It’s odd that The Unforgettable Fire, the sonic shift that would highlight the bands change into an obsession with Americana, would take its title from an exhibit dedicated to the bombing of Hiroshima. But then that’s because this record is not concerned with setting itself in a single location. Indeed, Anton Corbijn’s black and white castle was chosen for the album cover precisely because of its unspecific mysticism. The lyrics, despite their title’s having specific influences, attempt to deal with people and objects much less concrete manner.
The latter was likely down to Fire’s more complex change in instrumentation and song-craft. And that in turn would be down to largest influence on this album’s sound, and on U2’s trajectory in general: Ol’ Sourpuss himself, Brian Eno. U2 and Lillywhite respectively parted ways in order for U2 to find inspiration (though he would return), and after a few interesting creative decision for producer – including the Conny Plank of Can, which could have been very interesting – the band settled on the ambient experimentations of Mr. Eno. Well, I say Eno, I mean Daniel Lanois and some of Eno, as from all accounts Eno would give the band conceptual ideas and Lanois would do the production of the album itself. But any method that works this well is doing something right; The Unforgettable Fire might be – with the exception of two monster hits – U2’s most overlooked triumph (but then again Zooropa does exist), one that combines their newly formed confidence and formula with new tools and further musical ambitions, combining elements ranging from funk to ambience and having it all feel of a whole. Slightly less consistent as its predecessor War of same track length, but the ambition in each track more makes up for that, and in turn makes the record feel even greater.
The sonic change is apparent from the first notes of “A Sort of Homecoming,” which has the feeling of Heroes–rea Bowie in addition to the trademark U2 sound. Mullen Sr.’s son is demonstrating more complex rhythms on the walloping drums, and Bono has probably his most on point and poetic lyrics on the album, ones which have the feeling of an epic describing both landscape and people with the same level of intensity. Speaking of intensity, probably the strangest and outlying track on Fire is its poppiest, and a personal favourite in the towering “Pride (In the Name of Love)”. One of two songs dedicated to Martin Luther King – though here in a less obvious way, so you could fit your own interpretation to it – Bono just soars in the choruses to an infectious and inspiring degree, and the glorious guitar work from the Edge is some of his most iconic work.
“Wire” is without question the most Remain in Light-y sounding track on the whole album, with Clayton’s funky bass grooves and Edge’s sharp guitar work. But, hey, any song that reminds me of one of my top five favourite albums is fine by me (U2 just had to take inspiration from two artists catalogue we have already done didn’t they? Listening to this kind of makes me want to do Talking Heads and Bowie all over again). The title track meanwhile goes back to a much more to an eighties pop feeling; this was one of the tracks that Eno really didn’t want to partake in, thus leaving us with the ability to highlight Lanois’ excellent production. With both bright guitar licks, strings and maybe the first recorded instance of U2 using synthesisers in their work, Bono’s lyrics come at its influence (the aforementioned art exhibit) in a more impressionist way, with images of ice and ferris wheels much more prevalent than any sense of nuclear war.
This impressionist lyric writing has somewhat negative effect on the next song “Promenade”. Not for the first half mind you; the first part of this short track has great imagery of men of straw and people like fireworks, but the outro’s calls of “Coca-Cola football radio radio radio” always struck me as silly. “Charity dance with me,” however, is a bit of a prescient line (more on that later). Still, a few seconds doesn’t take away from the overall lush quality that every instrument on this album builds to. And none of those kind of problems could be found on “4th of July,” because its in instrumental. The most Eno song on the album – probably because he plays on the thing – the work of the synths and guitar seems alien, yet Clayton’s bass gives it some earthiness. You have to wonder how that is meant to be a comment on “4th of July” though: America as strange, unworldly creature, perhaps?
We then move on to the other most beloved song from The Unforgettable Fire, and a live favourite, with the intimate epic of “Bad.” Six minutes of minimal chords to the subject of drugs is clearly a play on future Record Club candidates Velvet Underground’s “Heroin” (if U2 playing this song after Lou Reed’s “Satellite of Love” in concerts didn’t give it away”). But where that track is dark and ultimately pessimistic, U2 is typically full of brightness and hope. Bono’s lyrics again are not specifically about drugs, and in turn the “lifeless lifelines” and cries of “wide awake” can be about any subject of unity and connection that you want. Perhaps that is a big reason why it plays so well in large crowds (again, more on that soon).
It would be hard to follow the epic feeling of that song, and indeed the next two tracks on the album are The Unforgettable Fire’s weakest. But although “Indian Summer Sky” is not a highlight it still makes its own impression. The choral pants are infectious, the bass is very harsh sounding compared to the rest of the album, and the synth sounds low in the mix remind me of the kind of sounds that would be found on Pulp’s work ten years later. “Elvis Presley and America” is a very interesting experiment, a chopped up version of the backing track to “A Sort of Homecoming” that helps to bring the album to some kind of climax, with Bono adlibbing over the result. But the adlibbing here feels weaker than it would on future releases like Achtung Baby, with the improvisation also making Bono’s voice sound much less confident. And at least it’s better than U2’s other Elvis song.
Thankfully U2 concludes The Unforgettable Fire with another of its best songs, and the second tribute to the fallen Civil Rights leader, “MLK.” Undeniably an ambient work, it is as though we are all in the crowd of a futuristic choir. The airy and thunderous sounds slowly build, becoming the perfect ones to compliment this elegy to a fallen icon, and also in turn compliment imagery of rain falling down upon him.
With The Unforgettable Fire, U2 took everything they learned from their previous three albums and amplified it, and the world would hear it. In terms of audience, it would be the highest producer Eno had seen until that point, though it should be stressed to how much work Lanois does to make this album’s biggest hits so iconic. And that word “iconic” would be no exaggeration either. The next year would be Live Aid, and U2 would give a performance of Bad that would make them global superstars (if it wasn’t for that one other performance, it could even have been the best). With that praised bestowed upon them on the world stage, and their closeness to even more famous peers giving them the need to push themselves, U2 felt they had to prove a sense of worth. And they would really want to prove it…
What did you think, though?
U2 Album Rankings
- The Unforgettable Fire
- War
- Boy
- October