bombastic musical shuffle.
October (1981) does indeed suffer from the same problems as most sophomore albums. On the heels of Boy it tries so hard to be mature, adult, and in the end is way too confident. Remember, U2 were only barely out of boyhood yet they felt it necessary to wax on about a variety of “heavy” topics. Whereas Boy was raw and charming and youthful, October is the work of a band already too big for their britches. There are certainly times when the album comes together and the message meets the sound meets the performance, but by and large it is an emotionally and sound-wise incredibly inconsistent album. It is often considered the least notable studio album of U2’s entire career.
The criticisms of October are all warranted. It is much too easy to fall into the trap that everything U2 has ever done is perfect. That is not the case, a fact which October proves. Listen to it in full and compare it to the prior or subsequent album—it cannot hold a candle to either nor does it come vaguely close to the quality of the vast majority of all U2 albums. I’m also troubled at the amount of Christian rhetoric on the record. It’s everywhere and this lack of variety makes it even more difficult to really enjoy.
U2 took themselves much too seriously on October. They are not prophets, they are not soothsayers, and they at that time were by no means the voice of any generation. October comes across as preachy. This isn’t to say that some of the songs and arrangements aren’t good. Gloria is certainly a U2 classic and I Fall Down, I Threw a Brick Through a Window, Tomorrow, and October are certainly worth hearing but none of the songs really strikes a chord in me the way that tracks like All I Want Is You, Desire, Where the Streets Have No Name, Pride, and Sunday Bloody Sunday do on subsequent albums. October is a forgettable album full of pompous songs and peppered with the occasionally attractive melody. In many ways I wish this album hadn’t happened, but then again the band would have definitely lost all sense of humility.
Gloria is certainly a good song despite its precociousness. Despite the title, this is one of the more religious tracks here. It’s hip and kinetic but this original version is much less powerful than the live version on 1983’s Under a Blood Red Sky. Obviously U2 knew how to write a great song in 1981 but it took a few more years before they could really perform it with the necessary fire. I Fall Down is easily more attractive than Gloria. It’s less pretentious, more direct, and in the end a much more attractive song. Much the same thing applies to great rocker I Threw a Bright Through a Window.
While the first three songs are consistently decent, October from there on out is unpredictable. The quality ebbs and flows with the occasionally cresting with songs like Tomorrow and October. Tomorrow is the most dynamic song on the entire album. With typical Irish instruments and an understated, traditional arrangement it is the most honest and emotional song on the album. Oddly enough it’s never appeared on another U2 album. It’s brilliant—the only really transcendent song on the entire album. October too is beautiful with a light, piano-driven melody it is also emotional and honest. There are few instrumental sons that are so immediately striking.
As October winds down, I unimpressed. From the painfully uninspired With a Shout to the repetitive and sterile Stranger in a Strange Land (which I assume is a direct reference to Robert Heinlein’s sci-fi classic) and the lackluster and self-important Scarlet to disappointing and unremarkable and appropriate album ender Is That All? this is a troubling album. October doesn’t do anything for me. It is easy to dismiss because the music is so lackluster. As individual songs I can’t say enough that Tomorrow, October, I Fall Down and possibly even Gloria and I Threw a Brick Through a Window are worthwhile but outside of those five songs there is nothing of any merit.
Of course October was followed by War in 1983 which marked the end of any doubt regarding U2’s merit. The albums I cherish on a personal level came much later. 1988’s Rattle & Hum and 1993’s Zooropa remain unlikely favorites and 1987’s The Joshua Tree is my favorite of the “big” U2 albums. If you’re looking to complete your U2 collection, October is a necessary evil. My suggestion? Avoid it if at all possible…
Rating: 3/5 stars
Track Listing:
01. Gloria
02. I Fall Down
03. I Threw a Brick Through a Window
04. Rejoice
05. Fire
06. Tomorrow
07. October
08. With a Shout
09. Stranger in a Strange Land
10. Scarlet
11. Is That All?
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