It it worth noting that this is first U2 record bearing the influence of the Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno production team that later yielded the masterpieces 'The Joshua Tree' and 'Achtung Baby'. In this case, I think U2/Eno/Lanois were all trying too hard to sound new and fresh. But as 'The Joshua Thee' would later demonstrate, there is no substitute for good song-writing.

For these reasons, I would rank 'The Unforgettable Fire' as one of U2's most overrated records. If you are looking to expand your 1980s-era U2 collection beyond 'The Best of 1980-1990', first acquire the records that came before and after - 'War' and 'The Joshua Tree'.


The last "real" U2 album   August 5, 2004
Brent A. Anthonisen (Alpharetta, GA, USA)
18 out of 25 found this review helpful

All bands that grow from small underground followings to pan-galactic stardom seem to have distinctive "before" and "after" periods in their recording history, and Irish rock gods U2 are no exception. For the first half of the 1980's they were staples of college radio, a time when it really MEANT something to be big on college rotations. They had a small but extremely dedicated fanbase and were telegenic (well, Bono was, mullet and all) enough to make the video rotation on MTV, especially after the concert taped at Red Rocks theatre in Colorado, one of the best shows I've ever seen (and one I'd really like to see re-released on DVD.

Then "The Joshua Tree" came out in 1987 and they became mainstream rock stars playing in stadiums on tour and being mentioned in TV shows like "thirtysomething". Then came "Rattle & Hum" and they've been trying to sound like everyone else but themselves ever since.

But "The Unforgettable Fire", now 20 years old, was the last album they made that still had the same raw and vital energy they had from when they formed during punk's dying gasps. The Edge was still one of the most distinctive (and I honestly believe the last truly innovative) guitarists on the music scene. Larry Mullen Jr.'s savage chops showed that he could keep up with any drum machine programmer; Adam Clayton's bassplaying has never been equalled either in the mix or stylistically speaking on any other U2 album. And of course Bono's voice was just amazing...truly versatile, monumentally inspiring on some tracks while utterly heartbreaking on others.

The album hits the ground running with "A Sort of Homecoming" (unbelievably the only lyrics printed on the liner notes), shifts gears to the arena-friendly "Pride (in the Name of Love)", the monumental hit single that set the stage for their mainstream success (and became overplayed to the point that I sometimes forget to tingle inside when I hear it today...most unfortunate for me; it's still a great song), then upshifts yet again to my favorite track "Wire", an exercise in kineticism with a laid-back growl rising to a searing howl played over a frenzied rhythym; great contrast.

"The Unforgettable Fire" brings things down a bit, but some of Bono's finest singing is displayed here. The string arrangement may have been a bit over the top, but...it still works. "Promenade" and "4th of July" may be throw-aways, but they still add to the feel of the record. They fit the overall mood of the album. "Bad" is a crescendo-build-up that fits the same mood as "The Unforgettable Fire", and "Indian Summer Sky" fits hand-in-glove with "Wire".

"Elvis Presley and America" I've never fully understood, but it is the only track featuring a droning acoustic guitar and the compressed effect (with Mullen's staccato drumming) give the song (to me, at least) more of a Hindustani feel, which I dig. "MLK" closes the album out on a very Eno-esque mellow note; it may not be remembered as one of U2's best tracks, but it should be remembered that they also chose to perform that song during their halftime appearance at Super Bowl XXXVI, which was the NFL championship game following 9/11. The roll of the dead from that day's events was displayed as a backdrop; obviously the song meant more for U2 in 2001 than it may have even in 1984.

Remembering that this album was initially designed to be a 2-sided LP or cassette tape should give the listener even more appreciation for the degree of balance demonstrated when comparing the first five tracks with tracks 6-10. Overall it's a terrific album, and the last time U2 recorded an album where they sounded like U2, which is to say they sounded like no one else before them or no one else since. Buy it at once.


