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Rating: "I believe that great music has the potential to both capture the time in which it was made and go beyond it. Also films, advertising, photographs... time is essential." (Bono Vox - Rolling Stone, 1985).
One of the aspects often referred to when talking about U2 is certainly the religious one. The Edge, along with Bono Vox and Larry Mullen Jr., regularly attended the religious group Shalom, facing (and resolving) an unideal internal situation within the band. Meanwhile, music had become a real job for the four young men who a priori rejected that image of a "band that talks about God" which the fans easily perceived; a situation that led them to reconsider being part of a rock band, which might imply conduct that does not align with the moral righteousness of a devout believer. Despite the agnostic positions of Adam Clayton and manager Paul McGuinness, it was agreed just prior to recording the second album that within the group and its entourage, no form of excessive conduct would be tolerated, prohibiting the use of drugs, groupies, and even violent conduct by the bodyguards, as well as excessive costs for tickets and t-shirts.
For the Irish, the period was not the best, with The Edge's crisis (... not knowing whether to stay in the band ...), and the theft of the famous suitcase (... containing not just $300.00 but also the lyrics for the follow-up to "Boy", which was to be called "Scarlet" ...), not helping to improve the artistic path the band had undertaken.
The album opens with the fervor of "Gloria", which faithfully reflects the complexity of the unhappy situations recently faced by the band. It's an impeccable song whose notes can drag along with the evocative lyrics reaching the zenith of religiosity in the chorus suitably recited in Latin ("Gloria - In te domine - Gloria - Exultate - Gloria - Gloria - Gloria - Oh, Lord, Loosen my lips = ... Oh, Lord, loosen my lips"). A soft piano allows "I Fall Down" to diffuse into the air, through musicality that reveals the influences endured during the writing phase from that prolific wave of sounds epitomized by the versatile Elvis Costello or the genius Joe Jackson. Anger and inner feelings find a perfect outlet valve with "I Threw A Brick Through A Window", where The Edge's ability to characterize with simplicity each single verse makes him an elegant protagonist. The album's release was preceded by "Fire" (a perfect link to the debut album), which despite developing in a predictable sequence of chords, manages to naturally combine intensity and passion, putting into music a spiritual component that is uncommon. The marks of religious fervor leave an even more evident sign with "With A Shout (Jerusalem)", where the crucifixion of Christ is narrated solemnly, tempered by that musical irreverence that had represented the new lifeblood just a few years before. The evocative atmosphere of "Tomorrow" (the uillean pipes audible are by Vincent Kilduff) brings to ears the boundless compositional talent that can take hold, perhaps giving birth, in the opinion of the writer, to the most extraordinary song of the entire work, where the initial sobriety assumes a rhythmic progression that becomes an effortless mutation.
An album that never gives way to compositional uncertainty, crossing a musical path characterized by a sharp sound, called upon to bond with the feeling of simplicity that has helped make the traditional Irish folk vibrations fascinating and worthy of interest.
Affirming the diverse creative fertility are the sprightly "Rejoice" (initially baptized as "Night Fright" first and "Father Is An Elephant" later), where the sharp and echoing sequence of notes plucked by The Edge, advances and progresses in continuous growth and without respite. The title-track - with a piano accompanying a tender autumnal poetry - conversely shows itself to be touching and perhaps one of the best expressive trials that finds a limit in its excessive brevity, leaving to the bewildering "Stranger In A Strange Land", with a clear psyc As if modeling themselves after psychedelic approach, to blend perfectly with the fundamental rhythmic motor led and fueled by Larry and Adam, even more essential than usual. The air of relaxation breathes in the almost instrumental "Scarlet", almost acting as a prelude to the closing vivacity of "Is That All?" which, more than simulating a moral legacy on the opportunity of the apparent contradiction between faith and musician, reveals itself as an exhortation for the listener to go well beyond the emotional influence created by the immediate enjoyment of music (Oh to sing this song makes me happy - I'm not happy with you - Oh to sing this song makes me dance - Is that all? - Is that all? - Is that all?).
"October" (the cover of which portrays the band near the port of Dublin) underwent a very difficult journey, even if at the time of its release it had a greater number of expectations to satisfy than its predecessor had. We are faced with a work far from fashionable, whose strength is represented precisely by music that, paired with resolute lyrics, manages to explore even those unseen coves where contradictory feelings like love and despair can coexist. Another brick that will help rise from the underground and will be fundamental for worldwide conquest.
[The deluxe edition besides offering a remastered version of the original album, contains a second disc with another hour of significantly quality music. We find some appealing BBC Sessions ("With A Shout", "Scarlet" and "I Threw A Brick Through A Window"), not to mention the almost unreachable until now "J Swallow", "11 O'Clock Tick Tock" and "The Ocean" (from the live performance on March 6, 1981 held at Paradise in Boston) which together were available only on the twelve-inch (and only later on CD!) of "Fire". For many, it is also an opportunity to give due value to the discursive "A Celebration" released on 45 rpm and never included on LP (only the compilation "Rare Rock Collection" for Rock Against AIDS from 1987 can boast such a record), but never so loved by the band].
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 Gloria (04:12)
try to sing this song
I, I try to stand up
But I can't find my feet.
I, I try to speak up
But only in you I'm complete.
Gloria
In te domine
Gloria
Exultate
Gloria
Gloria
Oh, Lord, loosen my lips.
