Pros: Strong start and middle with kudos to Pride (In The Name of Love) and Bad.
Cons: Elvis Presley in America (among a few other songs)...
The Bottom Line: Even an okay U2 album is amazing when compared to the vast majority of other music. The Unforgettable Fire is a largely good, sometimes great, and occasionally forgettable album.
lambchops's Full Review: The Unforgettable Fire by U2
In the mid 1980’s, U2 was at the top of their game. Or so we thought. Three impressive albums (Boy, October, War) within four years put them atop the list of best artists of the decade. Nobody could have foreseen the success that U2 was about to encounter. Nobody could have possibly predicted that 1987’s The Joshua Tree would go down in history as quite possibly the decade’s best album from ANY artist.
Bridging the gap between early U2 (Boy, October, War) and mid-career U2 (The Joshua Tree, Rattle and Hum, Achtung Baby) were a few live releases and one studio album. That album, The Unforgettable Fire, wasn’t just sandwiched between two amazing album. It also was the sonic equivalent of points of ellipses. The Unforgettable Fire took the bombast and energy of the band’s earliest albums and elaborated on the Edge’s guitar work and left audiences craving more. This is of course the direction that brought them oodles of Grammy awards and critical successes in the form of The Joshua Tree just a few years later. Indeed, The Unforgettable Fire is a glimpse into the inner workings of the band that U2 was to become.
Even today, some of the songs first put to tape for The Unforgettable Fire rank among the band’s best and most recognizable tracks. The 1984 album is an all-too-brief outing at just ten songs. Though with that said, I can’t help but be impressed with the Irish band’s growth in the year following War. Much of this is of course do to the band’s switch in production—the team of Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno put a less dated and more organic groove to the band that before successfully experimented in synthesizers and post-punk.
The Unforgettable Fire doesn’t rank with the best U2 albums or even amongst my personal favorites (Rattle and Hum, believe it or not) but what it does do is score some truly unforgettable (pardon the pun) songs. Remember Pride (In The Name of Love)? Well, it came from this album as do others including Bad, A Sort of Homecoming, and Wire. However the real joy in The Unforgettable Fire is in its consistency and overall flow. The only point that I am unimpressed (and actually embarrassed) is with Elvis Presley and America and for that matter the two songs that surround it (Indian Summer Sky and MLK). It really is a shame that an album of this clearly high caliber is marred by three sub par songs.
Vocalist Bono (aka Paul Hewson), guitarist The Edge (Dave Evans), bass guitarist Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen, Jr. were clearly well on their way to a major music breakthrough by the time The Unforgettable Fire was released. It goes without saying that the aforementioned Pride (In The Name of Love) is an outstanding song. A heartfelt dedication of Martin Luther King, Jr., the track even today resonates with timeless beauty. The melody is rich and Bono’s voice soars. Not just that, but as with most of the best songs from U2, it makes you feel passionate goodness. This is what U2 has always been about—making listeners feel and think.
Adding to the album’s inherent appeal is an array of other somewhat lesser known although no less perfect songs. Album opener A Sort of Homecoming is beautifully arranged and performed. It’s modest and mild at the same time it preludes the album with a frenzied kind of energy. I too really enjoy Wire, but think that songs including The Unforgettable Fire and Bad are the album’s heart and soul. The title track is smooth and wonderful with slightly distorted guitars and vocals. It all works wonderfully. Bad on the other hand is one of the most perfect moments of this album. It is directly in line with material from The Joshua Tree with resonant vocals and controlled instruments. The melody is gripping and the lyrics…well…judge for yourself…
This desperation
Dislocation
Separation
Condemnation
Revelation
In temptation
Isolation
Desolation
Let it go
I already mentioned that U2 flounders a bit as the album draws to a close. The final three songs are all pretty forgettable with the obvious worst being the misguided Elvis Presley and America. Clocking in as the album’s lengthiest track, it is also the most difficult. It is a distorted, watery monstrosity that would have been best left off. It feels like something thrown together—even the production values pale in comparison to the rest of The Unforgettable Fire.
No band is perfect, but U2 is damn near the most perfect thing to happen to music in the past two and a half decades. Their music transcends years and superficial boundaries. They will be remembered for their ability to gracefully roll with the times. Like ‘em or love ‘em, U2 is here to stay as are some of the songs from The Unforgettable Fire.
Rating: 4/5 stars
Track Listing:
01. A Sort of Homecoming
02. Pride (In The Name of Love)
03. Wire
04. The Unforgettable Fire
05. Promenade
06. 4th of July
07. Bad
08. Indian Summer Sky
09. Elvis Presley and America
10. MLK
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