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Rating:
Ehm, boring but necessary introduction.
I love U2 very much, and I decided to review this album because, besides wanting to pay homage to it, the other review honestly didn't appeal to me. Moreover, I would like to add this. Nowadays, it's not so difficult to write a review about U2. The hard part is finding people willing to talk about them with coherence and objectivity without falling into banal or vulgar statements. So please, if you need to have your usual moment of glory by mindlessly insulting things or people, look for it elsewhere.
It's known that today U2 is not going through their best artistic period (because commercially, it would seem the opposite). They have emerged from two albums that are not exactly memorable and a third collection with added singles that could easily be described as infamous. Bono also seems increasingly determined to pursue a political path, which has its negative as well as positive sides, but whether you like it or not, that's how it is. While waiting for the new album, these are the U2 of 2000. But this shouldn't lead us to deny the beautiful pages that this Irish band has been able to write in the history of music.
One of their most beautiful pages is called "The Unforgettable Fire." And just as the title suggests, with this album, U2 have left an indelible mark in the memory of many of us. U2 had a fire burning inside them. It burned in Bono's voice, now silenced. It can be felt burning in "Bad" with that shouted and shouted phrase "I'm wide awake! I'm wide awake" among the fumes and ruins of a Dublin corroded by heroin, it can be felt exploding in "Pride (In the Name of Love)" and so on throughout the album. Why take "Pride" as an example? A rare case where an extraordinary commercial success is combined with a real quality of making music. Simple music, because yes, U2 (at least in this period) are anything but a complex band, but also honest and true music. Music that is never banal and always carries a message, whether big or small.
"The Unforgettable Fire" almost seems like a movie. It is a fascinating epic painting with blurred shades of a confused and chaotic world.
Emblematic in this sense is the opening track: "A Sort of Homecoming." Fields, snow, wind, and sea; a homecoming, but from where? Perhaps from a conflict in distant lands, a hero or maybe just a man crosses the world to return home, where salvation lies. A melancholic landscape but illuminated by Bono's beautiful voice in his prime years but above all by the message of hope (See the sky, the burning rain\She will die and live again) that amidst fire and ruins the band never fails to deliver. Comparable to it is the fourth track and title track, the beautiful "The Unforgettable Fire" where the victims of that fire, which no one will ever forget, the atomic bombs of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, are remembered. Here too, images of a dark and cold world devastated by conflicts.
The conflicts that U2 talk about in this album are not only political in nature. Above all, there is the conflict of a personal nature, the conflict with oneself. The drug problem in this period is and will be a very dear theme to the band. Dublin is now largely subjected to the cocaine and heroin racket. Out of this situation, the band produces one of its most beautiful songs ever, "Bad." Preceded by the instrumental introduction "4th July," it's a piece so intense and spiritual that any description would be pure heresy. Certainly, the highest moment of the album, and without exaggeration, perhaps also of the band's entire career. The plague of drugs is also addressed in the third track of the album, "Wire" where the cry takes on decidedly more angry and dramatic tones.
Right in the middle of the album, there is the stroke of genius, the hidden gem you don't expect. The tones calm down, the lights dim, and there appears "Promenade." A song on which I would like to spend a few more words since probably few will know it.
"Promenade," which literally means "seaside walk," is a fascinating impressionist sketch where sensations and figures that a landscape can offer are painted, just like in a photographic snapshot. Simple and natural figures. But precisely in their simplicity lies their essence. Earth, sky, sea, rain, and sand, are all elements that merge to create perfect harmony in the natural landscape, thereby creating a beautiful condition of fusion of man with it. Man, so calm, is ready to explode at any moment for the greatness he feels burning inside him, and almost hypnotized by this magnificence, he doesn't even seem to realize it. Emotions take and leave him continually.
And finally, there appears the beautiful image of the woman and the seduction. "Charity" is an almost angelic girl, dancing all night from dusk to dawn just for you. She captures your most intimate passions and is chased all night by your desires, but she does not grant herself, or maybe she does... She is a flower to be handled with care because you know you must not lose her. She can come, touch you, graze you, or fly away like a petal carried by the wind. Either way, with "Promenade", the night will be a moment as long as a dream. A dream to let yourself go. A beautiful dream.