Truly A Split Personality: Part Brilliant, Part Inexplicable   March 3, 2000
Jeffrey Blehar (Potomac, MD)
13 out of 17 found this review helpful

Goodbye, Steve Lillywhite! Hello, Brian Eno! Goodbye, hard-rocking immediacy! Hello, mystical murkiness! Goodbye, unassuming politcal outrage! Hello, grandiloquent political outrage!

Oh, and goodbye, Ireland! And a big fat "howdy, pardner!" to America!

Truly hard-core, dyed-in-the-wool U2 fans swear by this album, but to me The Unforgettable Fire represents everything that I love and hate about U2 embodied in a single disc. Unlike War, which despite its political ambitions wasn't the least bit overblown and pretentious, on The Unforgettable Fire U2 (and partners in soundscape crime Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois) find that line between modesty and pomposity and trip right through its wires. Some of the music on this album is far and away the greatest that the band ever did. "Elvis Presley And America," on the other hand, makes me want to slap these guys and scream "what on EARTH WERE YOU THINKING?"

Luckily, the good outweighs the bad, in a way which it would do less and less as time went on. Somewhere else I said that "Sunday Bloody Sunday" was U2's best 4 minutes on record. I lied. "A Sort Of Homecoming" blows it out of the water like a big American depth charge bearing down on a helpless little German U-Boat. 5 minutes? I wish it was 25 minutes! If you're ever driving in the snow, you know which song to put on. And "A Sort Of Homecoming" is a perfect illustration of U2's new "sound"-courtesy of Eno & Lanois-soupy, hazy, watery, and more adjectives that connote liquid. And I like it! Definitely my cup o' meat.

The only song on here that DOESN'T sound like that is, ironically enough (or naturally?), the big hit, "Pride (In The Name Of Love)." Alright, I have a wracked conscience about this song. Of course it sounds great, and vibrates and drives like...like something that vibrates and drives. Music's great, in other words. But the lyrics?...Look, did Bono REALLY think that the most profound addition he could make to the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. was "they took your life but they could not take your pride?" That irks me to no end. Acting as if he finally placed the capstone in our view of MLK. (I can just envision him saying "Without "Pride," none of King's struggle makes sense, mate! Yeah, he did it in the name of love, man....") And King was shot in the afternoon, bozo, not in early morning.

But they make up for it (but not for "Elvis Presley") with "Bad." Whoa. Most definitely *not* bad. On principle alone I have to admire anyone who attempts to write the Legendary Song With One Chord ("Uncomplicated" by Elvis Costello & The Attractions, "The Word" by The Beatles, etc.), but I really admire anyone who makes a GOOD song out of it. Which this most definitely is. A hypnotic chanter, it just builds and builds until this wonderful "I'm WIDE AWAAAAKKE" chorus where you just know Bono is completely in love with the sound of his own voice but it's alright because you are as well.

Other highlights are the thunka-thunka-thunka clip of "Wire" and the anti-Nuke "The Unforgettable Fire," but that only comprises half of the album. The OTHER half is just - in all honesty, though I'm afraid I'm going to pay for this statement with bad attacks by U2 fans - aimless noodling. There's no point to listless songs like "Promenade" or drifty ambient experiments like "4th Of July," and "MLK" is simply an inferior imitation of "40." Worse, "Elvis Presley And America" stands, even in the eyes of most U2 fans, as the single most embarrassing track the band put out in the 1980's - a muddled stream of consciousness about its namesakes - and it's SEVEN AND A HALF MINUTES LONG. A small eternity of torture.

So that's The Unforgettable Fire: half brilliant, half boring. Fortunately, the brilliant half is of such high quality as to alleviate the mediocrity of some of the bad tracks, but not completely. This should be somewhere around your 4th U2 purchase, after The Joshua Tree, Boy, and War.


