release date: Feb. 28, 1983
format: vinyl (gatefold - ILPS 9733) / cd
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,82]
producer: Steve Lillywhite
label: Island Records - nationality: Ireland
Track highlights: A) 1. "Sunday Bloody Sunday" (4,5 / 5) - 3. "New Year's Day" - 5. "Drowning Man" - - B) 2. "Two Hearts Beat as One" - 5. "40'' (4 / 5)
3rd studio album by U2 is like the previous two produced by Steve Lillywhite. Just like the cover boy, the same boy who fronted the cover on Boy, clearly has matured, the album shows a more mature band, who has taken a new direction with more focus on songwriting and showcases much more varied arrangements. All in all, it all proves that the band has much more to offer than the fast guitar-driven uptempo sing-along chorus-lines. The production side has also improved considerably, leaving the first two albums as more straight-forward and less artistic statements, and October as more of an experiment as to try out what direction to take.
The album is the first by U2 to be enlisted in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die".
[ allmusic.com 5 / 5, đRolling Stone 4 / 5 ]
