The Unforgettable Fire: How Good Is It?

[rock888nwo]

axver, then i just do not see how you can rate UF higher than JT...JT just has too many GREAT songs, whereas UF is a great album with some nice atmospheric songs and a few classics (pride, bad), it just cannot touch the excellence that JT achieves...maybe you could take all the songs off of both albums and rank them #1-21 and see what does better...

 

[rock888nwo]

and liam, i think Uf is a great album, but we are comparing it to the JT at this moment

 

[liamcool]

and liam, i think Uf is a great album, but we are comparing it to the JT at this moment

Yeah, I know. That's why I said UF is great. Even compared to JT, UF is great.

 

[AtomicBono]

Wire is an AMAZING song. Absolutely amazing. Scary, too; one of U2's darkest efforts. The ending is cathartic. And bloody hell, Indian Summer Sky cops some flak and I have no idea why. Makes me think of what was to come in Streets (the intro) and Bullet (the general forbidding, dark feel).

Agreed. Like I said, those are two of my favourite songs on the album

 

[Moonlit_Angel]

(no offense but the term overrated is overrated and overused)

. Agreed.

Anywho, I love this one. I kinda see where the whole "80s sound" argument is coming from, but that's never been something that's really bothered me to begin with (course, maybe that's just 'cause I have a strong affinity for 80s music in general and think that sound can capture the time period quite well), and while you do get the idea that these songs are from the 80s, at the same time, I don't think it's blatantly obvious...it's more subtle of an 80s sound.

But this album's in my top 5, too...it'd probably tie with another album, I just don't know what one. Again, this is another one I can't find a song off of that I don't like. I have my personal favorites, but I can enjoy the whole thing, too.

"A Sort Of Homecoming" has gorgeous lyrics. I really think that song may just be in my top 10 U2 songs of all time .

I've said this before, but this is an album I just want to listen to while taking a drive in the open countryside on a late winter afternoon/evening. I think the whole thing would just work so well there.

Yeah. I like this one . And I love The Joshua Tree as well.

Angela

 

[rock888nwo]

1 bad
2 streets
3 wowy
4 rtss
5 pride
6 one tree hill
7 btss
8 ishfwilf
9 red hill mining town
10 unforgettable fire
11 in god's country
12 a sort of homecoming
13 mlk
14wire
15 indian summer sky
16 promenade
17 mothers of the disappeared
18 exit
19 elvis p & america
20 4th of july
21 trip through your wires

in my top 10, JT has 7 and UF has 3 (including the top spot with bad)...but other than bad and pride, it seems to me that UF does not have enough great songs to top the high number of great songs on JT

 

[Axver]

The great thing about both UF and JT is that they contain some stellar individual songs that combine to create something truly atmospheric and greater than its parts.

Now, just personally, I prefer the overall feel of UF a little over that of JT. It's a close call, though. The following is my top four songs of all time:

1. Where The Streets Have No Name
2. Bad
3. The Unforgettable Fire
4. One Tree Hill

 

[Ellay]

Actually, you know what.... I don't think Promenade - 4th Of July - Bad was even meant to flow well on the album. Why I say this is... when UF was released in 1984, I'm assuming everybody just got cassettes. I don't think CDs were in common use yet. And on the cassette, Side A ends with Promenade. So one had to stop the tape and reverse it. Doesn't it disprove the flow theory then? What do you say to that, Axver?

Sorry, I don't mean to derail this thread or anything.

Actually, I think it's even more likely the tracks were co-ordinated with the two sides of vinyl in mind, but I agree with your point.

I've always wondered if artists ever considered the break on a record (or cassette), or whether they regarded the whole thing as a single piece of work.

I originally had AB on cassette, and the Fly was a perfect B side opener. So cruel would have sucked.

 

[Irishteen]

The Unforgettable Fire is the best thing ever recorded, Homecoming, Wire, Pride, The Unforgettable Fire, Promenade, Bad, Indian Summer Sky, MLK are amazing songs, and Elvis Presley and America is great too. 4th of July is the best opening Bad could have.

 

[gareth brown]

MAKE WAY MAKE WAY

...im not trying to start a huge argument,

please explain the last two pages, then! I'm off out to get some food so will be back in a bit to give my two cents on the argument, sorry Axver it's going to seem like I'm setting out to agree with you all the time in threads, but I love the album for those exact reasons! But yeah, more on that in a bit!

 

[gareth brown]

Actually, I think it's even more likely the tracks were co-ordinated with the two sides of vinyl in mind, but I agree with your point.

I've always wondered if artists ever considered the break on a record (or cassette), or whether they regarded the whole thing as a single piece of work.

Of course it's vinyl, wasn't that the most common format back then. And I think it's certain they considered it with two sides. Look at any album on Vinyl and things are always split with side openers and closers in mind.

