The Unforgettable Fire
Encyclopedia
U2 feared that following the overt rock of their 1983 War album and War Tour
, they were in danger of becoming another "shrill", "sloganeering arena-rock band". The success of the 1983 Under a Blood Red Sky
live album and the Live at Red Rocks
video, however, had given them artistic—and for the first time—financial room to move. Following a show at Dublin's Phoenix Park Racecourse
in August 1983, one of the final dates of the War Tour
, lead vocalist Bono
spoke in metaphors about the band breaking up and reforming with a different direction. In the 10th issue of U2 magazine, issued in February 1984, Bono hinted at radical changes on the next album saying that he couldn't "sleep at night with the thought of it all" and that they were "undertaking a real departure". As bassist Adam Clayton
recalls, "We were looking for something that was a bit more serious, more arty."
The band had recorded their first three albums with producer
Steve Lillywhite
, and rather than create the "son of War", they sought experimentation. Both Lillywhite and the band agreed that it was time for a change of producers and not to "repeat the same formula". The band had considered using Jimmy Iovine
to produce a new record. However, they found their early musical ideas for the album to be too "European" for an American producer. They also considered approaching Conny Plank
, whose previous credits included Can
and Kraftwerk
, and Roxy Music
producer Rhett Davies
.
Guitarist The Edge
had a long appreciation of musician Brian Eno
's work, and admired his ambient
and "weird works". The band were also fond of his work with Talking Heads
. Having never worked with music such as U2's, Eno was also initially reluctant. When the band played him Under a Blood Red Sky, his eyes "glazed over" at its overt rockness. Eno had brought along his engineer
Daniel Lanois
to his meeting with U2 intending to recommend Lanois work with the band instead. Eno's earlier doubts were resolved by Bono's power of persuasion and his increasing perception of what he called "U2's lyrical soul in abundance", traits which had become less evident on the rockist War album. Eno commented that the band were "constantly struggling against it as if as if they were frightened of being overpowered by some softness". Eno was impressed by how they spoke, which was not in terms of music or playing, but in terms of their contributions to the "identity of the band as a whole". Eno and Lanois eventually agreed to produce the record. Eno explained that he focussed on the ideas and conceptual aspects, while Lanois handled the production aspects. In Bill Graham's words, Eno's task was to "help them mature a new, more experimental and European musical vocabulary". Island Records
boss Chris Blackwell
initially tried to talk them out of hiring Eno, believing that just when the band were about to achieve the highest levels of success, Eno would "bury them under a layer of avant-garde nonsense". Nick Stewart, also of Island Records, said that at the time he thought they were "mad", but that the group's decision to stretch themselves and find an extra dimension became the "turning point in their career".
The songs "Pride (In the Name of Love)
", "The Unforgettable Fire
", and "A Sort of Homecoming
" were worked up at Bono's house in a Martello Tower
in Bray
Co. Wicklow. Recording for the album began in early May 1984, with a month-long session at Slane Castle
, County Meath. Windmill Lane Studios
, where they had recorded their first three albums, had no live room, so instead, Slane was chosen as a venue where they could record and play live in rooms with good sound quality. The band and crew stayed in the castle, and living together during the sessions fostered a camaraderie. They chose the castle's Gothic ballroom, which was specifically built for music with a 30-foot high domed ceiling, and it provided a relaxed and experimental atmosphere. It proved so relaxed, that one day, the band went so far as to record naked. "We got into gaffer art", commented Bono. Their approach at Slane was that rather than use effects and reverberation to revitalise usual studio sound, they would do the opposite and use a live room to "tame...[their]...wild sound".
Randy Ezratty's company Effanel Music, who recorded U2 in Boston and Red Rocks the previous year, was hired with his (then unique) portable 24-track recording system. His equipment was set up in the castle's library with cables run into the adjacent ballroom where the band played. The generator powering the studio often broke down and most of The Edge's guitar parts were recorded with the amplifier outside on the balcony with plastic over it to shelter it from the rain. The ballroom turned out to be too large, so recording was moved to a library in the castle which was smaller, surrounded them by books, and provided improved sound quality. Barry Devlin
and his film crew visited the castle to make a documentary for RTE-TV about the sessions. The 30-minute programme, The Making of The Unforgettable Fire was released in 1985 on VHS as part of the The Unforgettable Fire Collection.
According to The Edge, Eno was more interested in the more unconventional material and didn't take much interest in "Pride (In the Name of Love)" or "The Unforgettable Fire". However, Lanois would "cover for him" such that the two balanced each other out. Much of the album was later recast in the Windmill Lane Studios
, where they recorded from 6 June to 5 August. Keyboards were used for the first time on a U2 album, with a Fairlight CMI
used to work up a number of songs, the textures of which were later filled out with strings and other orchestration. At Windmill, tension grew between the production team and the band when largely because the band "couldn't finish anything". Twelve days before the official finishing date, Bono announced he couldn't finish the lyrics, and the band worked 20-hour days for the final two weeks. Bono later said he felt songs like "Bad" and "Pride (In the Name of Love)" were left as incomplete "sketches."
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 is replaced with a subtler polyrhythm
ic shuffle, and the guitar is no longer as prominent in the mix. Typical of the album, the track "The Unforgettable Fire
", with a string arrangement by Noel Kelehan
, has a rich, symphonic sound built from ambient guitar and driving rhythm; a lyrical "sketch" that is an "emotional travelogue" with a "heartfelt sense of yearning". The band cite 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" do 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". Bono had recently been immersing himself in fiction, philosophy and poetry, and came to realise that his song writing mission—which up to that point had been a reluctant one on his behalf—was a poetic one. Bono felt songs like "Bad" and "Pride (In the Name of Love)" were best left as incomplete "sketches", and he said that "The Unforgettable Fire was a beautifully out-of-focus record, blurred like an impressionist
painting, very unlike a billboard or an advertising slogan."
