Retro Spins: U2 - The Unforgettable Fire

U2 were riding high on the success of 1983's War, and the tour that not only followed, but lead to the concert film, U2 Live at Red Rocks: Under a Blood Red Sky. They'd transitioned from mildly successful band to superstars, taking the world by storm.

When time came to return to the studio, the guys were ready to explore new sounds. As a result, longtime producer, Steve Lillywhite, was out, and duo Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois were brought in. The two brought with them a more ambient and atmospheric sound, which was at the time a drastic change for the band.

The end result was a smashing success for U2, with sales continuing to rise. Critics and fans ate it up, catapulting the album to platinum certification around the world. Ironically, retrospective reviews have not been as kind. While some dub it the band's coming of age album, and a solid bridge between War and The Joshua Trees, others have ranked it among the worst albums of all time.

In support of its release, the band embarked on a 112-show tour. However, the songs from The Unforgettable Fire brought with it a series of challenges from their elaborate and complex textures, making it difficult to translate these to live shows. To work around this, U2 adopted sequencers, something they'd not utilized before, but have continued to do so since.

Playing through it myself, I found it to be a pretty hit or miss affair. While on one hand, you get the massive hit, Pride (In The Name Of Love), the rest of the album, with exception of Wire, felt pretty much forgettable to me.

Do I hear the more complex sound and maturity in U2? Yes, absolutely, but it's not enough to catapult otherwise mediocre songs to noteworthy. At least not for me. If anything, The Unforgettable Fire falls into that aspect that left me not enjoying their follow-up, The Joshua Tree. It's just boring, and that's me putting it nicely.

Capitalizing on the era of MTV, U2 issued a VHS companion piece with the album, The Unforgettable Fire Collection. This cassette featured music videos for The Unforgettable Fire (the song), two versions of Pride (In The Name Of Love), and live videos of Bad, and A Sort Of Homecoming. Rounding out the tape was a making of documentary for the album. The documentary would later be released as a bonus feature on the 2003 DVD, U2 Go Home: Live from Slane Castle.

U2 would follow-up the album with 1987's The Joshua Tree, their biggest selling studio album of all time. However, I've already posted a Retro Spin on that one. While I was initially going to hop off the train at this point, after mulling it over, I've decided that tomorrow I'll go ahead and wrap up their 80's releases with the live / studio hybrid released Rattle And Hum.

Click "HERE" to go back to the home page. For more posts related to this one, please click the labels below.

Disclaimer: They Toy Box does not endorse or contribute to piracy. Retro Spins posts are intended for educational and entertainment purposes only. None of the music discussed here is available for sale, downloading or distribution.