 

[LuvandPeace1980]

The Unforgettable Fire is an amazing album.
The reason I personally like it more than The JT is that as a sum it fits better. Most of the individual songs are probably in the end better on The JT but there is a feel to The UF which consistent throughout the UF which we might only feel on certain songs. To me the album feels like U2's home if they didn't get so bored with themselves as much. Do you know what I mean? Rattle and Hum also gives me some of this feeling with songs like Heartland, Hawkmoon and Van Diemens Land(lyrics).

I also must say that the poetry on UF, JT and R&H are all gret though!
What sets UF above the rest for me is the fact that it was a landmark, it was ballsie

 

[hedgehog]

Unforgettable fire is my 5th favourite album.

Its a great album, many songs on it which are underrated (i.e. "A Sort Of Homecoming" and "Wire").
Besides "Elvis Presley and America", I like all the songs on it (which isn't a terrible song, but whether I can listen to it or not depends on my mood).

A Sort of Homecoming, Pride, The Unforgettable Fire and Bad are all brilliant songs (especially Bad, which is without a doubt one of U2's best).

 

[blueeyedgirl]

UF is where U2 met with Eno/Lanois and realised they could take their music anywhere, there were no boundaries, no fitting into genres, only exploration. A gorgeous album

 

[LJT]

I have an original Unforgettable Fire cassette...got it a second-hand shop I need to check places more often hmm

 

[gareth brown]

i'm starting work somewhere that's a short bus ride from a street of second hand record shops in Bristol! Lunch-breaks are going to be bloody SWEET.

 

[MsMofoGone]

My fifth favorite U2 album ... another GREAT CLASSIC !!

 

[{paintedroses}]

Does anyone ever listen to this on vinyl? I get lost in it every time I get the vinyl out..

Probably my 3rd or 4th favourite U2 album. Oh and Elvis Presley and America is one of my favourites on the Unforgettable Fire, I can't come up with an explanation of why it sounds so good to me but damnit, it does.

 

[MacPhistoPT]

It's my 3rd favourite album. Classic.

Bad 2nd favourite song
The Unforgettable Fire 5th favourite song
A sort of homecoming 13th favourite song

This album is really great. Three great songs and then gems (Wire, Promenade), a big classic (Pride), one of all time most underrated songs (Indian Summer Sky, great song). Only EPAA and MLK don't do anything for me. Especially EPAA, sorry but I think that U2 went to their garbage, brought some of the garbage to the studio and then mixed it all together

 

[MsMofoGone]

Elvis Presley And America

Absolutely an under-rated song !!

 

[LJT]

i'm starting work somewhere that's a short bus ride from a street of second hand record shops in Bristol! Lunch-breaks are going to be bloody SWEET.

woo mate i am going to uni in Bristol...have to beat you to that second hand record shop

 

[dandy]

it's my absolute favourite. this is what i'm listening to when i'm happy, upset, angry, mellow... i haven't found a mood that it doesn't complement. i think it's stood the test of time extremely well, and doesn't sound dated at all.

 

[meriddle]

I like it because it was their first "change" musically. They worked with Brian Eno & Danial Lanois, who seem to like these atmospheric sounds in the records they make. I like the way Edge's guitar doesn't sound like one. And it's a bit softer & less angry then the previous albums. But that's a good thing. It shows that they can change. And we know in the 90's they did that, as well as this decade. Today, it seems like bands release the same albums over & over again. I am looking forward to October 22nd in Pittsburgh!!

 

[gareth brown]

woo mate i am going to uni in Bristol...have to beat you to that second hand record shop

check the "U" section, you'll find a note.

"LJT,

Fuck You,

Kind Regards,
Gareth"



edit - Mods, note this is a good natured joke...

 

[RavenBlue]

I've always enjoyed UF.. but there are songs that I do skip through *gasp* sometimes. Wire and Indian Summer Sky are two of my favourites though. It's a nice album to put on in the morning. It's a good album to drive to. It's a good album to to... etc etc etc.

 

[MumblingBono]

"The Third Masterpiece".

That's right I said it.

Only time and distance can bestow such an honor.

 

[U2girl]

Pretty good, in the upper half of their catalogue somewhere.

Promenade, 4 of July, Elvis Presley and America weaken it IMO.

 

[AtomicBono]

"The Third Masterpiece".

That's right I said it.

Only time and distance can bestow such an honor.

how many masterpieces does U2 have then?

The Unforgettable Fire was the first album to really change U2's direction, go Eno/Lanois! In terms of changing direction the three landmark U2 albums are UF, AB, and ATYCLB, imo.

 

[LJT]

check the "U" section, you'll find a note.

"LJT,

Fuck You,

Kind Regards,
Gareth"



edit - Mods, note this is a good natured joke...

Well i am sure you will be very happy with all those rare UB40 records

 

[gareth brown]

Ooooh! It's on!

Aah, that made me laugh out loud.