October, brilliant.....

[intedomine]

Just bought October two days ago, and this is what all aspiring punk wannabe's should aspire to sound like.

Why on earth October is often considered u2's weakest album is impossible to comprehend.

My favourite song of all time, Gloria, is a stunning opening to the album, positively perfect.

I fall down, and ITABTAW, are two explosive tracks, which typify the emotional struggle a youthful u2 were experiencing, and are pure rock songs, which are a fun few minutes to listen to.

Rejoice hasnt managed to capture my interest yet, but it wil grow on me, i know it will.

Fire, what a brilliant song, my favourite so far and Bono's vocal ability really shines through. It's ambience shocked me, and wouldnt be out of place on The Unforgettbale Fire album a few years later.

Tomorrow was not as haunting as i had heard it to be, but is a perfect track to follow the even more haunting tune of Fire. I love the addition of the Irish sounding tune, no other u2 song reveals the Irishness of the band. A ripping rocking chorus towards the end makes it a pleasure to lsiten to.

Ocotber, I'd heard it before, but it sounds fantastic wedged in between Tomorrow and With a Shout.

With a Shout is another rocker and once again Bono's voice is blissful to hear when he screams "jerusalem".

Stranger in a Strange Land, exposes how fantastic the combination of U2's instruments work to create a beautiful sound, with that fantastic intro to the song. Lyrics are potent.

Scarlet, much maligned by the fans and band alike, but is a real feel good song. Bono's voice is again, a standout

Is That All?, a short ending to a brilliant album. its unlike other album closers such as grace, love is blindness, MLK and 40 as this is more of a pure rock song.

What struck me about the album, is how Adam's bass playing seems to have more importnace to the songs......his talents really shine through.

As an anti-religion athiest, and with the album having so many religious connotations, its shows that u2 can enchant anyone, through their pure talent for rock music.

Love this album, and im gonna go listen to it again.....and again....

 

[thrillme]

I figured the religious connotations was a significant factor for why it's so underrated. For a 2nd album, when not all of them knew how to play their instruments, (Adam and Bono being pretty much self-taught), it's not bad. I'm not a musician, so I don't know, just that I like it a lot.


Bono and Adam are the only 2 members I've seen say much about it. Bono likes it, but doesn't like his voice. And Adam said it was his favourite for a while.

I love "Tomorrow" the pipes and whistles, traditional Irish instruments, really great.

It's my 4th fave album.

 

[bedouin fire]

I agree that it's the weakeest one for u2. Nevertheless an album that includes powerful and honest tunes such as gloria, itabtaw and rejoice (it's a pitty that they droped this one live so early), added to the beauty of october and tomorrow can never be considered a bad album.
What hapens is that even the weakest of u2 is able to be considered one of the 50 strongest of all time.

 

[martha]

It's frequently my second favorite U2 record. Sometimes I go on October jags which can last weeks. I've been feeling one coming on, and this thread may have pushed me over!

 

[Diane L]

There are many wonderful songs on October. I love the title song, "Tomorrow," "Rejoice," "Fire," and especially "Gloria," which is the song and video that made me notice U2 in the first place.

 

[Flaming Friar Sr]

just curious. why did you purchase the album that contains (the studio version of) your favourite song of all times just two days ago?

 

[Numbology]

yeah,that's kinda strange

 

[gareth brown]

Who on earth cares, if he's finally added October to his collection?! I absolutley love that LP! It is definetley one of my favourite U2 records alongside The Unforgettable Fire and Joshua Tree. There is something disgusting about the fact that it is considered one of their weakest! The mind boggles how U2's fans came up with that one...!

The CD Re-issue is very curious though, the quality of it all is bizarrely fantastic. The really nice presentation of the booklet and (stop me if I'm getting silly) the Paper it was printed on...it seems like U2 put quite a lot of effort into that one, despite the colour being dull and fadey on the CD Re-issue compared to the lovely, sharp colourful LP Sleeve...you can see Bono's blue eyes...he he...

 

[LCK]

Paddy- the ppl asking why just by it now aren't being mean or sarcastic- just curious. Its a reasonable question.

And despite all the incredible music U2 has gone on to make since, October is still my all time fave album.

PS. And not to brag, well actually, it is to brag but I was lucky enough (lol and old enough) to see them on the October tour. Incredible to have a bootleg of one of the concerts I saw way back then.

 

[zoocarolina]

What a funny thread, I just popped it in lastnight while patiently waiting for the new album and rediscovered a few of the tracks as well.

Very underrated album, sort of lost in everything I have as well and it has some great songs, the only couple I don't really care for are Stranger and Is that All.

I also popped in UF for a few and I forgot how strong EP&America and Promenade are, haven't listened to that CD in a year or so and it's fantastic.

Diving back into these albums is starting to tide my wait over!

 

[OzAurora]

Rejoice hasnt managed to capture my interest yet, but it wil grow on me, i know it will.

Hang in there, it will get you. I just love this song- it's up there in my top ten U2 songs, I agree with you that I think that October really dosnt get the recognition that it deserves, but I gotta say that apart from Gloria it took me quite a few years to really 'discover' October. I think the main thing that distracts people from this album is the daggy cover, seriously I have always thought that U2's covers are all great, but what happened with October, it is by far their worst, I think if it had a better cover image then maybe more people would be grabbed by it. But for the newly initiated die hard U2 fan it is a great album to discover, if only for Rejoice and Is that all

 

[intedomine]

Fair question about why it took me so long to buy it.

I only really discovered how amazing u2 truly were in about september 2002, so since then my desire for u2 has increased.

While i intended to purchase it earlier, i was also swayed by a desire to discover achtung baby, and i had also obtained joshua tree and unforgettable fire so i kinda got hooked on those for long periods.....

The best ofs really got me into u2 in a hardcore way, so they kept me busy for a while...

Finally, after passing outside one of the best music stores in the city, i went and purcahsed october, finally.... and have been hooked on it for days...

the joy for me is that i still havent listend to zooropa and boy in full, so i gotta lot more discovering to do.....its like a new album for me every few months!


Is that all, is now one of my favourite songs off october by the way, such a simple song with simple lyrics , yet is so supreme....and feel good...

 

[martha]

its like a new album for me every few months!

:jealous:

 

[thrillme]

Yeah, I know what you mean. I've been a fan since 2000. I actually really liked "Hold me thrill me kiss me kill me", when it came out, I was 13 at the time. I wasn't much into bands really, if I liked a song, I liked it, and that was about it, didn't try to find out more about that band/singer/group, was until high school till I did that.

Fun part was listening to "new" U2 songs, (new to me), but then realising, I've known this band's work for years, just never put song to artist.

Took me about a year to get all their albums, I got them in a strange order though.
Best of 1980-90, War, October, Joshua tree, ATYCLB, the rest I got at the same time, (joined one of those CD clubs), and then got Pop. I got best of 1990-2000 the day it was released, that was cool.

War and October grew on me the quickest out of all them.