October

Personnel:

Bono: lead vocals

The Edge: guitars, piano, backing vocals

Adam Clayton: bass guitar

Larry Mullen Jr.: drums

Vinnie Kilduff: Uilleann pipes, bodhrán

Record Label: Island

Recorded: April-August 1981 at Compass Point Studios, Nassau and Windmill Lane, Dublin.

Produced by Steve Lillywhite.

UK released date: 12 October 1981.

US release date:13 October 1981.

Highest chart places: UK: 11, US: 104, IRE: 17

Running time: 41:05

The band's second album is disliked in many corners. As an album, it is covered from head to toe in religious imagery; an odd move for a rock band at the beginning of the materialistic eighties. In one of the most sustained criticisms of the band's legacy, the album's ponderous, detailed texture continues to confound listeners. Yet it remains of the band's boldest, brashest and bravest works. Exceptionally well written, it proves the album where U2 chose to distance themselves from any other makeshift post-punk band. And it also proves how quickly the band were willing to change their most recent work; off the back of a hit album and everything! As it stands, October is an intellectual exercise in humility, a humility sorely lacking in many of the band's other records. But it was never for their learned abilities that listeners gravitated to U2, but for their abilities to write effortlessly commercial hits. The Shalom Fellowship helped influence the band's writing at this time. Bono, The Edge and Larry Mullen Jr. were invested in their teachings and the group's writing comes from the philosophies they had learned. Adam Clayton, the band's oldest member, was the least convinced by the influence of the Shalom Fellowship. Mullen Jr., discussing the matter frankly with Neil McCormick, found them a more positive influence: 'The idea was to create. a Christian community, where people would live and work under strict Christian standards. When you're young and impressionable, it all sounds ideal. But there was something terribly wrong with the concept. It was a bit like the bigger the commitment you made, the closer you were to heaven. It was a really screwed-up view of the world and nothing to do with what I now understand a Christian faith to be'. But for now, three of the band members were wowed by the community's standards. Such was their commitment to their faith that they risked abandoning rock music entirely. Lucky for us that they didn't.

Album Cover

The boys are here! U2 have chosen to appear on the album cover, for the first time. They're an unsettled looking bunch, in this colour photograph. Adam Clayton stands closest to the camera, with his eyes looking anywhere but at the photographer. Bono similarly is turned away from the camera lens, staring up at the stars he undoubtedly wishes he could join. Larry Mullen Jr. is squinting, his eyes peering at the camera and photographer. Only The Edge stands comfortably in place, effortlessly showcasing his Byronic good looks.

'Gloria' (Clayton, Evans, Hewson, Mullen Jr.)

Highest chart places: UK: 55, IRE: 4

The band's sophomore opener is a razor-sharp, briskly-paced track. It's classic U2, moving along at its own cool, unhurried pace then bursting violently to life. The four band members play as though their lives depend on it, each supporting, rather than one-upping, one another. 'Gloria' is excellent, showcasing many of the elements U2 would re-work through their career. There's a sharp pointing riff, a slick bare back-beat and Bono's shimmied vocal performance. Adam Clayton plays a slap bass solo, one of his more inventive at that. Later, U2 songs would benefit from Bono's suave, sophisticated singing over the sing/shout style he bellowed in the early eighties. Yet that's a minor complaint: artistically, 'Gloria' is a minor triumph. The chorus is sung in Latin, reasonably brave for 1981, setting the liturgical tone the album would take. There are many who dislike the album's more sombre approach, but there's energy, synergy and blood heard on the track. Behind the guitars and burning bass line, a delicate piano plays. It must be The Edge, credited as he is on the album with piano. It's an instrument he returns to on the next track.

'I Fall Down' (Clayton, Evans, Hewson, Mullen Jr.)