The melody and the chords to "Pride (In the Name of Love)
" originally came out of a 1983 War Tour sound check in Hawaii
. The song was originally intended to be about Ronald Reagan
's pride in America's military power, but Bono was influenced by Stephen B. Oates
's book about Martin Luther King, Jr.
titled Let The Trumpet Sound: A Life of Martin Luther King, Jr. and a biography of Malcolm X
to ponder the different sides of the civil rights campaigns, the violent and the non-violent. Bono would revise the lyrics to pay tribute to King. "Pride" went through many changes and re-recordings, as captured in a documentary included on the The Unforgettable Fire Collection video. "Pride" is the most conventional song on the album—Tony Fletcher of Jamming! magazine said at the time it was most commercial song U2 had written—and it was chosen as the album's first single.
On "Wire" Bono tried to convey his ambivalence to drugs. It is a fast-paced song built on a light funk drum groove. The song shows the influence of Talking Heads
, with whom Eno had worked. Much of the song was improvised by Bono at the microphone.
The ambient instrumental "4th of July" came about almost entirely through a moment of inspiration from Eno. At the end of a studio session, Eno overheard Clayton improvising a simple bass figure and recorded it "ad hoc" as it was being played. The Edge happened to join in, improvising a few guitar ideas over the top of Clayton's bass; neither knew they were being recorded. Eno added some treatments and then transferred the piece straight to two-track master tape — and that was the song finished, with no possibility of further overdubs.
Bono tried to describe the rush and then come down of heroin use in the song "Bad
".
"Elvis Presley and America" is an improvisation, based on a slowed-down backing track from "A Sort of Homecoming", that takes the album's emphasis on feeling over clarity to its furthest extreme. Another song, "Indian Summer Sky", was a social commentary on the prison-like atmosphere of city living in a world of natural forces.
The sparse, dreamlike "MLK
" was written as an elegy
to King.
in Chicago
by survivors of the atomic bombs
at Hiroshima
and Nagasaki, Japan
. The band spent a few days driving around Ireland with photographer Anton Corbijn
looking for potential locations. The castle depicted on the cover is Moydrum Castle
. The band liked the image's ambiguity and the Irish mysticism they saw in it. The photograph, however, was a virtual copy of a picture on the cover of a 1980 book In Ruins: The Once Great Houses of Ireland by Simon Marsden
, for which U2 had to pay compensation. It was taken from the same spot and used the same polarising filter technique, but with the addition of the four band members.
"Pride (In the Name of Love)
" was released as the album's lead single in September 1984, and it was at that point the band's biggest hit. It cracked the UK
Top 5 and the U.S.
Top 40 and would ultimately become the group's most frequently played song in concerts.
"The Unforgettable Fire
" was released as the second single in April 1985. The song became the band's third Top 10 hit in the UK, reaching #6 on the UK Singles Chart
and #8 on the Dutch singles chart, but did not perform as well in the U.S.
wrote in 1996 that The Unforgettable Fire was U2's most pivotal album and that it was "their coming of age that saved their lives as a creative unit." Niall Stokes, also of Hot Press said that "one or two tracks were undercooked" due to the deadline crush but that it was U2's "first album with a cohesive sound" on which "U2 were reborn". Rolling Stone
magazine gave the album a score of 3/5 stars, compared to the 4/5 stars given to the two previous albums, Under a Blood Red Sky and War. In the review, Kurt Loder
said that "with The Unforgettable Fire, U2 flickers and nearly fades, its fire banked by a misconceived production strategy and occasional interludes of soggy, songless self-indulgence. This is not a 'bad' album, but neither is it the irrefutable beauty the band's fans anticipated."
Tony Fletcher of Jamming! said it was not "...an album full of hits. [It is however] a forceful collection of atmospheric ideas and themes, forgettable at first but strangely haunting and soon firmly implanted." and that Eno's production has removed some of the "heavy metal" from U2 and replaced "emotion [as] the driving force".
, which the band had previously been reluctant to use. Sequencers were prominently used on songs like "The Unforgettable Fire" and "Bad"; since then, sequencers are now used on the majority of U2 songs in live performances. Songs criticised as being "unfinished", "fuzzy" and "unfocused" on the album made more sense on stage. Rolling Stone
magazine, for example, critical of the album version of "Bad", described its live performance as a 'show stopper'.
U2 participated in the Live Aid
concert at Wembley Stadium for Ethiopia
n famine relief in July 1985. U2's performance was one of the show's most memorable; during the song "Bad", Bono leapt down off the stage to embrace and dance with a fan. Initially thinking they'd "blown it", it was, in fact, a breakthrough moment for the band, showing a television audience of millions the personal connection that Bono could make with audiences. All of U2's previous albums went back into the charts in the UK after their transcendent performance. In 1985, Rolling Stone magazine called U2 the "Band of the 80's," saying that "for a growing number of rock-and-roll fans, U2 have become the band that matters most, maybe even the only band that matters."
remastered the album and released it as a special gold CD. This edition has slightly different running times, most notably an extended 2:39 version of the instrumental "4th of July".
In 1985, the band also released the supplementary Wide Awake in America
EP
, which offers live performances of "Bad" and "A Sort of Homecoming" along with two B-sides
(previously unavailable in North America
).
compilation contained the album's music video
s and a 30-minute making-of documentary
of the album. James Morris is credited as Producer. The documentary was later included as a bonus feature on the band's live video release, U2 Go Home: Live from Slane Castle
, as the site of the concert film—Slane Castle
—was the same as the location of the documentary.
. The album's remastering
was directed by The Edge
, who also directed the remastering of the band's previous releases. Four physical editions of the album are available, two of which contain a bonus CD, and one with a DVD. The bonus CD features B-sides from the album, live tracks and two previously unreleased songs: "Disappearing Act" and "Yoshino Blossom." The DVD features the same material as the original VHS version.
