The Unforgettable Fire (studio album) by U2

From Jboy56 05/08/2024 13:37

One of the classic album of all time, the sound and the means..

My feelings are similar to the ones I had on War. There are 5 great tracks here, but other 5 are either bad or forgettable. Pride In The Name Of Love is one of their best songs, but it can't hold up the whole album.

From DJFresh-Rock 04/21/2022 18:49

I'm more of a fan of 90s U2 - probably because they got a little more experimental - but this is certainly a worthy addition to the canon. I'm not convinced by the reviews that are talking about a load of filler, but the album is certainly held up by a few stronger songs. The idea of a transitional album is right: there's just enough of the post-punk sensibilities remaining (e.g. Indian Summer Sky) but the band were slowly morphing into the art rock that became more apparent on The Joshua Tree. Of course, they abandoned that with their following album, but it was good whilst it lasted. And for the record: I like Elvis Presley And America.

The music on here seems pretty safe in terms of its composition and there are a few tracks which don't meet the usual level of U2 which drag the album down. The album is carried by 3 very good songs which are Pride, The Unforgettable Fire and Bad the rest are pretty skippable in my opinion. On those 3 tracks though we are treated to brilliant vocals and some very infectious moments. They show the potential the group had and you can see how they got to The Joshua Tree from this album. However, tracks like Promenade, 4th Of July and Elvis Presley And America are pointless along with being very close to the edge of being bad songs. Also, they seem to be just lacking a spark that makes their other albums so exciting as I found myself quite disinterested while listening to this. Overall, a skippable record in the discography of U2 but I would still recommend listening to those 3 songs as they are great.

Very hard to rate this album, as it's essentially 3 incredible tracks (Bad, Unforgettable Fire, Pride In The Name Of Love) and the rest is so average. Wire and Indian Summer Sky are okay, I like A Sort Of Homecoming, but the rest is just filler and shouldn't have made it on to a U2 album. This could have been another great U2 album. Bad is such an incredible song - I get goosebumps when Bono sings "I'm wide awake", it's probably my favourite vocal performance ever.

From Brad1770 04/02/2021 04:34

‘The Unforgettable Fire’ notable only because (A) Its U2’s “transitional album” which served as the gate which unlocks the subsequent ‘Joshua Tree’ masterpiece (fair enough) and (B) was produced by Brian Eno. However as a piece of art its largely forgettable. Something feels off about the whole project from the Hiroshima themed title track to not one but 2 tributes to Martin Luther King and a whole bunch of Brian Eno-fication in between

It’s far from terrible by a long stretch but way over rated on every level

From dihansse 03/02/2021 21:08

I adore the first three albums o U2 because of that wide open sound and their enthusiasm and fantastic songs. This is their fourth and a bit of an inbetween album in the sense that they still have this sound (on the level of Bono's voice and The Edge's guitar) but that they're trying to do their best to write more diverse songs. But they still shine more in what they do best like on Pride (although I've heard it maybe a bit too much) and the fantastic Bad. But it also means that while on their former albums I liked all the tracks, this isn't the case any more here: Promenade, 4th of July and Elvis Presley and America are not really their best.

From Graeme2 12/01/2020 18:25

So lads, you got a decent album but 9 ain't enough, we need 10 tracks.
"But we have no more, not even any lyrics left". Well, it has to be 10 so just plug in and play and sing whatever comes into your head. I know we've put the vox mics away but just sing into the headphones and we'll stick an effect on and bingo. We'll use it as track 9.

From Larcx13 09/25/2020 15:55

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I Love U2 and I love this album - just squeezed out of my top 100 but close call