Customer Reviews

Unforgettable Fire (W/Book) (Dlx) (Slip)

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This is a review of the 2009 Deluxe Edition (2CDs) of U2's The Unforgettable Fire.

As a college DJ, I was one of the first Americans exposed to, and to play, the music of U2 when their debut album Boy was released in 1980. That album, together with their third album, War, cemented U2's status as a major rock band. But it was their next studio album, The Unforgettable Fire, that catapulted U2 to superstar status. The experimental nature of U2's first of many collaborations with producer Brian Eno and engineer Daniel Lanois and the strong songwriting on the album, together with a growing awareness that U2 was a unique, politically conscious band, gave U2 a special cache and took them to another level. The following year, U2 was one of the most highly anticipated acts at the 1985 Live Aid concert, and their follow-up studio album, The Joshua Tree, was probably the best album of the 1980s. The groundwork for that masterpiece, however, can be found on The Unforgettable Fire.

Unlike U2's prior, more straightforward, work, The Unforgettable Fire had an atmospheric feel to it, undoubtedly as a result of Brian Eno's involvement. I always felt, however, that the album sounded somewhat muddy, and the initial CD release of the album certainly was. This new re-mastering cleans up the sound without compromising the atmospheric feeling that pervades the album. The album has probably never sounded better than it does here. Larry Mullin's drums, Adam Clayton's bass, the Edge's guitar and Bono's voice just leap from the speakers. The albums closing song, MLK, is just phenomenal.

The second bonus disc is not too shabby either. It includes various B sides and outtakes, including all of the Wide Awake in America EP. That EP's "live" versions of Bad and A Sort Of Homecoming are actually superior to the studio versions, and they sound terrific on this new re-mastering. The second disk also includes a cameo appearance by Peter Gabriel on another version of A Sort Of Homecoming.
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The Deluxe version is very nicely packaged in the same manner as U2's prior "deluxe" releases (The Joshua Tree, Boy, October, War and Under A Blood Red Sky). The CDs are housed in a booklet that contains the lyrics to the songs on the original album as well as some nice pictures and essays by Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois, Bert van de Kamp (commenting on the album) and the Edge (commenting on the bonus material).

So is the deluxe version worth ponying up the dough if you already own copies of the music? That depends on how big a U2 fan you are. There is no doubting that this is a nicely packaged much better sounding version of a classic album with some excellent and some interesting bonus material.

U2 in a rare pantheon of artists, being together for over 30 years, fans get the rare gift of seeing the band evolve musically before their collective eyes. The Unforgettable Fire was the first album produced with Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois, and represents a huge leap forward both musically and lyrically. This album represents the sound of the band that would become the mega-selling act for decades to come.

The remastering reveals who new layers to the music, a crispness and clarity that only enhances epic tracks like THE UNFORGETTABLE FIRE, BAD and PRIDE (IN THE NAME OF LOVE). The bonus disc confirms the power of the bands live performances, and growing strength of the bands songwriting, with tracks like DISAPPEARING ACT and YOSHINO BLOSSOM so strong, its surprising they didn't make the final cut.

Well worth revisiting THE UNFORGETTABLE FIRE!

This pristine remaster, supervised by The Edge himself, is a must for all fans of U2's 1984 breakout album. A number of great bass lines and synth parts are much more audible now, while the more familiar guitar and vocal parts are clearer and brighter sounding.

As with any great remastered record, there will be parts you'll feel you're hearing for the first time, even though you've listened to them countless times before. Remember how it first felt to upgrade from cassette tapes to CD? (dating myself, aren't I?) Well, that's how it felt when I first listened to this remaster.

For those who are not yet familiar, UF contains some of the band's all-time greatest efforts, including the soaring "A Sort of Homecoming," the all-time classic "Pride (In the Name of Love)," and the stirring title track. The album is a heady hybrid of dreamy and abstract alt-rock experimentation, side by side with propulsive and impassioned rock anthems. UF was easily the band's best record to date, and clearly paved the way for their '86 masterpiece, THE JOSHUA TREE.

But I think most buyers are already familiar with this classic record, so I'll get to the bonus disc.