The four editions are as follows:
Songs
Additional personnel
War Tour
The War Tour was a concert tour by the Irish rock band U2, which took place in 1982 and 1983 in support of the group's third album War. It was their first tour as full-time headlining acts....
, they were in danger of becoming another "shrill", "sloganeering arena-rock band". The success of the 1983 Under a Blood Red Sky
Under a Blood Red Sky
During the performance of "The Electric Co.", Bono included a 27 second snippet of Stephen Sondheim's "Send in the Clowns". When Under a Blood Red Sky was released, U2 failed to get permission and pay the appropriate licensing and royalty fees to include that piece of Sondheim's tune on the album...
live album and the Live at Red Rocks
Live at Red Rocks: Under a Blood Red Sky
U2 Live at Red Rocks: Under a Blood Red Sky is a concert film by Irish rock band U2. It was recorded on 5 June 1983 at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado, United States on the group's War Tour...
video, however, had given them artistic—and for the first time—financial room to move. Following a show at Dublin's Phoenix Park Racecourse
Phoenix Park Racecourse
Phoenix Park Racecourse is a former horse racing venue in Ireland. It was located in the north-west corner of Dublin on the northern edge of Phoenix Park. The course was founded by J. H. H. Peard, and racing began there in 1902....
in August 1983, one of the final dates of the War Tour
War Tour
The War Tour was a concert tour by the Irish rock band U2, which took place in 1982 and 1983 in support of the group's third album War. It was their first tour as full-time headlining acts....
, lead vocalist Bono
Bono
Paul David Hewson , most commonly known by his stage name Bono , is an Irish singer, musician, and humanitarian best known for being the main vocalist of the Dublin-based rock band U2. Bono was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, and attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School where he met his...
spoke in metaphors about the band breaking up and reforming with a different direction. In the 10th issue of U2 magazine, issued in February 1984, Bono hinted at radical changes on the next album saying that he couldn't "sleep at night with the thought of it all" and that they were "undertaking a real departure". As bassist Adam Clayton
Adam Clayton
Adam Charles Clayton is a musician, best known as the bassist of the Irish rock band U2. Clayton has resided in County Dublin since the time his family moved to Malahide when he was five years old in 1965...
recalls, "We were looking for something that was a bit more serious, more arty."
The band had recorded their first three albums with producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
Steve Lillywhite
Steve Lillywhite
Steve Lillywhite is an English Grammy Award winning record producer. Since he began his career in 1977, Lillywhite has been credited for working on over 500 records and has collaborated with a variety of musicians including XTC, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Dave Matthews Band, U2, Peter Gabriel,...
, and rather than create the "son of War", they sought experimentation. Both Lillywhite and the band agreed that it was time for a change of producers and not to "repeat the same formula". The band had considered using Jimmy Iovine
Jimmy Iovine
James "Jimmy" Iovine is an American music producer, entrepreneur and chairman of Interscope-Geffen-A&M.-Biography:...
to produce a new record. However, they found their early musical ideas for the album to be too "European" for an American producer. They also considered approaching Conny Plank
Conny Plank
Konrad "Conny" Plank was a German record producer and musician. He was born in Hütschenhausen. His creativity as a sound engineer and producer helped to shape some of the most important and innovative recordings of postwar European popular music, covering a wide range of genres including...
, whose previous credits included Can
Can (band)
Can was an experimental rock band formed in Cologne, West Germany in 1968. Later labeled as one of the first "krautrock" groups, they transcended mainstream influences and incorporated strong minimalist and world music elements into their often psychedelic music.Can constructed their music largely...
and Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk is an influential electronic music band from Düsseldorf, Germany. The group was formed by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider in 1970, and was fronted by them until Schneider's departure in 2008...
, and Roxy Music
Roxy Music
Roxy Music was a British art rock band formed in 1971 by Bryan Ferry, who became the group's lead vocalist and chief songwriter, and bassist Graham Simpson. The other members are Phil Manzanera , Andy Mackay and Paul Thompson . Former members include Brian Eno , and Eddie Jobson...
producer Rhett Davies
Rhett Davies
Rhett Davies is an English record producer and engineer.Rhett Davies' father was trumpet player Ray Davies; they are no relation to Ray Davies of The Kinks. Davies became a studio engineer at Island Records studios in the early 1970s, and his first session was the recording process for Brian Eno's...
.
Guitarist The Edge
The Edge
David Howell Evans , more widely known by his stage name The Edge , is a musician best known as the guitarist, backing vocalist, and keyboardist of the Irish rock band U2. A member of the group since its inception, he has recorded 12 studio albums with the band and has released one solo record...
had a long appreciation of musician Brian Eno
Brian Eno
Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...
's work, and admired his ambient
Ambient music
Ambient music is a musical genre that focuses largely on the timbral characteristics of sounds, often organized or performed to evoke an "atmospheric", "visual" or "unobtrusive" quality.- History :...
and "weird works". The band were also fond of his work with Talking Heads
Talking Heads
Talking Heads were an American New Wave and avant-garde band formed in 1975 in New York City and active until 1991. The band comprised David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth and Jerry Harrison...
. Having never worked with music such as U2's, Eno was also initially reluctant. When the band played him Under a Blood Red Sky, his eyes "glazed over" at its overt rockness. Eno had brought along his engineer
Audio engineering
An audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including...
