U2

With help from Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois, U2 created an album that, in losing the Post-Punk guitar, gained instead a gentle, epic moving sound that was both warm and completely emotional. Despite some lyrical pretensions, this is a stunning, beautiful record.

The title of U2's fifth album is perversely suggestive. Over the course of three studio LPs
and one live-in-concert item, this stormy Irish guitar band, borne aloft by its grand,
anthemic roar and an earnest concern for social issues, had ascended to the verge of
substantial rock stardom in this country. Unfortunately, with The Unforgettable Fire, U2
flickers and nearly fades, its fire banked by a misconceived production strategy... More >

Eno has shaped this record to accentuate Bono's wild romantic idealism, and while I prefer his moral force I have to admit that the two are equally beguiling to contemplate and dangerous to take literally. The romanticism gets out of hand with the precious expressionism of "Elvis Presley and America" (enough to make the King doubt this boy's virility), the moralism with the turn-somebody-else's-cheek glorification of Martin Luther King's martyrdom (death stings plenty where I live). But he gets away with it often enough to make a skeptic believe temporarily in miracles. (Grade - B+)