This is the second U2 album in my run down which was released in 1984, and before the release of The Joshua Tree.
I feel this album shows progression in the band from their earlier raw rock albums, and seems more melodic and experimental.
I must say that the older I get the more I appreciate the bands older albums like War, October and Boy, and they contain some of my favourite songs. They rock out and have some real belt out classics, but for me The unforgettable fire signals the band maturing and becoming ready to create worldwide ultra hits.
This album contains the classics Pride and Bad and other great songs like A sort of homecoming and The unforgettable fire and has a melodic, haunting feel, well shown in The Edges guitar play in this album.
An interesting song on the album is Elvis Presley and America in which Bono is almost singing incoherent lyrics in an out of tune voice, which matched with the music really works.
It’s a fantastic album to listen to from beginning to end. Which ends in a song that could be described as a lullaby written for the great Martin Luther King entitled MLK.
I feel that perhaps this album may be overlooked with the success of Joshua Tree to follow it, perhaps I’m wrong as I was too young to recall its release. But for me I actually prefer its sound to any of their other albums. Thus its at my top 4 slot.
