Album Reviews
U2's contribution to the progress of rock is that they've divorced guitar heroics from the idea of a dazzling guitar hero. Though they're downright worshipful of the Edge's heavy-on-the-reverb Stratocasterside two of October opens with his tuning the thing uphe's about as much of a technical wizard as Neil Young. When a U2 song has more than two chords (one of them E minor, the people's key), it's a shock. Yet the sound the Edge gets, abetted by producer Steve Lillywhite, is as powerful as the lyrics are silly. His power chords create a terrifying aural abyss for Bono to plunge into, and his simple single-note riffs, drenched in echo and glory, point toward a way out. All this without a single thrust of the crotch.
Unlike U2's debut album, Boy, October generally keeps the guitar in the foreground, not breaking up the echoes with Boy's endless glockenspiels. Perhaps as a result of touring the DOR circuit, U2 try a little funk in "I Threw a Brick through a Window" and use trumpet ("With a Shout") and timbales ("Is That All?") like British neofunkers A Certain Ratio. "October" signals its profundity by utilizing acoustic piano accompaniment. With experiments like these, U2 are obviously attempting to vary their sound, but none of the strategies works as well yet as their basic power-trio dynamics.
Also unlike Boy, October is barely coherent. Boy was an intriguing, one-time-only documentthe inside story from children at the brink of manhood and its compositions were sparked by the tension between the Edge's world-beating guitar playing and Bono's fearful pride. Thank goodness U2 don't have enough showbiz in their souls to repeat the concept on October. Unfortunately, when they try to tap other primal experiences ("I'm falling!"), they sound so sensitive it hurts. Sheer sonic grandeur can carry these guys through one record like October, though. And by their next LP, U2 may have figured out what to do with their angst.
(Posted: Feb 4, 1982)
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- Gloria
- I Fall Down
- I Threw A Brick Through A Window
- Rejoice
- Fire
- Tomorrow
- October
- With A Shout
- Stranger In A Strange Land
- Scarlet
- Is That All?
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Bluemask writes:
U2's sophmore effort turns back the imeadiacy of their debut in favor of more existensial songs. Outside of the opening Gloria none of these songs truly rock. The albums piano led namesake is the only other truly memoriable number.
Dec 12, 2005 00:22:30
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