Daniel Lanois
Daniel Lanois
Daniel Lanois born September 19, 1951 in Hull, Quebec) is a Canadian record producer, guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. He has released a number of albums of his own work and has produced albums for a wide variety of artists, including Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Peter Gabriel, Emmylou Harris, Willie...
to his meeting with U2 intending to recommend Lanois work with the band instead. Eno's earlier doubts were resolved by Bono's power of persuasion and his increasing perception of what he called "U2's lyrical soul in abundance", traits which had become less evident on the rockist War album. Eno commented that the band were "constantly struggling against it as if as if they were frightened of being overpowered by some softness". Eno was impressed by how they spoke, which was not in terms of music or playing, but in terms of their contributions to the "identity of the band as a whole". Eno and Lanois eventually agreed to produce the record. Eno explained that he focussed on the ideas and conceptual aspects, while Lanois handled the production aspects. In Bill Graham's words, Eno's task was to "help them mature a new, more experimental and European musical vocabulary". Island Records
Island Records
Island Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group...
boss Chris Blackwell
Chris Blackwell
Christopher Percy Gordon "Chris" Blackwell is a British record producer and businessman, who was the founder of Island Records, acknowledged as the most successful and groundbreaking independent record company in history. Blackwell has been a music industry mogul for over fifty years...
initially tried to talk them out of hiring Eno, believing that just when the band were about to achieve the highest levels of success, Eno would "bury them under a layer of avant-garde nonsense". Nick Stewart, also of Island Records, said that at the time he thought they were "mad", but that the group's decision to stretch themselves and find an extra dimension became the "turning point in their career".
Recording and production
Pride (In the Name of Love)
"Pride " is a song by Irish rock band U2. The second track on the band's 1984 album, The Unforgettable Fire, it was released as the album's lead single in September 1984...
", "The Unforgettable Fire
The Unforgettable Fire (song)
"The Unforgettable Fire" is a song by rock band U2. The fourth song on their 1984 album The Unforgettable Fire, it was released as the album's second single in April 1985. The band cite an art exhibition by victims of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that was held at the Peace Museum...
", and "A Sort of Homecoming
A Sort of Homecoming (song)
"A Sort of Homecoming" is the first track of U2's 1984 album, The Unforgettable Fire. A live version of the track is found on 1985's four-track EP, Wide Awake in America.-Composition:...
" were worked up at Bono's house in a Martello Tower
Martello tower
Martello towers are small defensive forts built in several countries of the British Empire during the 19th century, from the time of the Napoleonic Wars onwards....
in Bray
Bray
Bray is a town in north County Wicklow, Ireland. It is a busy urban centre and seaside resort, with a population of 31,901 making it the fourth largest in Ireland as of the 2006 census...
Co. Wicklow. Recording for the album began in early May 1984, with a month-long session at Slane Castle
Slane Castle
Slane Castle is located in the town of Slane, within the Boyne Valley of County Meath, Ireland. The castle has been the family home of the Conyngham Marquessate since the 18th century....
, County Meath. Windmill Lane Studios
Windmill Lane Studios
Windmill Lane Studios, also known as the "U2 studio", is a three-storey music recording studio located in Dublin, Ireland. It is located on Windmill Lane, a small street just south of City Quay and the River Liffey and a little north of Pearse Station. It was opened in 1978 by Brian Masterson who...
, where they had recorded their first three albums, had no live room, so instead, Slane was chosen as a venue where they could record and play live in rooms with good sound quality. The band and crew stayed in the castle, and living together during the sessions fostered a camaraderie. They chose the castle's Gothic ballroom, which was specifically built for music with a 30-foot high domed ceiling, and it provided a relaxed and experimental atmosphere. It proved so relaxed, that one day, the band went so far as to record naked. "We got into gaffer art", commented Bono. Their approach at Slane was that rather than use effects and reverberation to revitalise usual studio sound, they would do the opposite and use a live room to "tame...[their]...wild sound".
Randy Ezratty's company Effanel Music, who recorded U2 in Boston and Red Rocks the previous year, was hired with his (then unique) portable 24-track recording system. His equipment was set up in the castle's library with cables run into the adjacent ballroom where the band played. The generator powering the studio often broke down and most of The Edge's guitar parts were recorded with the amplifier outside on the balcony with plastic over it to shelter it from the rain. The ballroom turned out to be too large, so recording was moved to a library in the castle which was smaller, surrounded them by books, and provided improved sound quality. Barry Devlin
Barry Devlin
Barry Devlin is an Irish musician, screen writer and director.-Early life:Devlin is from Ardboe, Moortown, County Tyrone...
and his film crew visited the castle to make a documentary for RTE-TV about the sessions. The 30-minute programme, The Making of The Unforgettable Fire was released in 1985 on VHS as part of the The Unforgettable Fire Collection.
According to The Edge, Eno was more interested in the more unconventional material and didn't take much interest in "Pride (In the Name of Love)" or "The Unforgettable Fire". However, Lanois would "cover for him" such that the two balanced each other out. Much of the album was later recast in the Windmill Lane Studios
Windmill Lane Studios
Windmill Lane Studios, also known as the "U2 studio", is a three-storey music recording studio located in Dublin, Ireland. It is located on Windmill Lane, a small street just south of City Quay and the River Liffey and a little north of Pearse Station. It was opened in 1978 by Brian Masterson who...
, where they recorded from 6 June to 5 August. Keyboards were used for the first time on a U2 album, with a Fairlight CMI
Fairlight CMI
The Fairlight CMI is a digital sampling synthesizer. It was designed in 1979 by the founders of Fairlight, Peter Vogel and Kim Ryrie, and based on a dual-6800 microprocessor computer designed by Tony Furse in Sydney, Australia...
used to work up a number of songs, the textures of which were later filled out with strings and other orchestration. At Windmill, tension grew between the production team and the band when largely because the band "couldn't finish anything". Twelve days before the official finishing date, Bono announced he couldn't finish the lyrics, and the band worked 20-hour days for the final two weeks. Bono later said he felt songs like "Bad" and "Pride (In the Name of Love)" were left as incomplete "sketches."