Boy is the more important album. October is the more interesting album. The band never quite mastered the album format before War, but there's a great deal to recommend on October. 'I Fall Down' is one of the standout numbers, marrying a typical U2 hook with one of the album's strongest lyrics. It's a confident-sounding record; the opening barrelhouse piano part leads the band to their rousing chorus. The Edge plays the piano and does so quite well. Swimming beside Adam Clayton's funkier bass part, The Edge splashes out a passionate, decorative piece. Then there's Bono, crying over the various loud textures. The vocalist creates a frenzied dialogue between two characters (John and Julie), hurried in their dealings. It's a compelling story, one that showed that Bono could write beautifully, without the need to shout his listeners down with religious rhetoric.

'I Threw a Brick Through a Window' (Clayton, Evans, Hewson, Mullen Jr.)

Despite its arresting title, 'I Threw A Brick Through A Window' feels shallow, hollow and undernourished. That it should open with such tremendous drumming only furthers the disappointment the song offers. It's a record searching for a song, as the band try to make do with the simple-minded, sloganeering lyrics. It's almost a shopping list of clichés, as the band make do with the reliable 'brother' lyric for support. Bono's flirtations with gospel led to some astonishing moments of great beauty, but this track comes across as desperate. 'I had real difficulties with 'I Threw A Brick Through An Open Window' because of the tempo,' the drummer moaned in 2006.. 'Sometimes, after spending days writing and rewriting, recording and re-recording, it was hard to keep in time, and I wasn't helping by not using a click track'. Still, he kept at it and the bone-breaking backbeat remains the song's most memorable aspect. As such, the shattering drums seem positioned to salvage, instead of supporting, the track. It's by no means dreadful, just a little passé. Considering how hard the band fought to move forward with this album, it's strangely ironic.

'Rejoice' (Clayton, Evans, Hewson, Mullen Jr.)

The band's second album was recorded and written under creative pressure. Faced with the unenviable position of writing the follow-up to their debut, the band were forced to bring together their collective talents. Therefore, some of the lyrics were purportedly written in the studio itself. There's an air of controlled chaos that works on some tracks (see 'Fire'), hindering others. 'Rejoice' is one of the others. But it does hold a unique drum sound, Larry Mullen Jr., at times, drumming without a guitar or bass with which to play. Instead, Bono chants the song title over the thumping rhythm. They sound like two tribesmen praising their deity with inspired passion. The same can't be said of The Edge, shifting uncomfortably from power-chords to lead guitar noodling. The mix is an unhappy compromise, though Adam Clayton keeps the beat steady while guitarist and drummer venture on their respective tangents. Clayton was the least convinced by the band's religious awakening, which perhaps makes him the most focused on the track. Had they all focused as much, the song could have been a gospel standard.

'Fire' (Clayton, Evans, Hewson, Mullen Jr.)

Highest chart places: UK: 35, IRE: 4

Though the mix emphasises an over-excited bass-line, the guitars and vocals are raw and exhilarating. Kudos to Bono's sultry delivery, a smouldering vocal that echoes the fiery lyric.It's one of the band's more exceptional rockers from this point of their career. The cascading reverb is a welcome distraction, softening the song's more liturgical base. Two minutes into the track and the band charge into an instrumental section. The Edge shoots through a unique solo, blistering with liberated ease. The band boast an interesting contradiction, the lyrics leading them to the virtues of living, while the rhythms bring them to the pleasures of rock. When they married the two opposing thoughts, they could write with an originality that was theirs alone. 'Fire' is certainly original: a turbocharged rocker, burning through the constraints of time. Alongside 'Gloria' and 'Tomorrow', 'Fire' represents the very best of the album.

'Tomorrow' (Clayton, Evans, Hewson, Mullen Jr.)

This is astonishing. Throughout the album, U2 tentatively waded into anguish laden waters, rustling some moments of chilling introspection. Then there's 'Tomorrow', a carriageway of funeral metaphors: metaphors Bono later realised, were about his mother's burial. 'A song called 'Tomorrow' is a detailed account of my mother's funeral,' Bono admitted in 2005. 'But I...