What's the Deal with October?

[last unicorn]

I don't care if people think U2 has done many better songs than "Tomorrow". That may be true, but to me, this song means something very special. When I first listend to it, it just struck an emotional cord with me and up to this very day I can hardly listen to this song without getting emotional. One Tree Hill and White as snow may be two other U2 songs that do this to me. It's my personal story. The song Tomorrow alone is enough for me to hold the album close to my heart. Btw, I also like the 1998 version that Bono did with Adam.

 

[U2girl]

Not a very good U2 album. Just like the 1988 and 1997 efforts.

 

[LemonMelon]

On this forum, yes.......

Last two minutes of Tomorrow > The Love Below

Not a very good U2 album. Just like the 1988 and 1997 efforts.

Only you could see the pattern here.

 

[cobl04]

Last two minutes of Tomorrow > The Love Below

I just invented Australian Justice. Weapons include boomerangs and koalas, but this is so egregious I'm feeding you to the crocs.

 

[LemonMelon]

I just invented Australian Justice. Weapons include boomerangs and koalas, but this is so egregious I'm feeding you to the crocs.

This should be decided by a game of knifey-spoony.

Spoiler

To the death.

 

[AnCatKatie]

I love October, personally. IMO, U2 got more skilled at music later on, but their energy is so unrestrained rightabouts in '81.

Might be a little biased, because Gloria's probably my favorite U2 song, behind Streets. But the entire album just has such a feeling to it...if it hadn't existed, I don't know how they could have done UF or JT.

 

[elevated_u2_fan]

Not a very good U2 album. Just like the 1988 and 1997 efforts.

OMG they're almost 10 years appart!!!! It's a conspiracy!!!!11!!!



OHNOES!!!!!1115643&@&65!!!, etc...

 

[gvox]

no Red Light.

How we get along is completely beyond me, you...you...YOU!

 

[gvox]

I don't care if people think U2 has done many better songs than "Tomorrow". That may be true, but to me, this song means something very special. When I first listend to it, it just struck an emotional cord with me and up to this very day I can hardly listen to this song without getting emotional. One Tree Hill and White as snow may be two other U2 songs that do this to me. It's my personal story. The song Tomorrow alone is enough for me to hold the album close to my heart. Btw, I also like the 1998 version that Bono did with Adam.

Yup.

(well all that except the WAS reference, personally)

 

[U2NativeSon]

This album is what got me interested in U2. I first heard Gloria on MTV back when they showed videos, and I thought these guys look nothing like or sound like what everyone else was doing at the time.

It's a very personal album and very experimental for the time in their career, I guess either you love it or hate it, but without it, there would have been no War album and no progression by the band. It was perfect for it's time, some real creativity by the band especially The Edge.

The album for me will always be special.


IMHO

 

[AnCatKatie]

^ Offtopic: Your avatar is awesome Peter Rowen for the win.

Ontopic: Agreed, except I wasn't alive for Gloria on MTV...I keep wondering how my mom didn't see it :/



Apparently the record didn't get majorly known in America...well, besides U2 not being huge yet then, I think they had a lower budget for getting October out there in the US. And the radio stations would probably not have played most of the songs because the album didn't fit neatly into the rock genre that fits a lot more now and stations were much more specialized then.../ one reason why October wasn't very known, at least.

 

[Galeongirl]

This should be decided by a game of knifey-spoony.

Spoiler

To the death.

Spoon wins.

‪HD PREMIERE! The Horribly Slow Murderer with the Extremely Inefficient Weapon by Richard Gale‬‏ - YouTube

 

[popacrobat]

re tomorrow, I prefer the Common Ground version of it.

 

[last unicorn]

^ That's a very good version. I'm not sure I prefer it, the original has a rawness and thus emotional impact that the newer version doesn't have. The Common Ground version, to me, sounds a bit darker, maybe there's more resignation in it, mostly because of the way Bono sings it. The original is full of desparation, sadness, denial, but also a lot of rage. Both versions are good, but I think the original is closer to the emotion the song is trying to convey. It's interesting how the emotional impact is different in both versions of the same song, at least to me.

 

[Rachel D.]