PROS:

The brilliant new song, "Disappearing Act," recorded this year between concerts in France, is a track that keeps getting better after even a dozen or more listens. Complex, melodic, and featuring a distinctive metallic drum beat, this was originally an unfinished track from the '84 Slane sessions.

The WIDE AWAKE IN AMERICA EP is included in full here, with the songs reshuffled to flow better. The live version of "Bad" is far better than the original LP version, and "Three Sunrises" should not only have been included on THE UNFORGETTABLE FIRE, but it should have been the first or second single!

The previously unreleased instrumental track is fantastic, a sort of sonic bridge between "New Year's Day" and "The Unforgettable Fire," with Edge once again doing double-duty on guitars and piano. Curtains of howling electro-feedback and a great performace from the rythym section make "Blossom" a total winner.

The B-side "Sixty Seconds in Kingdom Come" has always been a favorite of mine, although it is often regarded as a throw-away. See what you think....

But Danny Lanois' stupendous remix of "A Sort of Homecoming" is what makes this disc an absolute must for all U2 fans. Lanois essentially replaced Edge's ethereal guitars with driving acoustic rythyms and a brilliant recontextualizing of the "Oh- come-away" chant. It's hard to believe, but this version is even better than the real thing.

CONS:

"4th of July" and "11 O'Clock Tick-Tock" seem like filler material, as they are virtually identical to the original versions. The single version of "Pride" is also almost identical, although its extra repetitions of the chorus is pretty cool.

The rare old-school remixes of "Wire" are good, but not great. One is pretty similar to the album version, while the "Celtic Dub" mix shakes things up more.

The b-side tracks are all interesting, if not spectacular. The ambient "Bass Trap" is almost unrecognizable as a U2 song, and the "Boomerangs" never seem to go anywhere...kind of like actual boomerangs, really....

SO...

All in all, this is probably the best of the bonus discs from the recent series of Edge-supervised remasters (BOY through JOSHUA TREE, so far). The unreleased material is sweet, WIDE AWAKE IN AMERICA sounds better than ever, and the "Homecoming" remix is beyond the beyond.

In short, an absolute must for all hard-core U2 fans. Now let's hope they hurry up and get working on that super-duper-deluxe ACHTUNG BABY remaster...

When U2 released "The Unforgettable Fire" in 1984, I didn't much care for it. And neither did many of the fans and critics who had loved every track off the "War" album the previous year. Compared to "War," "The Unforgettable Fire" felt rushed, overly dramatic, and unfinished. I didn't listen to it a whole lot. Sure, "A Sort of Homecoming" and "Pride" were great songs, and typical of the rock arena sound I had come to expect from Dublin's greatest rock band, but the rest of the album fell flat. To be ironic, it was forgettable.

It is to my amazement now that the deluxe re-issue of this CD is so incredibly enjoyable. The original CD has been re-mastered and sounds fantastic. It's crisp and clear, and Adam Clayton's bass is no longer buried under the muddled "treatments" of the producers. The real treat here, however, is the Bonus Audio CD, which contains the original "Wide Awake In America" EP, as well as so many other great tracks that I'm left wondering why the band chose the songs they did for the original album. Any of the B-Sides or Remixes from this Bonus CD would have been better than "Promenade" or "Elvis Presley and America."

In addition, the full lyrics to all the original songs are reproduced here. (The original vinyl album only printed lyrics to "A Sort of Homecoming.") The CD booklet also contains some terrific photos of the band, and - believe it or not - they're not all blurry the way Anton Corbijn typically presents U2. A series of commentaries by Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois, U2 biographer Bert van de Kamp, and The Edge round out the CD package.

Highly recommended for anyone who owns the original "Unforgettable Fire."

"The Unforgettable Fire" is U2's best album and is a sonic ambient trance masterpiece. 25 years ago the boys from Dublin, aided by the magical production talents of Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois created one of the most remarkable recordings in rock history, including "Bad" - the best song of all time.

An impressionistic sonic landscape textured with transcendent chords of ringing infinite guitars, emotional howls of holy hell, and chthonic rhythms that plant the whole glorious cathedral firmly in the earth.

"And you hunger for the time
Time to heal, desire, time
And your earth moves beneath
Your own dream landscape."