Composition
A far more atmospheric album than the previous War, The Unforgettable Fire was at the time was the band's most dramatic change in direction. It has a rich and orchestrated sound and was the first U2 album with a cohesive sound. Under Lanois' direction, Larry's drumming became looser, funkier and more subtle, and Adam's bass became more subliminal, such that the rhythm section no longer intruded, but flowed in support of the songs.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 is replaced with a subtler polyrhythm
Polyrhythm
Polyrhythm is the simultaneous sounding of two or more independent rhythms.Polyrhythm in general is a nonspecific term for the simultaneous occurrence of two or more conflicting rhythms, of which cross-rhythm is a specific and definable subset.—Novotney Polyrhythms can be distinguished from...
ic shuffle, and the guitar is no longer as prominent in the mix. Typical of the album, the track "The Unforgettable Fire
The Unforgettable Fire (song)
"The Unforgettable Fire" is a song by rock band U2. The fourth song on their 1984 album The Unforgettable Fire, it was released as the album's second single in April 1985. The band cite an art exhibition by victims of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that was held at the Peace Museum...
", with a string arrangement by Noel Kelehan
Noel Kelehan
Noel Kelehan is an Irish musician, former conductor of the RTÉ Concert Orchestra and former musical director of Radio Telefís Éireann. He retired as conductor in 1998.-Bio:...
, has a rich, symphonic sound built from ambient guitar and driving rhythm; a lyrical "sketch" that is an "emotional travelogue" with a "heartfelt sense of yearning". The band cite 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
Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
During the final stages of World War II in 1945, the United States conducted two atomic bombings against the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, the first on August 6, 1945, and the second on August 9, 1945. These two events are the only use of nuclear weapons in war to date.For six months...
. However, the open-ended lyric, which Bono says "doesn't tell you anything" do not directly reference nuclear warfare. Rather, the lyrics are about travelling to Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
.
The album's lyrics are open to many interpretations, which alongside its atmospheric sounds, provides what the band often called a "very visual feel". Bono had recently been immersing himself in fiction, philosophy and poetry, and came to realise that his song writing mission—which up to that point had been a reluctant one on his behalf—was a poetic one. Bono felt songs like "Bad" and "Pride (In the Name of Love)" were best left as incomplete "sketches", and he said that "The Unforgettable Fire was a beautifully out-of-focus record, blurred like an impressionist
Impressionism
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement that originated with a group of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence during the 1870s and 1880s...
painting, very unlike a billboard or an advertising slogan."
The melody and the chords to "Pride (In the Name of Love)
Pride (In the Name of Love)
"Pride " is a song by Irish rock band U2. The second track on the band's 1984 album, The Unforgettable Fire, it was released as the album's lead single in September 1984...
" originally came out of a 1983 War Tour sound check in Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
. The song was originally intended to be about Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
's pride in America's military power, but Bono was influenced by Stephen B. Oates
Stephen B. Oates
Stephen B. Oates is a former professor of history at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He is an expert in 19th-century United States history....
's book about Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for being an iconic figure in the advancement of civil rights in the United States and around the world, using nonviolent methods following the...
titled Let The Trumpet Sound: A Life of Martin Luther King, Jr. and a biography of Malcolm X
Malcolm X
Malcolm X , born Malcolm Little and also known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz , was an African American Muslim minister and human rights activist. To his admirers he was a courageous advocate for the rights of African Americans, a man who indicted white America in the harshest terms for its...
to ponder the different sides of the civil rights campaigns, the violent and the non-violent. Bono would revise the lyrics to pay tribute to King. "Pride" went through many changes and re-recordings, as captured in a documentary included on the The Unforgettable Fire Collection video. "Pride" is the most conventional song on the album—Tony Fletcher of Jamming! magazine said at the time it was most commercial song U2 had written—and it was chosen as the album's first single.
On "Wire" Bono tried to convey his ambivalence to drugs. It is a fast-paced song built on a light funk drum groove. The song shows the influence of Talking Heads
Talking Heads
Talking Heads were an American New Wave and avant-garde band formed in 1975 in New York City and active until 1991. The band comprised David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth and Jerry Harrison...
, with whom Eno had worked. Much of the song was improvised by Bono at the microphone.
The ambient instrumental "4th of July" came about almost entirely through a moment of inspiration from Eno. At the end of a studio session, Eno overheard Clayton improvising a simple bass figure and recorded it "ad hoc" as it was being played. The Edge happened to join in, improvising a few guitar ideas over the top of Clayton's bass; neither knew they were being recorded. Eno added some treatments and then transferred the piece straight to two-track master tape — and that was the song finished, with no possibility of further overdubs.
Bono tried to describe the rush and then come down of heroin use in the song "Bad
Bad (U2 song)
"Bad" is a song by rock band U2 and the seventh track from their 1984 album, The Unforgettable Fire. A song about heroin addiction, it is considered a fan favourite, and is one of U2's most frequently performed songs in concert....
".
"Elvis Presley and America" is an improvisation, based on a slowed-down backing track from "A Sort of Homecoming", that takes the album's emphasis on feeling over clarity to its furthest extreme. Another song, "Indian Summer Sky", was a social commentary on the prison-like atmosphere of city living in a world of natural forces.
The sparse, dreamlike "MLK
MLK (song)
"MLK" is the tenth and final song from U2's 1984 album, The Unforgettable Fire. A lullaby to honor Martin Luther King, Jr., it is a short, pensive piece with simple lyrics...
" was written as an elegy
Elegy
In literature, an elegy is a mournful, melancholic or plaintive poem, especially a funeral song or a lament for the dead.-History:The Greek term elegeia originally referred to any verse written in elegiac couplets and covering a wide range of subject matter, including epitaphs for tombs...
to King.