The Unforgettable Fire   June 11, 2000
Will Farville (London)
10 out of 12 found this review helpful

This is undoubtably the most fine U2 album written.What one of the other reviews says is true - it is the bridge of the gap between the albums such war and Joshua Tree. This bridge, in my opinion, makes for the best U2. What makes this album extra special is that each individual musician works his instrument to levels of mastery never seen in any other U2 album. Joshua Tree may be the best known album, but I can't help thinking that it is dominated exclusively by the guitar work of the Edge. The later albums although each of them are outstandingly clever and well crafted, become more dominated by information technology.

The Edge - in The Unforgettable Fire his work varies from the energetic vibrance of Wire and Pride to the sultry brilliance of Bad and Promenade. As far as guitar is concerned, the syle is so varied the album doesn't represent the mere product of a working musician, but a master in every area. Moreover I have never heard in any other band a guitarist with the same style of Edge - how many songs have you heard on the radio with the same guitar playing?

Larry Mullen Jr. in my opinion represents the very escence of U2. In The Unforgettable Fire he is more open in his drumming than in any other Album. Without his varying drum lines and patterns U2 would not be U2 at all. In this album he combines his Sunday Bloody Sunday brilliance with his extreme technical perfection to produce such an amazing result that it is hard to give any respect to other drummers. Try listening through Pride, A Sort Of Homecoming and Wire and The....every song and listen for the extremely understated excellence.

It is hard to count out Mr Clayton because his bass in this album is simply formidable.the sound of the title track is made by him in harmony with the Edge. When you stop to listen to the song, instead of letting it pass through ear to ear - like U2 does because it seems to be like life itself - Adam Clayton's bass work is what holds it all together. I won't go into the styles of Bono but I'm sure you will all agree that his input is absolutely invaluable.

A Sort of Homecoming, as #1 serves to get you in the rythmn of the new U2 beat. It's frenetic drumming and logical but random guitar create such an atmosphere as to actually lift your feet of the ground. It does actually sound like travelling from place to place on tour - which is I think what it is about. This is a relatively forgotten song but a delight that people only discover now, 16 years on, if they but the album. Pride simply goes without saying. Simply everything about this song is perfect. Down to a T. It doesn't seem to be remembered as a groove for Martin Luther King, moreover as a powerfull swerve into the reality of life and love. This song contains so much atmosphere that it is hard to forget where you were everytime you've listened to it in a public place. Wire is a great bridging song between 2 of the 3 greats of the album. This is the song though that, in my opinion, opitimises the 1980s U2 sound. Frenetic drumming, fast guitar work, groovy bass and Bonos vocal chords on full. Complete with all of his well-loved quirks. The Unforgettable Fire is the most atmospheric song of the album. It does not conform to the normal rules of U2 - it has musically more side to it. It is my favorite song of the album. It was written by Bono after visiting an exhibition (called the Unforgettable Fire) in one of the Japenese Cities hit by an atom bomb in WW2. I can't really see how the lyrics convey this fact but that is irrelevant. The song wells up such massive feelings of nostalgia and fogotten memorys that it is ill met in excellence, in my opinion, by any other U2 song. Promenade is another atmospheric great, along with 4th of July. It is fully understandable why they put both of these shorter tracks on the album - to give the listener a bit of a break after the first 4 and before Bad. Nevertheless, Promenade I see as a mini Unforgettable Fire. This song is utterly made by the excellence of the Edge. It has very much the same nostalgeic effect as the song before. Bad, is many people's favorite on the album. Many pop singers count it as their favorite song ever, when asked. I love it, as I do all U2 songs, but for me it does not conjure up the same power as the songs formerly mentioned. It is definitely the crescendo in Larry Mullen's drummin' that makes the song, and for all you out there who want to know what it is about. I'm running out of time, but all the other songs on the album have the same U2 effect and are no worse one from the other. Try listening to them, and maybe you'll get the same effect as me.

To close, if you have not bought this album you are missing out on a huge chunk of life. If I could I'd rate it 10*. Everytime you listen to the first line - "and you know its time to go" - it sounds different and more exciting.