Indeed.

I always had a cassette of this album. The original CD sounded completely tinny and whenever I came across a copy on vinyl, it had that thin, poorly pressed look. The Unforgettable Fire was near the top of my short list for albums needing remasters.

The new edition of this album does sound better than I've ever heard it before, so if you dig it, you need to track down a copy. Unfortunately, the new mastering also seems to have that overly compressed sound thats tends to mar otherwise strong recordings. This problem is often referred to as the "loudness war" where all the sounds, quiet and loud, are pushed almost into the red (supposedly this sounds better on ipods, although I would disagree). Since this is such a dynamic, textured album, this is a pretty major issue. Some of the ambient experiments like "MLK" and "Elvis Presley and America" come out sounding muddled, and the hits like "Pride" and "Bad" are missing some of their edge (although obviously not the Edge). I would still say that the "1980-1990" best-of from ten years ago is still a better place to hear those songs.

Even if I'm a little disappointed in the sound reproduction, I'm really happy with the bonus CD (although it still suffers from over-compression). "Disappearing Act" is a great song, and many of the outtakes would have fit perfectly well on the proper album. The addition of the "Wide Awake in America" EP is also a huge plus.

This is definitely the best that this album has sounded outside of the studio, but I can't help but notice the darker side of modern mastering rearing its ugly head. Fortunately, the quality of the music still comes through and "The Unforgettable Fire" holds its head high as U2's best 'experimental' album.

My personal favorite U2 album (first of their studio albums I owned in its entirety way back when)

This gem of a collection from 1984 desperately needed a sonic upgrade and it greatly benefits from the effort. The original CD was of such poor sound quality that it hurt the music underneath.

Now, experience crisper highs, non-muddy bass, sharper snare hits (in fact - every drum hit is distinct and separate and not just a continuous rumble)... vocals lifted from a murky mix... little fade out moments that were not audible on previous versions.

Plus you get the entire Wide Awake in America EP (sequenced differently) on CD2... along with other tasty bonus tracks.

The Unforgettable Fire marked a distinct turn in U2's sound. It was the first album to be produced by Daniel Lanois & Brian Eno and the album has a fuller, more ethereal sound as compared to their earlier work, but there is still that sense of rebellion and immediacy. The album's single "Pride (In The Name Of Love)" is great example of the combination of the sounds. It has a driving beat, but with the Lanois/Eno production, it has a much fuller sound than say a "Sunday Bloody Sunday", but is no less powerful. "A Sort Of A Homecoming" is a beautiful, lush song that opens the album while "Wire" and the title track are pulsating, powerful songs. "Bad" may well be the best song the band has every done. A song about the perils of heroin addiction, it has the compassionate The Unforgettable Fire marked a distinct turn in U2's sound. It was the first album to be produced by Daniel Lanois & Brian Eno and the album has a fuller, more ethereal sound as compared to their earlier work, but there is still that sense of rebellion and immediacy. The album's single "Pride (In The Name Of Love)" is great example of the combination of the sounds. It has a driving beat, but with the Lanois/Eno production, it has a much fuller sound than say a "Sunday Bloody Sunday", but is no less powerful. "A Sort Of A Homecoming" is a beautiful, lush song that opens the album while "Wire" and the title track are pulsating, powerful songs. "Bad" may well be the best song the band has every done. A song about the perils of heroin addiction, it has the compassionate & understanding lyrics and anthem like quality that the band is best known for. Granted that some of the songs like "Elvis Presley & America" and "4th of July" are not the best they every done, but the bulk of the album is classic U2. The bonus disk has some nice rarities including the four songs that made up the Wide Awake In America EP that features two stunning live performances of "A Sort Of Homecoming" & "Bad".

With so many albums getting the so-called "deluxe" treatment, it's so exciting to see this incredible album finally get the same. "A Sort Of Homecoming (Live)" has to be one of my favorite U2 tracks ever and along with all the other bonus material here, it's the perfect addition to my U2 collection. This one will be on repeat for awhile.

2-Disc CD with well done versions and songs new to me. Book(let) informative with beautiful photos. A souvenir. Good buy.