What's the deal with airplane peanuts?

 

[AndrewCowley]

They were a band in crisis back then. Funny how some things never change.

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

Lots of good playing here on this album. Adam had a really cool bass tone back then, Larry's drumming on the album is fantastic, and Edge had basically mastered his jagged riffage thing at this point.

I think it's the B-Man that brings it down a bit. And I'm talking lyrically here. We all know the story about the stolen journals and lyric sheets or whatever.

Still, there are just many moments on the album that I don't connect with at all lyrically. It's Bono's weakest album in that regard. In my opinion. And some of the themes just don't interest me personally.

Take "With A Shout" for example. A song with a great energetic groove and strong playing from the other three. And then the Bonzo gets up there and starts singing about "JAAAA-ROOOOOO-SIGH-LEMMMMMMMMM!!!"

That's not gonna do it for me, sorry.

 

[last unicorn]

I think it's the B-Man that brings it down a bit. And I'm talking lyrically here. We all know the story about the stolen journals and lyric sheets or whatever.

Wasn't that for WAR?

But I agree: October is lyrically very rough. That may add to some of it's "charm". It's still the U2 style in the making, they hadn't found their voices yet, both lyrically and musically. The whole album, for me, is a very good indiciation of their mind set at that very moment, and it's mostly driven by spiritual issues.

 

[Galeongirl]

No October's lyrics were stolen.

 

[last unicorn]

Ok I remember. Bono was writing for the War album while on honeymoon with Ali

I knew there was a different lyrics story attached to that album.

Did the original October lyrics ever surface? I know that Bono was returned all sorts of documents, letters etc. a couple of years ago that were stolen with the lyrics, but the lyrics themselves? Would be interesting to see what they looked like.

 

[Galeongirl]

Yeah Bono got them along with the documents, I think around 2004 somewhere. And apparently he said he remembered them to be better than they actually were.

 

[hillers]

For me, it just seems unfinished. It's my least favorite of all of their albums but I don't actually hate any of them (except Passengers, if that counts).

OMG AMAZING: October
Great: Gloria, Rejoice, Tomorrow
Good: I Fall Down, Scarlet
OK: I Threw a Brick Through The Window, Fire, With a Shout
Not very good: Stranger in a Strange Land
WHAT? WHY?: Is That All? (So much wasted potential)

BTW, what's with all of the War hate here?

 

[occlith]

Musically and lyrically it was another stage of growth, or maybe more like growing pains, for the young U2.
When I found out the back-story for the album, it made it more interesting.

You can hear Bono's desperation and indecision in the writing (and improvising) of the lyrics as well as the turmoil over the uncertainty for the continuation of the band.

 

[bono_man2002]

Hope because that I haven't read any of this thread that nobody has posted this. But I straight away thought of this guy, when I saw this thread.

 

[occlith]

^ Festivus is in December.

 

[The Panther]

I personally doubt that Bono's having those lyric-notes stolen made much difference to October. It's a good story, but in those days Bono's approach was to sing whatever came to mind at the microphone, and he changed lyrics up to the last minute constantly. And since the incident occurred shortly before the recording sessions, you'd tend to think he pretty much knew what he was going to sing anyway, even if he might have forgotten a few good lines here or there.

I also think the "band was going through spiritual crisis" story has been a bit exaggerated over the years as a way to explain why the album was less successful (see also: "Pop would have been hugely successful if we'd had three more months").

I think the challenge with October was more to do with the band's having maximum one year between Boy and the next studio album, which has never happened again since. They got a bit more time to polish War, and with Unforgettable Fire they asked for and got more time from Island to finish it. As we all know, they switched a making records at a snail's pace in the 90s and beyond.

I think October just suffers a bit from "sophomoritis". It doesn't have the hits like War and it's not mature like what came after that. And the difference between Boy and October is that Boy is "the first U2 album". Which leaves October with nothing to excite casual fans with.

 

[cobl04]

No doubt now.

 

[LemonMelon]

The Panther: shows nipples 60% of the time, every time.

 

[cobl04]

That makes no sense.

 

[bono_man2002]

The Panther: shows nipples 60% of the time, every time.

Well played!