U2 - The Unforgettable Fire
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Free Music Notes for The Unforgettable Fire
Free Music Review: This one grew on me
Hit: 5 Stars
Very different than U2's previous three studio albums, Unforgettable Fire gave us softer, more melodic renderings such as "Bad," "Elvis Presley and America," a lullaby called "MLK," and even an instrumental piece, "4th of July." With Unforgettable Fire, the band stops with the disenchanted- youth thing (which is a good gig for while, as their albums Boy and War proved, but can grow tiresome after a time) and breaks into the meaningful social-consciousness stuff we know and love them for. This album was the fitting prequel to probably the best album of all time, "The Joshua Tree" (it actually finishes "MLK" with the same bass-line note that JoshuaTree begins with ("Where the Streets Have No Name"). At first, I wasn't quite sure what to make of this album because it contains one super-hit ("Pride - In the Name of Love") and a lot of musical experimentation. Then I figured it out: just like Joshua Tree, this album was meant to be listed to wholly. Sure, you can listen to "Pride" and "Bad" individually, but I highly recommend listening to the album cover to cover. What you will find if you do is elated mourning - loss of beloved friend, parent, visionary, home, mixed-in with an exuberance you would never expect for such things. Plus, there are many, many recurrent themes to be discovered that come out again and again in later works. I hear something new ever time I listen.
If Unforgettable Fire is not a masterpiece in its own right (and I think it is), it certainly is by proxy because it was the necessary step before Joshua Tree.
Free Music Review: Sweeping Journey Through A Haunting Vivid Soundscape
Hit: 5 Stars
This is probably my third or fourth favorite U2 album behind what I believe is the greatest rock album ever, The Joshua Tree, and a top ten all timer in Achtung Baby. Let's put it this way, I could not listen to this album for weeks and then put it on and then be seamlessly tranported to a place that seems so familiar, and yet scary. The production on this album, due largely due the innovation of Eno and Lanois, and the genius of the band itself, really sends any listener on a sweeping journey through a haunting and vivid soundscape with its many musical layers that only Edge, Larry, and Adam can deliver. It dark, but yet spiritual. It IS the perfect bridge between the angst of WAR and the spirituality of JT. My favorite songs are Sort of HomeComing and Bad. Though Unforgettable Fire and Promenade have a special affect on me that I cannot explain...sort of analagous to Say Goodbye and No. 41 on Dave Matthews Band's Crash (1996)...can't explain it but they do. This album trully exposes one of the shortcomings of U2's more recent efforts ATYCLB and HTDAAB, the lack of keyboards and multiple layers of guitar and keyboard integration. I have to try another reviewers suggestion and play MLK and Streets from JT back to back to get the full effect and beauty of MLK, which is one of the most beautiful songs U2 has ever performed live...think back to Bono's silhouette against a fire red Arizona sky at Sun Devil stadium. Let me close by saying BAD is my favorite U2 song next to Streets...true anthems and samples of U2's grandiose presence.Free Music Review: The Edge is a genius.
Hit: 5 Stars
Kurt Loder reviewed this album quite negatively when it was first released in October of 1984 (I was 4 years old at the time). He actually headlined it as "Alliance with Eno yields flawed album, U2 flickers and nearly fades." 14 years later I'm thinking "what the Hell!?" Not only is Bono's voice at its most passionate pinnacle, but Edges's atmospheric wall of guitar makes the album so beautifully mysterious. The guitar lines literally shimmers like crystal in "Promenade" and "Bad." It squaks and screaches in "Wire." "Unforgettable Fire" is breathtaking along with its etheral keyboards and piano. But I remember when I first heard "Pride" when I was still in elementary school, it sent a chill down my spine as I listened with widened eyes. I recognized the song, but never made any attemp to find out who the band was. Years later I see it on MTV, and demanded it for Christmas years later in '92. I immidiately became a die hard fan and marveled at Edge's immidiately recognizable six note intro of "Pride." The polyrythm just blew me away, I was stunned at its complex, yet bright and shining chords that embodied the dignity and honor King possessed. The music did justice to the story and memory of MLK, sending chills down my spine over and over again. I still listen to Bono's passionate vocals (which were never matched on any other U2 release) and the breathtaking guitar work, truly making the album unforgettable.Free Music Review: GROOVY--A PSYCHEDELIC TRIP PAR EXCELLENCE!
Hit: 5 Stars
This is perhaps my favorite U2 recording. I've always likened their otherwise unique sound to the likes of The Doors and Pink Floyd, and this one--"The Unforgettable Fire"--is a trip back in time for me! My favorite cuts sound, to me, like a sonic psychedelic dream without those infamous chemicals. "Pride", "Wire" and "4th of July"--YES, YOU HEARD ME, 4TH OF JULY--stand out for me especially. There is something about this group and their music that moves me like no other singer or band has. Sixties psychedelic icons like the Grateful Dead, The Jefferson Airplane/Starship, etc. fail miserably and decisively in making me feel like I'm on a real spacy ride across the universe. U2 has done all that to me--and then some! They've taken me out of myself and when I'm alone and listening to any of their music on my Walkman, I am transfixed, possessed, in my own world. If someone were to disturb me if I were listening to other performers I would feel totally aware of them and my surroundings, but U2/Love is something else! I have jumped out of my skin if someone were to enter my room while I'm listening, in a complete, magical trance, to them. "The Unforgettable Fire" is just, to me, an incredible blast from the past. By the way, when I first heard "Pride" on the radio while out shopping in 1984, this was my very first introduction to the group--and I've been deeply in love with the men and their music since. I WILL FOLLOW!Free Music Review: U2's pride of the eighties
Hit: 5 Stars
In 1984 U2 released their fourth studio album, titled "The Unforgettable Fire". It was a very important transitional record for them. Throwing themselves into the brilliant producing/engineering skills of Brian Eno and his associate Daniel Lanois, they managed to produce a more melodic, more coherent sound that U2 seemed to miss on their previous albums. They don't call Eno U2's fifth "member" for nothing.This is one of those albums that will never die or be forgotten. It brought U2 the deserving attention of critics and fans alike. It features their best song they've written in the eighties (and one of the Edge's most recognizable guitar riffs), "Pride (In The Name Of Love)", a tribute to one man's courage and devotion for love and peace, the late Martin Luther King, Jr. "The Unforgettable Fire" and "Bad" displayed Bono's capability of writing lyric full of compassion and humanity, a thing that looks like he forgot how to do these days.
Adam's bass playing is fantastic (listen to "Wire" and "4th of July" - U2's only instrumental track to date) and you'll get the picture. If you're only familiar with the work that U2 does today, the listen to "The Unforgettable Fire" and you'll be in for a surprise. This is rock played with such passion and intensity that couldn't be done by many other bands. A truly unforgettable album. It marked the end of their first period and gave promise of a stronger U2 in the future to come.