Album and single releases
The Unforgettable Fire was released on 1 October 1984. The album took its name and much of its inspiration from a Japanese travelling exhibition of paintings and drawings at The Peace MuseumThe Peace Museum
The Peace Museum in Chicago was founded in 1981 by Mark Rogovin and Marjorie Craig Benton, a former US UNICEF representative. It was one of two peace museums in the US. The other is the Dayton International Peace Museum...
in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
by survivors of the atomic bombs
Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
During the final stages of World War II in 1945, the United States conducted two atomic bombings against the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, the first on August 6, 1945, and the second on August 9, 1945. These two events are the only use of nuclear weapons in war to date.For six months...
at Hiroshima
Hiroshima
is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture, and the largest city in the Chūgoku region of western Honshu, the largest island of Japan. It became best known as the first city in history to be destroyed by a nuclear weapon when the United States Army Air Forces dropped an atomic bomb on it at 8:15 A.M...
and Nagasaki, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. The band spent a few days driving around Ireland with photographer Anton Corbijn
Anton Corbijn
Anton Corbijn is a Dutch photographer, music video and film director. He is the creative director behind the visual output of Depeche Mode and U2, having handled the principal promotion and sleeve photography for both for more than a decade...
looking for potential locations. The castle depicted on the cover is Moydrum Castle
Moydrum Castle
Moydrum Castle is a ruined castle situated in the locality of Moydrum , outside the town of Athlone, County Westmeath, Ireland.-Background:...
. The band liked the image's ambiguity and the Irish mysticism they saw in it. The photograph, however, was a virtual copy of a picture on the cover of a 1980 book In Ruins: The Once Great Houses of Ireland by Simon Marsden
Simon Marsden
Sir Simon Neville Llewelyn Marsden, 4th Baronet is an English photographer and author. He is known best for his uncommon black-and-white photographs of allegedly haunted houses and places throughout Europe...
, for which U2 had to pay compensation. It was taken from the same spot and used the same polarising filter technique, but with the addition of the four band members.
"Pride (In the Name of Love)
Pride (In the Name of Love)
"Pride " is a song by Irish rock band U2. The second track on the band's 1984 album, The Unforgettable Fire, it was released as the album's lead single in September 1984...
" was released as the album's lead single in September 1984, and it was at that point the band's biggest hit. It cracked the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Top 5 and the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Top 40 and would ultimately become the group's most frequently played song in concerts.
"The Unforgettable Fire
The Unforgettable Fire (song)
"The Unforgettable Fire" is a song by rock band U2. The fourth song on their 1984 album The Unforgettable Fire, it was released as the album's second single in April 1985. The band cite an art exhibition by victims of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that was held at the Peace Museum...
" was released as the second single in April 1985. The song became the band's third Top 10 hit in the UK, reaching #6 on the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
and #8 on the Dutch singles chart, but did not perform as well in the U.S.
Reception
Bill Graham of Hot PressHot Press
Hot Press is a fortnightly music and political magazine based in Dublin, Ireland founded in 1977. The magazine has been edited since its inception by Niall Stokes. According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, it had a circulation of 19,215 during 2007...
wrote in 1996 that The Unforgettable Fire was U2's most pivotal album and that it was "their coming of age that saved their lives as a creative unit." Niall Stokes, also of Hot Press said that "one or two tracks were undercooked" due to the deadline crush but that it was U2's "first album with a cohesive sound" on which "U2 were reborn". Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
magazine gave the album a score of 3/5 stars, compared to the 4/5 stars given to the two previous albums, Under a Blood Red Sky and War. In the review, Kurt Loder
Kurt Loder
Kurt Loder is an American film critic, author, columnist, and television personality. He served in the 1980s as editor at Rolling Stone, during a tenure that Reason later called "legendary". He has contributed to articles in Reason, Esquire, Details, New York, and Time. He has also made cameos on...
said that "with The Unforgettable Fire, U2 flickers and nearly fades, its fire banked by a misconceived production strategy and occasional interludes of soggy, songless self-indulgence. This is not a 'bad' album, but neither is it the irrefutable beauty the band's fans anticipated."
Tony Fletcher of Jamming! said it was not "...an album full of hits. [It is however] a forceful collection of atmospheric ideas and themes, forgettable at first but strangely haunting and soon firmly implanted." and that Eno's production has removed some of the "heavy metal" from U2 and replaced "emotion [as] the driving force".
The Unforgettable Fire Tour and Live Aid
In support of the album, the band launched The Unforgettable Fire Tour, which saw U2 shows moving into indoor arenas in the United States. Consisting of six legs and 112 shows, the tour commenced in Australia in September 1984 where translating the elaborate and complex textures of the new studio-recorded tracks to live performance proved to be a serious challenge. One solution was programmed sequencersMusic sequencer
The music sequencer is a device or computer software to record, edit, play back the music, by handling note and performance information in several forms, typically :...
, which the band had previously been reluctant to use. Sequencers were prominently used on songs like "The Unforgettable Fire" and "Bad"; since then, sequencers are now used on the majority of U2 songs in live performances. Songs criticised as being "unfinished", "fuzzy" and "unfocused" on the album made more sense on stage. Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
magazine, for example, critical of the album version of "Bad", described its live performance as a 'show stopper'.
U2 participated in the Live Aid
Live Aid
Live Aid was a dual-venue concert that was held on 13 July 1985. The event was organized by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise funds for relief of the ongoing Ethiopian famine. Billed as the "global jukebox", the event was held simultaneously in Wembley Stadium in London, England, United Kingdom ...
concert at Wembley Stadium for Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
n famine relief in July 1985. U2's performance was one of the show's most memorable; during the song "Bad", Bono leapt down off the stage to embrace and dance with a fan. Initially thinking they'd "blown it", it was, in fact, a breakthrough moment for the band, showing a television audience of millions the personal connection that Bono could make with audiences. All of U2's previous albums went back into the charts in the UK after their transcendent performance. In 1985, Rolling Stone magazine called U2 the "Band of the 80's," saying that "for a growing number of rock-and-roll fans, U2 have become the band that matters most, maybe even the only band that matters."
