The Unforgettable Fire is the fourth studio album by Irish rock band U2. It was produced by Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois, and released on 1 October 1984 by Island Records. The band wanted to pursue a new musical direction following the harder-hitting rock of their previous album, War (1983). As a result, they employed Eno and Lanois to produce and assist in their experimentation with a more ambient sound. The resulting change in direction was at the time the band's most dramatic. The album's title is a reference to "The Unforgettable Fire", an art exhibit about the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.

Recording began in May 1984 at Slane Castle, where the band lived, wrote, and recorded to find new inspiration. The album was completed in August 1984 at Windmill Lane Studios. It features atmospheric sounds and lyrics that lead vocalist Bono describes as "sketches". "Pride (In the Name of Love)" and "MLK" are lyrical tributes to Martin Luther King Jr.

The Unforgettable Fire received generally favourable reviews from critics and produced the band's biggest hit at the time, "Pride (In the Name of Love)", as well as the live favourite "Bad". A 25th anniversary edition of the album was released in October 2009.

Background

The Edge said that the band's plan for recording at Slane was rather than working in the "dead, acoustic atmosphere" of a studio and "trying to revitalise the recorded work using effects and reverberation and all the standard music trappings, we would go into a very live room and try to do the opposite—try and tame what would be a wild sound".

Lanois originally intended for the band to record entirely in the ballroom, which he described as a "beautiful very tall room with big mirrors, chandeliers and windows overlooking the river". This placement was originally done for sound isolation purposes, but ended up producing a good sound. Eno contributed synthesiser parts on a Yamaha DX7, while he and the Edge also played a Yamaha CP-70 electric grand piano. Whereas Bono wanted to finalise the lyrics, Eno, Lanois, and the Edge advocated preserving the improvised nature of his vocals, telling the singer, "Why write lyrics?... I'm getting the feeling from this." In retrospect, Bono lamented leaving the lyrics to songs like "Bad" and "Pride (In the Name of Love)" as incomplete "sketches".

Twelve days before the deadline to complete the record, Bono told his bandmates he did not think he would be able to finish the lyrics in time, creating a panic internally. McGuinness reminded the group of their commitment to tour Australia and New Zealand in less than a month, and that the producers and studio would not be available afterwards. Eno worked the first half of days, while Lanois worked the second half. As Lanois was preparing to depart for London with the album tapes for mastering, Bono expressed interest in recording another take of his vocals for "A Sort of Homecoming". With his taxi to the airport waiting outside, Lanois cued up the tapes for Bono to record one final vocal take. Lanois told the band he would mix it in London and then departed, It has a rich and orchestrated sound and was the first U2 album with a cohesive sound. Eno's atmospheric production, along with more experimental song structures, lent the album an "art-rock sensibility" and "atmospheric rock" style that departed from U2's "hard-hitting post-punk roots", according to Paste magazine's Luke Larson. Both Stereogum and Entertainment Weekly also observed art rock on the album, while The Austin Chronicles Christopher Gray said "the rich textures, impressionistic tableaux, and cinematic landscapes" may not be "art rock per se", but still "served to distance U2 even further from their post-punk peers".

The opening track, "A Sort of Homecoming", immediately shows the change in U2's sound. Like much of the album, the hard-hitting martial drum sound of War was replaced with a subtler polyrhythmic shuffle, and the guitar was no longer as prominent in the mix. The band cited a travelling Japanese art exhibit of the same name as inspiration for both the song and album title. The exhibition, which the band attended in Chicago, commemorated the victims of the bombing of Hiroshima. However, the open-ended lyric, which Bono says "doesn't tell you anything", does not directly reference nuclear warfare. Rather, the lyrics are about travelling to Tokyo.

The album's lyrics are open to many interpretations, which alongside its atmospheric sounds, provides what the band often called a "very visual feel".

References

Footnotes

Bibliography

  • The Unforgettable Fire painting exhibit with images from a couple of prints
  • A description of The Unforgettable Fire exhibit