U2
Wide Awake in America

An album made almost by chance.
I say almost because no one does anything for nothing, especially when it comes to music, meaning more or less significant monetary investments. And when the investment is backed by four individuals better known as U2, then the level of randomness decreases more and more. But on the side of randomness, even if not total, is the fact that we are in 1985 and an Irish band of undisputed success, although not yet global, is attempting what is often the ultimate test to measure the enduring fame of a singer or band: the American tour.

Immediately after the release of the legendary "The Unforgettable Fire," U2 dive into a series of U.S. concerts culminating in their best performance at Madison Square Garden in New York. It's the year of "Pride," "Indian Summer Sky," the same "The Unforgettable Fire," pure energy, and in the States, the echoes of the success of "Sunday Bloody Sunday" from the previous work, "War," have not yet faded.
U2 released this "unusual" EP (I’ll explain why shortly) in May of 1985 only on vinyl and only in the United States, Japan, and Brazil. All this was to further promote the "The Unforgettable Fire" tour in countries historically more "resistant" to a certain type of music, but at the same time, countries that historically, if they fall in love with something, know how to briefly transform interest into pure idolization (the level of randomness reaches historical lows here...).
The anomalies of this EP are many: first of all, it was decided to promote the American and Asian tour with a "preparatory" album of only four tracks, all low-priced, and so far, it makes sense. The chosen tracks are the first surprise: no "Sunday Bloody Sunday," no "Pride," no anthems in short... But the version of "Bad" that opens the album is chilling. Very few times have I heard U2 provide such intensity to a track that today can be considered among the "manifestos," but at the time was regarded as almost a novelty. The fact that my skin returned from "goosebumps" to normal only a few minutes after the end of the track testifies to the pathos I am trying to describe. Following the same line, the same goes for "A Sort of Homecoming," with the screams of a very young Bono summarizing the state of mind of someone in Ireland at that time who would leave home not knowing if they would ever return.
Further oddity: despite the EP's title (which means "Perfectly Awake in America"), the two live tracks just mentioned were not recorded in the United States, nor anywhere else on that continent: "Bad" was recorded on November 12, 1984, in Birmingham, England; and even "A Sort of Homecoming" is live, but only up to a point: indeed the recorded version is the one performed during the soundcheck of the London concert at Wembley Stadium, when the gates were still closed!!! A skillful mix made sure that the audience's applause and shouts appeared at a later stage.
The oddities continue: even two unreleased tracks, "The Three Sunrises" and "Love Comes Tumbling," which smell of low fidelity (an unthinkable thing for U2), a strange idea for someone who wants to promote a tour on other continents. "The Three Sunrises" is a sort of prayer addressed to the sun, here seen as an authentic deity, and it's a mediocre piece, definitely not one I'd count among the unforgettable, but again, here comes the wink to the U.S. audience more inclined to the spiritual side of U2, which incidentally found its peak that year in a track like "MLK." My opinion is different on "Love Comes Tumbling": that lo-fi atmosphere makes this song one of the darkest from the Irish quartet, a riff of scholastic simplicity but which remains embedded in memory, Bono's strangely "low" vocals, and the drum always at the same tempo without ever varying make this track one of the most minimal in U2's repertoire; it's unclear why it didn't find its way onto any album.
It must be said, however, that U2 has always been authentic devotees of B-sides; one could say there's a true second discography of Bono & Co. not everyone knows about, but which should be dusted off since it hides, as in this case, authentic gems that deserve, at worst, at least five minutes of our attention.