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The Unforgettable Fire
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The Unforgettable Fire is the fourth studio album by Irish rock band U2, released in 1984. Far more ambient and abstract than the hard-hitting War, it was at the time the bands most marked change in direction, featuring atmospheric sounds and lyrics Bono has described as "sketches". The album contains tributes to Martin Luther King Jr. and Elvis Presley. The Unforgettable Fire produced the band's biggest hit at the time, "Pride (In the Name of Love)", as well as the live favorite "Bad", a song about heroin addiction.
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The Unforgettable Fire is the fourth studio album by Irish rock band U2, released in 1984. Far more ambient and abstract than the hard-hitting War, it was at the time the bands most marked change in direction, featuring atmospheric sounds and lyrics Bono has described as "sketches". The album contains tributes to Martin Luther King Jr. and Elvis Presley. The Unforgettable Fire produced the band's biggest hit at the time, "Pride (In the Name of Love)", as well as the live favorite "Bad", a song about heroin addiction. The album was the group's first collaboration with Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois.
History
The band feared that following the overt rock of the War album and tour, they were in danger of becoming another "shrill", "sloganeering arena-rock band". The success of the Under a Blood Red Sky album and video, however, had given them artistic—and for the first time—financial room to move. Thus, rather than become another formula band, experimentation was sought. As Adam Clayton recalls, "We were looking for something that was a bit more serious, more arty." The Edge admired the ambient and "weird works" of Brian Eno, who along with his engineer Daniel Lanois eventually agreed to produce the record. Island Records boss Chris Blackwell initially tried to discourage them from their choice of producers, believing that just when the band were about to achieve the highest levels of success, Eno would "bury them under a layer of avant-garde nonsense". The initial recording sessions were at Slane Castle, County Meath; held in a Gothic ballroom built specially for music, the sessions had a relaxed and experimental atmosphere.
We knew the world was ready to receive the heirs to The Who. All we had to do was to keep doing what we were doing and we would become the biggest band since Led Zeppelin, without a doubt. But something just didn't feel right. We felt we had more dimension than just the next big anything, we had something unique to offer. The innovation was what would suffer if we went down the standard rock route. We were looking for another feeling.Bono on The Unforgettable Fire's new direction.
The album was completed at Windmill Lane Studios in Dublin and was released on 1 October 1984. The album took its name and much of its inspiration from an exhibition of paintings and drawings at The Peace Museum in Chicago by survivors of the atomic bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. The museum also had an exhibit on Martin Luther King, Jr. A far more atmospheric album than the previous War, The Unforgettable Fire has a rich and orchestrated sound and was the first U2 album with a cohesive sound. Under Lanois' direction, Larry's drumming became looser, funkier and more subtle, and Adam's bass became more subliminal, such that the rhythm section no longer intruded, but flowed in support of the songs.
The album's lyrics are open to many interpretations, which alongside its atmospheric sounds, provides what the band often called a "very visual feel". Bono had recently been immersing himself in fiction, philosophy and poetry, and came to realise that his song writing mission—which up to that point had been a reluctant one on his behalf—was a poetic one. The last two weeks of recording, however, were a panicked scramble to finish the lyrics, such that Bono felt songs like "Bad" and "Pride In The Name of Love" were left as incomplete "sketches". Bono later said that "The Unforgettable Fire was a beautifully out-of-focus record, blurred like an impressionist painting, very unlike a billboard or an advertising slogan."
Typical of the album, the track "The Unforgettable Fire", with a string arrangement by Noel Kelehan, has a rich, symphonic sound built from ambient guitar and driving rhythm; a lyrical "sketch" that is an "emotional travelogue" with a "heartfelt sense of yearning". Bono tried to describe the rush and then come down of heroin use in the song "Bad". "Pride (In the Name of Love)", the song closest to the established U2 sound at that time, is about Martin Luther King. The first single from the album, it was at that point the band's biggest hit. It cracked the UK Top 5 and the U.S. Top 40 and would ultimately become the group's second-most frequently played song in concerts. The sparse, dreamlike "MLK" was also a eulogy to King.