Track listing
In 1995, Mobile Fidelity Sound LabMobile Fidelity Sound Lab
Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab is a company known as an innovator in the production of audiophile-quality sound recordings. All releases are advertised as being produced from the first-generation analog master recordings, and using proprietary technology, which MFSL claims allows for improved sound...
remastered the album and released it as a special gold CD. This edition has slightly different running times, most notably an extended 2:39 version of the instrumental "4th of July".
In 1985, the band also released the supplementary Wide Awake in America
Wide Awake in America
-Charts and certifications:AlbumSongs-Personnel:*Bono – vocals*The Edge – guitar, keyboards, vocals*Adam Clayton – bass*Larry Mullen Jr. – drums-See also:*Music of Ireland*U2 discography*List of covers of U2 songs - The Three Sunrises...
EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
, which offers live performances of "Bad" and "A Sort of Homecoming" along with two B-sides
B-Sides
B-Sides is an iTunes-exclusive album from the Coventry Trio The Enemy, consisting of ten songs that were B-sides to the single releases from their debut album We'll Live and Die in These Towns.-Track list:#Fear Killed the Youth of Our Nation...
(previously unavailable in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
).
The Unforgettable Fire Collection
In 1985, The Unforgettable Fire Collection was released. The 51-min VHSVHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
compilation contained the album's music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
s and a 30-minute making-of documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
of the album. James Morris is credited as Producer. The documentary was later included as a bonus feature on the band's live video release, U2 Go Home: Live from Slane Castle
U2 Go Home: Live from Slane Castle
U2 Go Home: Live from Slane Castle, Ireland is a concert video release by rock band U2 from the European leg of their Elevation Tour. Recorded on 1 September 2001 at Slane Castle on the band's featured stop in County Meath, Ireland, it was released on DVD in November 2003. Although Slane Concerts...
, as the site of the concert film—Slane Castle
Slane Castle
Slane Castle is located in the town of Slane, within the Boyne Valley of County Meath, Ireland. The castle has been the family home of the Conyngham Marquessate since the 18th century....
—was the same as the location of the documentary.
- "The Unforgettable Fire" – directed by Meiert AvisMeiert AvisMeiert Avis is an Irish music video and commercial director. Avis has directed videos for artists such as Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, U2, Avril Lavigne, Jennifer Lopez, New Found Glory and Josh Groban amongst many others....
- "Bad (Live Video)" – directed by Barry DevlinBarry DevlinBarry Devlin is an Irish musician, screen writer and director.-Early life:Devlin is from Ardboe, Moortown, County Tyrone...
- "Pride (In the Name of Love) (Sepia Version)" – directed by Donald CammellDonald CammellDonald Seaton Cammell was a Scottish film director who enjoys a cult reputation thanks to his debut film Performance, which he co-directed with Nicolas Roeg.-Biography:...
- "A Sort of Homecoming" (Live Video) – directed by Barry DevlinBarry DevlinBarry Devlin is an Irish musician, screen writer and director.-Early life:Devlin is from Ardboe, Moortown, County Tyrone...
- The Making of the Unforgettable Fire documentary – directed by Barry DevlinBarry DevlinBarry Devlin is an Irish musician, screen writer and director.-Early life:Devlin is from Ardboe, Moortown, County Tyrone...
- "Pride (In The Name Of Love) (Slane Castle Version)" - directed by Barry DevlinBarry DevlinBarry Devlin is an Irish musician, screen writer and director.-Early life:Devlin is from Ardboe, Moortown, County Tyrone...
25th anniversary edition
A remastered 25th Anniversary edition of the album was released on 27 October 2009 by Mercury RecordsMercury Records
Mercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal...
. The album's remastering
Audio mastering
Mastering, a form of audio post-production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device ; the source from which all copies will be produced...
was directed by The Edge
The Edge
David Howell Evans , more widely known by his stage name The Edge , is a musician best known as the guitarist, backing vocalist, and keyboardist of the Irish rock band U2. A member of the group since its inception, he has recorded 12 studio albums with the band and has released one solo record...
, who also directed the remastering of the band's previous releases. Four physical editions of the album are available, two of which contain a bonus CD, and one with a DVD. The bonus CD features B-sides from the album, live tracks and two previously unreleased songs: "Disappearing Act" and "Yoshino Blossom." The DVD features the same material as the original VHS version.
The four editions are as follows:
- CD format – Remastered album on CD
- Deluxe Edition – Remastered album on CD, bonus CD, and 36-page booklet
- Limited Edition Box Set – Remastered album on CD, bonus CD, DVD, 56-page hardback book, and five photographs
- 12" vinyl format – Remastered album on a gramophone recordGramophone recordA gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
and 16-page booklet
Bonus DVD
In addition to the music videos and documentary from The Unforgettable Fire Collection, the DVD includes:- U2 live at Amnesty InternationalAmnesty InternationalAmnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
's A Conspiracy of Hope concert – Giants StadiumGiants StadiumGiants Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium, located in East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA, in the Meadowlands Sports Complex. Maximum seating capacity was 80,242. The building itself was 230.5 m long, 180.5 m wide and 44 m high from service level to the top of the seating bowl and 54 m high to...
, New Jersey, United States – Sunday 15 June 1986
- "MLK"
- "Pride (In the Name of Love)"
- "Bad"
- U2 live at Live AidLive AidLive Aid was a dual-venue concert that was held on 13 July 1985. The event was organized by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise funds for relief of the ongoing Ethiopian famine. Billed as the "global jukebox", the event was held simultaneously in Wembley Stadium in London, England, United Kingdom ...
– Wembley StadiumWembley StadiumThe original Wembley Stadium, officially known as the Empire Stadium, was a football stadium in Wembley, a suburb of north-west London, standing on the site now occupied by the new Wembley Stadium that opened in 2007...
