'' is a
1983 album from
U2 (see
1983 In Music ), produced by
Steve Lillywhite . It is their first overtly political album and often considered their first truly extraordinary one.
The album opens with
Sunday Bloody Sunday , an ardent protest song and already a significant departure from the themes of innocence and spirituality displayed on the group's first two albums. The song introduces the album with a startling drum beat by
Larry Mullen, Jr. , a fuming solo by
The Edge , and pointed couplets like: "And today the millions cry / We eat and drink while tomorrow they die."
Other songs concern topics such as
Nuclear Proliferation and
Prostitution . The mood grows progressively more bleak as the album continues—despite some balance provided by songs such as "Two Hearts Beat As One", a simple love song (though often associated with the conflict between Catholics and Protestants in
Ireland ), and "New Year's Day", which works as both a political song and a love song—until climaxing with the coda of "Surrender" and finally "surrendering" to the hushed hymn "40".
The sound is much more raw than that of the band's other albums, with the drums mixed prominently and the guitar treated relatively lightly, befitting the forceful lyrical matter of the songs.
# "
Sunday Bloody Sunday " – 4:40
# "Seconds" – 3:10
# "
New Year's Day " – 5:35
# "Like A Song..." – 4:46
# "Drowning Man" – 4:14
# "The Refugee" – 3:40
# "
Two Hearts Beat As One " – 4:03
# "Red Light" – 3:46
# "Surrender" – 5:34
# "
40 " – 2:35
Music and words by U2.
Produced by Steve Lillywhite, except "The Refugee", which was produced by
Bill Whelan .
"New Year's Day" and "Two Hearts Beat As One" were released as singles internationally. "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "40" were also released as singles in
Germany .
In
1993 ,
Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab remastered the album and released it as a special gold
CD . This edition has slightly different running times: most notably, "Seconds" runs 3:22, adding 11.5 seconds in the break section (beginning at approx. 2:03), while "Like A Song..." runs 5:00, extending the playout section (beginning at approx. 4:45).
Later in 1983, the band released ''
Under A Blood Red Sky '' (named after a lyric in "New Year's Day"), a live document of this album's associated
War Tour .
- Only seven songs from this album were played live. One of these, "Like A Song...", was only played once.
- This album was U2's first #1 in the UK , knocking '' Thriller '' off the top of the charts.
- Prior to every Sunday home game, the Montreal Alouettes play "Sunday Bloody Sunday" over the PA system, in reference, of course, to the accidental saviours of the CFL Football Club. The Alouettes played their home games at Montreal's cavernous and poorly attended Olympic Stadium (or Stade Olympique ), but were forced to find an alternate venue for their November 2 , 1997 playoff game against the British Columbia Lions , due to a scheduling conflict with a U2 concert. The alternate venue was the football stadium at McGill University which had been the Alouettes' home turf from 1952 to 1957 (and again in 1972). The smaller venue, now known as Molson Stadium , was well received, and remains the Alouettes' home to this day.
- Kenny Fradley-- Trumpet
- Steve Wickham -- Electric Violin on "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "Drowning Man"
- Cheryl Poirier, Adriana Kaegi, Taryn Hagey, Jessica Felton--backing vocals on "Red Light" and "Surrender"