After "Promenade," "4th July" and "Bad", the album enters its final part. "Indian Summer Sky" tells of a piece of America. The America that is no more, that of the Native Americans. An exterminated civilization that cries out under the ground of major cities, but few seem to hear. Then it moves on to "Elvis and America", perhaps the only track that still doesn't captivate me in this album.
Closing with "MLK" which, once again after "Pride" commemorates Reverend King, wishing him rest in peace and serenity. Bono's delicate and gentle voice, singing almost a cappella, a sort of sweet lullaby. The album ends, the dream ends, but surely this will be one I will never forget.
A special thank you, of course, to Saint Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois, who, working for the first time with U2, will help them forever soar into the musical world Olympus.
With this album, the field is already sown for the definitive consecration. Very soon, the Joshua Tree will come, and the fate of the band will change forever. But as they say in movies, this is another story.
I'm sorry if I was too long, but I couldn't hold back. Next time, I'll try to do better.
See you soon, and long live U2, but above all the Good Music, no matter which group it comes from!
Track list:
1- A sort of Homecoming
2- Pride (In the Name of Love)
3- Wire
4- The Unforgettable Fire
5- Promenade
6 - 4 th July
7- Bad
8- Indian Summer Sky
9- Elvis and America
10 - MLK
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 A Sort of Homecoming (05:28)
And you know it's time to go
Through the sleet and driving snow
Across the fields of mourning to a light that's in the distance.
And you hunger for the time
Time to heal, 'desire' time
And your earth moves beneath your own dream landscape.
On borderland we run.
I'll be there, I'll be there tonight
A high-road, a high-road out from here.
The city walls are all come down
The dust a smoke screen all around
See faces ploughed like fields that once
Gave no resistance.
And we live by the side of the road
On the side of a hill as the valleys explode
Dislocated, suffocated
The land grows weary of it's own.
O com-away, o com-away, o-com, o com-away, I say I
O com-away, o com-away, o-com, o com-away, I say I
Oh, oh on borderland we run
And still we run, we run and don't look back
I'll be there, I'll be there
Tonight, tonight
I'll be there tonight, I believe
I'll be there so high
I'll be there tonight, tonight.
Oh com-away, I say, o com-away, I say.
The wind will crack in winter time
This bomb-blast lightning waltz.
No spoken words, just a scream
Tonight we'll build a bridge across the sea and land
See the sky, the burning rain
She will die and live again tonight.
And your heart beats so slow
Through the rain and fallen snow
Across the fields of mourning to a light that's in the distance.
Oh, don't sorrow, no don't weep
For tonight at last I am coming home.
I am coming home.
02 Pride (In the Name of Love) (03:49)
One man come in the name of love
One man come and go.
One man come he to justify
One man to overthrow.
In the name of love
What more in the name of love.
In the name of love
What more in the name of love.
One man caught on a barbed wire fence
One man he resist
One man washed up on an empty beach
One man betrayed with a kiss.
In the name of love
What more in the name of love.
In the name of love
What more in the name of love.
Early morning, April four
Shot rings out in the Memphis sky.
Free at last, they took your life
They could not take your pride.
In the name of love
What more in the name of love.
In the name of love
What more in the name of love.
In the name of love
What more in the name of love.
In the name of love
What more in the name of love.
05 Promenade (02:34)
Earth, sky, scenery.
Is she coming back again?
Men of straw, snooker hall.
Words that build or destroy
Dirt dry, bone, sand and stone.
Barbed wire fence cut me down.
I'd like to be around in a spiral staircase
To the higher ground.
And I, like a firework, and explode.
Roman candle, lightning, lights up the sky.
In cracked streets, trample underfoot.
Side-step, sidewalk.
I see you stare into space.
Have I got closer now, behind the face?
Oh, tell me, tell me you'll dance with me
Turn me around tonight
Up through the spiral staircase to the higher ground.
Slide show, seaside town.
Coca-cola, football radio, radio, radio, radio, radio, radio.
07 Bad (06:08)
If you twist and turn away.
It you tear yourself in two again.
If I could, yes I would
If I could, I would let it go.
Surrender, dislocate.
If I could throw this lifeless life-line to the wind.
Leave this heart of clay, see you walk, walk away
Into the night, and through the rain
Into the half light and through the flame.