I try to sing this song
I, I try to get in
But I can't find the door
The door is open
You're standing there, you let me in.
Gloria
In te domine
Gloria
Exultate
Oh, Lord, if I had anything, anything at all
I'd give it to you.
Gloria
In te domine
Gloria
Gloria
02 I Fall Down (03:39)
Julie says, John I'm getting nowhere
I wrote this letter, hope to get someplace soon
I want to get up
When I wake up
But when I get up
I fall down.
Julie wake up, Julie tell the story
You wrote the letter, said you were gonna
Get there someday
Gonna walk in the sun
And the wind and the rain
Never look back again
Now you fall down
You're falling down
You fall down
You fall down.
You're falling down
You fall down
You fall down.
Julie say something, Julie say you're sorry
You're gonna get better, you better not
Leave me here anyway
I want to get up, when you wake up
But when I get up
I fall down
I'm falling down
I fall down
I broke myself.
I fall, I fall down
I'm falling down
I fall downÖ
When you fall
I fall with you
And when you're falling down
Is when I hit the ground.
I fall with you
I fall down.
03 I Threw a Brick Through a Window (04:54)
I was talking, I was talking to myself
Somebody else talk, talk, talking.
I couldn't hear a word, a word he said.
He was my brother
I said there was no other way out of here
Be my brother
(Brother).
Got to get out, got to get out.
I was walking, I was walking into walls
And back again
I just keep walking
I walk up to a window to see myself
And my reflection, when I thought about it
My direction, going nowhere, going nowhere.
No-one, no-one is blinder
Than he who will not see.
No-one, no-one is blinder
Than me.
I was talking, I was talking in my sleep
I can't stop talk, talk, talking
I'm talking to you, it's up to you
Be my brother, there is no other way out of here
Be my brother
Got to get out, got to get out
Got to get out of here.
04 Rejoice (03:38)
It's falling, it's falling
And outside a building comes tumbling down.
And inside a child on the ground
Says he'll do it again.
And what am I to do?
What in the world am I to say?
There's nothing else to do.
He says he'll change the world some day
I rejoice.
This morning I fell out of bed
When I woke up to what he had said
Everything's crazy but I'm too lazy to lie.
And what am I to do?
Just tell me what am I supposed to say?
I can't change the world
But I can change the world in me
Rejoice.
Rejoice.
And what am I to do?
Just tell me what am I supposed to say?
I can't change the world
But I can change the world in me.
I rejoice.
05 Fire (03:50)
Calling, calling the sun is burning black
Calling, calling, it's beating on my back
With a fire
With a fire.
Calling, calling, the moon is running red
Calling, calling, it's pulling me instead
With a fire, fire.
But there's a fire inside
And I'm falling over
There's a fire in me
When I call out
You built a fire, fire
I'm going home.
Calling, calling, the stars are falling down
Calling, calling, they knock me to the ground
With a fire, fire.
But there's a fire inside
And I'm falling over
There's a fire inside
When I call out
There's a fire inside
When I'm falling over
You built a fire, fire
I'm going home.
06 Tomorrow (04:39)
Won't you come back tomorrow
Won't you come back tomorrow
Won't you come back tomorrow
Can I sleep tonight?
Outside, somebody's outside
Somebody's knocking at the door.
There's a black car parked at the side of the road
Don't go to the door
Don't go to the door.
I'm going out.
I'm going outside mother.
I'm going out there.
Won't you be back tomorrow,
Won't you be back tomorrow,
Will you be back tomorrow?
Can I sleep tonight?
Who broke the window
Who broke down the door?
Who tore the curtain
And who was it for?
Who heals the wounds
Who heals the scars?
Open the door, open the door.
Won't you come back tomorrow?
Won't you be back tomorrow?
Will you be back tomorrow?
Can I sleep tonight?
'Cause I want you
I, I want you
I really want you.
I, I want, I, I
Want you to be back tomorrow
I want you to be back tomorrow.
Will you be back tomorrow?
Can I sleep tonight?
I want you to be back tomorrow
I want you to be back tomorrow.
Will you be back tomorrow?
Open up, open up, to the Lamb Of God
To the love of He
Who made the blind to see.
He's coming back
He's coming back
O believe Him.
07 October (02:20)
October and the trees are stripped bare
Of all they wear.
What do I care?
October and kingdoms rise
And kingdoms fall
But you go on
And on.
08 With a Shout (04:02)
Oh, and where do we go
Where do we go from here
Where to go
To the side of a hill
Blood was spilt
We were still looking
At each other
Oh, we're goin' back there
Jerusalem Jerusalem
Shout, shout
With a shout, shout it out
Shout...shout it out...
I wanna go
To the foot of the messiah
To the foot of he who made me see
To the side of a hill
Where we were still
We were filled
With our love
We're gonna be there again
Jerusalem Jerusalem
Shout, shout
With a shout
Shout...
With a shout
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Other reviews
By marcmat
October opened with Gloria, creating an atmosphere of liturgical psalmody, almost an antiphon of the album itself.
OCTOBER was disconcerting for its minimal beauty: it almost lacked the courage to breathe during its two minutes, just as an audience member might hide timidly in a corner.
By Alevox
"October is a journey between restlessness and confusion within a melancholic winter frame."
"It is a sincere work that holds tightly to its moments of class, and therefore deserves respect."