"Elvis Presley and America" is an improvisation (based on a slowed-down backing track from "A Sort of Homecoming") that takes the album's emphasis on feeling over clarity to its furthest extreme. Another song, "Indian Summer Sky", was a social commentary on the prison-like atmosphere of city living in a world of natural forces.
The castle depicted on the cover is Moydrum Castle.
The Unforgettable Fire Tour and Live Aid
The Unforgettable Fire Tour saw U2 shows moving into indoor arenas in the United States, although in Europe they were not quite there yet. The tour commenced in Australia in September 1984 where translating the complex textures of the new studio-recorded tracks to live performance proved a serious challenge. One solution was programmed sequencers, which the band until then had been reluctant to use. They were used to overcome difficulties in live performance of sonically elaborate new songs such as "The Unforgettable Fire" and "Bad"; since then sequencers are now used on the majority of U2 songs in performance. Songs criticised as being "unfinished", "fuzzy" and "unfocused" on the album, made more sense on stage. Rolling Stone magazine, for example, critical of the album version of "Bad", described its live performance as a 'show stopper'.
U2 participated in the Live Aid concert at Wembley Stadium for Ethiopian famine relief in July 1985. U2's performance was one of the show's most memorable; during the song "Bad", Bono leapt down off the stage to embrace and dance with a fan. Initially thinking they'd "blown it", it was, in fact, a breakthrough moment for the band, showing a television audience of millions the personal connection that Bono could make with audiences. All of U2's previous albums went back into the charts in the UK after their transcendent performance. In 1985, Rolling Stone magazine called U2 the "Band of the 80's," saying that "for a growing number of rock-and-roll fans, U2 have become the band that matters most, maybe even the only band that matters." As a more unlikely endorsement, Miles Davis is reputed to have asked the album to be played while on his deathbed.
Track listing
"Pride (In the Name of Love)" and the title track "The Unforgettable Fire" were released as singles to support the album.
In 1995, Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab remastered the album and released it as a special gold CD. This edition has slightly different running times, most notably an extended 2:39 version of the instrumental "4th of July".
In 1985, the band also released the supplementary Wide Awake in America EP, which offers live performances of "Bad" and "A Sort of Homecoming" along with a two B-sides (previously unavailable in North America).
Chart positions and sales
Album
| Country | Peak position | Certification | Sales |
|---|
| Australia | 1 | | | | Canada | | 3x Platinum | 300,000+ | | France | | Gold | 100,000+ | | Netherlands | | Gold | 40,000+ | | United Kingdom | 1 | 2x Platinum | 600,000+ | | United States | 12 | 3x Platinum | 3,000,000+ | |
Singles
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
|---|
| 1984 | "Pride (in the Name of Love)" | Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks | 2 | | 1984 | "Pride (in the Name of Love)" | The Billboard Hot 100 | 33 | | 1984 | "Wire" | Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks | 31 | | 1985 | "Bad" | Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks | 19 | |
Personnel
Additional personnel
- Brian Eno - additional vocals, instruments, treatments, production, engineering
- Daniel Lanois - additional vocals, instruments, treatments, production, engineering
- Kevin Killen - additional engineering
The Unforgettable Fire Collection
After the album's release in 1984, U2 released The Unforgettable Fire Collection, a VHS compilation of the album's music videos with a 30-minute making-of documentary of the album. The documentary was later included as a bonus feature on the band's live video release, U2 Go Home: Live from Slane Castle, as the site of the concert film, Slane Castle, was the same as the location of the documentary.
Track listing
- "The Unforgettable Fire" directed by Meiert Avis
- "Bad" directed by Barry Devilin
- "Pride (In the Name of Love)" directed By Donald Cammell
- "A Sort Of Homecoming" directed by Barry Devlin
- The Making of the Unforgettable Fire documentary directed by Barry Devlin
See also
External links
- at U2 Wanderer, with comprehensive details on various editions, cover scans, lyrics, and more
- at U2 Wanderer
- with images from a couple of prints
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