If I could, through myself, set your spirit free
I'd lead your heart away, see you break, break away
Into the light and to the day.
To let it go and so to fade away.
To let it go and so fade away.
I'm wide awake.
I'm wide awake, wide awake.
I'm not sleeping.
If you should ask, then maybe
They'd tell you what I would say
True colours fly in blue and black
Blue silken sky and burning flag.
Colours crash, collide in blood-shot eyes.
If I could, you know I would
If I could, I would let it go.
This desperation, dislocation
Separation, condemnation
Revelation, in temptation
Isolation, desolation
Let it go and so to find away
To let it go and so to fade away
To let it go and so to fade away
I'm wide awake, I'm wide awake, wide awake
I'm not sleeping
Oh no, no, no.
09 Elvis Presley and America (06:22)
(Black flash)
Black flash over my own love
Tell me of my eyes
Black flash come though my own life
Telling these things
And I believe them
And I believe in you
White flash sees the sky
And it turns its side from you
She won't turn my back
And I know you turn so blue
And you know
And your sky is feeling blue
And your heart
So cold when I'm with you
And you feel
Like no one told you to
And your time is your side
And your time with me
Ah, don't talk to me
Ah, don't talk to me
Don't talk to me
You know
Like no one told you how
But you know
Though the king that howls has howled
But you feel like sentimental
But you don't care
If I just share it in your heart
(heart...)
Hopelessly
So hopelessly
I'm breaking through for you and me
And you don't
Though no one told you to
And you found out
Where you were going, where to
You're through with me
But I know that you will be back
For more
You know
And though no one told you so
And you know, blue sky
Like a harder shade of blue
And you walk
When you want
To let go
Me, I'm the outside, tell me fade away
Drop me down but don't break me
In your sleep
In your sleep, inside
It's in your heart and mine
Whole sea is dark
It's in your heart and mine
Sweetly, those will come
Loving is on your side walking through
So let me in your heart
Your beat is like something...
They...
Run...
See say you're sad and reach by
So say you're sad above beside
Oh stay you're sad over midnight
So stay sad above we said
You know I don't
No one told you how
(and you don't)
(and you wipe sweat off your white brow)
And you care
And no one told you tried
And your heart
Is left out from the side
And the rain beats down
And the shame goes down
And this rain keeps on coming down
And this sky
Tonight...
You know "S" "O" "N" "G", why
You're going go join to God
You know "S" "O" "N" "G", why
Give away some him no lie
Give away some my de day no
You know
And though no one told you sky
And you feel
Like you pretend you can
You say go, you live
Go live outside of me
Don't you leave
Don't leave out part of me
Then can feel
Like I feel before
Like I hurt now
And I see the floor
If you pick me up
Bits and pieces on this floor
10 MLK (02:34)
Sleep
Sleep tonight
And may your dreams
Be realized
If the thunder cloud
Passes rain
So let it rain
Rain down on me
Mmm...mmm...mmm...
So let it be
Mmm...mmm...mmm...
So let it be
Sleep
Sleep tonight
And may your dreams
Be realized
If the thundercloud
Passes rain
So let it rain
Let it rain
Rain on me
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Other reviews
By QbProg
In this album, there is more U2 soul than in all the others combined.
The first thing you notice is the evolution of The Edge’s sound — from distortion to a clean, delay-rich tone.
By Sabinide
The immense vocal performance of Bono Vox, moving and perfect in singing but at the same time raw and introspective in the lyrics.
The Unforgettable Fire must be considered the trademark of the band, socially engaged and able to transform thoughts, emotions, and sincere feelings into music.
By Rax
"Spirit of novelty, spirit of stupidity."
"A missed masterpiece that does not reach 'War' in terms of great songs and lacks the care seen in 'Joshua'."
By Brahms
"The unforgettable fire is also this: 'Slide projection, seashore city, Coca Cola, football, radio radio'... the simplicity of small things."
"Few tracks have depicted the dramas of contemporary life like 'Bad'. All supported by a musicality that transmits a mix of epic and dramatic."
By DeArlo
The Unforgettable Fire is a masterpiece, from the melodies to the lyrics to the cover.
Bono himself described the album as 'beautifully blurred,' like an impressionist painting.