, London, United Kingdom – Saturday 13 July 1985
- U2 live at Live Aid
- "Sunday Bloody SundaySunday Bloody Sunday (song)"Sunday Bloody Sunday" is the opening track from U2's 1983 album, War. The song was released as the album's third single on 11 March 1983 in Germany and the Netherlands. "Sunday Bloody Sunday" is noted for its militaristic drumbeat, harsh guitar, and melodic harmonies...
" - "Bad"
- "Pride (In the Name of Love)" Sepia music video, directed by Donald Cammell
- 11 O'Clock Tick Tock – Bootleg version, live from Croke ParkCroke ParkCroke Park in Dublin is the principal stadium and headquarters of the Gaelic Athletic Association , Ireland's biggest sporting organisation...
, 29 June 1985
Charts and certifications
Album| Country | Peak position | Certification | Sales |
|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | 1 | ||
| Canada | 5 | 3× Platinum | 300,000+ |
| France | Gold | ||
| The Netherlands | Gold | ||
| New Zealand | 1 | ||
| Norway | 6 | ||
| Portugal | 27 | ||
| Sweden | 6 | ||
| United Kingdom | 1 | 2× Platinum | 600,000+ |
| United States | 12 | 3× Platinum | 3,000,000+ |
Songs
| Year | Song | Peak | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IRE Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on behalf of the IRMA by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured... |
CAN RPM (magazine) RPM was a Canadian music industry publication that featured song and album charts for Canada. The publication was founded by Walt Grealis in February 1964, supported through its existence by record label owner Stan Klees. RPM ceased publication in November 2000.RPM stood for "Records, Promotion,... |
NL MegaCharts MegaCharts is responsible for the composition and exploitation of a broad collection of official charts in the Netherlands, of which the Mega Top 50 and the Mega Album Top 100 are the most known ones. Mega Charts also provides information to the Stichting Nederlandse Top 40, of which the Dutch Top... |
NZ Recording Industry Association of New Zealand The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell music in New Zealand... |
UK UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
US Main Rock |
US Hot 100 Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
||
| 1984 | "Pride (In the Name of Love)" | 2 | 27 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 33 |
| "The Unforgettable Fire" | 1 | — | 4 | 3 | 6 | — | — | |
| "Wire" | — | — | — | — | — | 31 | — | |
| 1985 | "Bad" | — | — | — | — | — | 19 | — |
| "—" denotes a release that did not chart. | ||||||||
Personnel
U2- BonoBonoPaul David Hewson , most commonly known by his stage name Bono , is an Irish singer, musician, and humanitarian best known for being the main vocalist of the Dublin-based rock band U2. Bono was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, and attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School where he met his...
– leadLead vocalistThe lead vocalist is the member of a band who sings the main vocal portions of a song. They may also play one or more instruments. Lead vocalists are sometimes referred to as the frontman or frontwoman, and as such, are usually considered to be the "leader" of the groups they perform in, often the...
vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments... - The EdgeThe EdgeDavid Howell Evans , more widely known by his stage name The Edge , is a musician best known as the guitarist, backing vocalist, and keyboardist of the Irish rock band U2. A member of the group since its inception, he has recorded 12 studio albums with the band and has released one solo record...
– guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, keyboardsElectronic keyboardAn electronic keyboard is an electronic or digital keyboard instrument.The major components of a typical modern electronic keyboard are:...
, vocals - Adam ClaytonAdam ClaytonAdam Charles Clayton is a musician, best known as the bassist of the Irish rock band U2. Clayton has resided in County Dublin since the time his family moved to Malahide when he was five years old in 1965...
– bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick.... - Larry Mullen Jr.Larry Mullen Jr.Lawrence Joseph "Larry" Mullen, Jr. is an Irish musician best known as the drummer for the Irish rock band U2. He is the founder of U2, which he later described as "'The Larry Mullen Band' for about ten minutes, then Bono walked in and blew any chance I had of being in charge." He has worked on...
– drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
Additional personnel
- Steve Averill – sleeve designRecord sleeveA record sleeve is the outer covering of a vinyl recording. The sleeve is technically the paper covering that is closest in contact to the surface of the recording, as in "dust sleeve", "liner" and "album liner". The term has come to be synonymous with "record jacket" and "album jacket", which is...
- Paul Barret – Fairlight CMIFairlight CMIThe Fairlight CMI is a digital sampling synthesizer. It was designed in 1979 by the founders of Fairlight, Peter Vogel and Kim Ryrie, and based on a dual-6800 microprocessor computer designed by Tony Furse in Sydney, Australia...
- Anton CorbijnAnton CorbijnAnton Corbijn is a Dutch photographer, music video and film director. He is the creative director behind the visual output of Depeche Mode and U2, having handled the principal promotion and sleeve photography for both for more than a decade...
– sleeve design, photography - Brian EnoBrian EnoBrian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...
– additional vocals, instruments, treatments, productionRecord producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
, engineeringAudio engineeringAn audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including... - Randy Ezratty – assistant engineering
- Noel KelehanNoel KelehanNoel Kelehan is an Irish musician, former conductor of the RTÉ Concert Orchestra and former musical director of Radio Telefís Éireann. He retired as conductor in 1998.-Bio:...
– stringString instrumentA string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones...
arrangementArrangementThe American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...
s - Kevin Killen – additional engineering
- Daniel LanoisDaniel LanoisDaniel Lanois born September 19, 1951 in Hull, Quebec) is a Canadian record producer, guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. He has released a number of albums of his own work and has produced albums for a wide variety of artists, including Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Peter Gabriel, Emmylou Harris, Willie...
– additional vocals, instruments, treatments, production, engineering - Peter GabrielPeter GabrielPeter Brian Gabriel is an English singer, musician, and songwriter who rose to fame as the lead vocalist and flautist of the progressive rock group Genesis. After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a successful solo career...
– vocals on "A Sort Homecoming" (Daniel Lanois Remix)
External links
- The Unforgettable Fire painting exhibit with images from a couple of prints
- A description of The Unforgettable Fire exhibit