U2 – The Unforgettable Fire

While joshua tree is their masterpiece, this record is my favorite. The atmosphere it creates is genuin and I swear you can palpate the desperation in Bono's voice.

I'm curious how this sounds on other people's players. On mine, the drums sound hollow and tinny, and there is a lot of fuzz over the heavy parts. I'm not sure if it's an issue with my equipment, but other LPs sound much better. I'm using a Sumiko Blue Point #2 cartridge, and while I love it, I've heard it's not ideal for rock music.

U2 is a bit played out these days. But this album is still a favorite. I think it's their most consistent, start to finish. Joshua Tree is the masterpiece, but this album (another Eno production) creates and maintains an attitude as well as if not better than anything in the U2 catalog.

I can actually say I grew up with this album. It was one of the first albums of which I was consciously aware, consciously enjoy and yet had some unspoken sense this will help shape future music sensibilities. I think of this as the forerunner in my own explorations - both as a listener and as a composer/producer - into more daring realms.

You know how it sometimes goes: you have your radio, you have your MTV and thus you have a sense of what can be a song. If it sounds good and conveys some message that's OK, then it's fine. But then there are moments when there's a faint cry for something different and more meaningful that just "kissing when you go-go". For the adventurous amongst creators who hear it, you end up with something like The Unforgettable Fire.

It's more about the whole than the parts, though the parts stand for something too. The whole is very cold, brisk and something like late autumn/early winter when the air is just sharp and the days are getting shorter and shorter. As far as individual parts, there is that Irish melancholia (an sentiment expressed by Bono ... interestingly enough whilst describing The Joshua Tree but I find that sentiment is pretty everywhere in Ireland) but played through a diffusion filter and thus creating a blurred and hazy portrait. This haze is a consistency but the subjects are different. There is a longing for stability ("A Sort of Homecoming"), a desire for fulfillment ("Pride (In the Name of Love)"), moments of love ("Promenade"), violent mood swings under the influence ("Bad") and a soft-spoken wish for dreams fulfilled ("MLK").

All in all, it's a work conveys burning desires and leaves impressions of those desires. The means employed are less conventional and certainly for U2 at this point, very unconventional. But at the same time, it seems to be closer to the heart of what made them want to pursue this whole endeavour in the first place. In other words, this is where they can finally sound like and evoke their initial spark on inspiration: Joy Division. Because of this dare to go into more murky waters, a lot of adventurous ears are grateful for the results. I am one of them.