| War | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
|||||
| Studio album by U2 | |||||
| Released | 28 February 1983 | ||||
| Recorded | 17 May 1982 – 20 August 1982, Windmill Lane Studios, Dublin | ||||
| Genre | Post-punk Rock |
||||
| Length | 43:38 | ||||
| Label | Island | ||||
| Producer | Steve Lillywhite | ||||
| Professional reviews | |||||
| U2 chronology | |||||
|
|||||
| Singles from War | |||||
|
|||||
War is the third studio album by Irish rock band U2, released in 1983. Produced by Steve Lillywhite, it was the band's first overtly political album.
Contents |
History
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. In many live shows, such as the performance recorded for their Under a Blood Red Sky video, Bono stated that "this is not a rebel song". In interviews, he's stated that it's a positive protest song about things we can't forget but should. Originally written about the 1972 Bloody Sunday incident in which 14 Irish protesters were shot and killed in Derry, Northern Ireland by the British Parachute Regiment, the song has been applied to other conflicts in the years since, most notably during the performance at a Denver, Colorado show in 1987. This version was eventually included in the film Rattle and Hum. Before the song, Bono referred to the previous day's bombing in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland and directed angry and controversial comments towards Irish-born Americans "talking to me about the resistance; the revolution back home." War was the first album in which Mullen used a click track to stay in time.[1] Mullen said of the album in a 1983 interview, "I think the drumming has always been pretty simple, I don't think it needs to be flashy. For War I use a click track, something I haven't used before, it's a way of keeping time in my headphones. When I listened to the music in time with the click track I knew I had to bring it down to the real basics. Hopefully for the next LP it will be more complicated, I'll move on. I think of it as a musical progression for myself because I learned a lot recording this album, just about my own style and that's what I wanted to do. I think there is a definite style on War where there isn't on the previous albums."[1] In 1989, War was ranked #40 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 100 greatest albums of the 1980s. In 2003, the album was ranked number 221 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. There are several reasons as to why the album was called War. In a 1982 interview, Bono said that the album was called War because "War seemed to be the motif for 1982. Everywhere you looked, from the Falklands to the Middle East and South Africa, there was war. By calling the album War we're giving people a slap in the face and at the same time getting away from the cosy image a lot of people have of U2."[2] Guitarist The Edge said of the name, "It's a heavy title. It's blunt. It's not something that's safe, so it could backfire. It's the sort of subject matter that people can really take a dislike to. But we wanted to take a more dangerous course, fly a bit closer to the wind, so I think the title is appropriate."[2]
Style
The song introduces the album with a startling, military-esque drum beat by Larry Mullen, Jr., a fuming solo by The Edge that segues into staccato bursts reminiscent of machine gun fire, and pointed lyrical couplets like: "And today the millions cry / We eat and drink while tomorrow they die." The album as a whole is more direct than the ambient Boy and October, as Bono said in 1983, "A lot of the songs on our last album were quite abstract, but War is intentionally more direct, more specific. But you can still take the title on a lot of different levels. We're not only interested in the physical aspects of war. The emotional effects are just as important, 'the trenches dug within our hearts.' People have become numb to violence. Watching the television, it's hard to tell the difference between fact and fiction. One minute you see something being shot on The Professionals, and the next you see someone falling through a window after being shot on the news. One is fiction and one is real life, but we're becoming so used to the fiction that we become numb to the real thing. War could be the story of a broken home, a family at war. Instead of putting tanks and guns on the cover, we've put a child's face. War can also be a mental thing, an emotional thing between loves. It doesn't have to be a physical thing."[2] Other songs concern topics such as nuclear proliferation ("Seconds") and prostitution ("Red Light"). Moreover, The Edge makes his debut as a lead vocalist on "Seconds". 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" (about the 1981 suppression of Solidarity in Poland), which works as both a political song and a love song—until climaxing with the coda of "Surrender" and finally ending with the hushed hymn ""40"". Arguably, the sound is much harsher than that of the band's other albums with the possible exception of Achtung Baby. A major reason for this is that The Edge uses far less delay and echo than in previous and subsequent works. This album became U2's first #1 album in the UK, supplanting Michael Jackson's Thriller off the top of the charts. On "40", which takes its name from the fortieth Psalm in the Bible, the Edge plays bass and Adam Clayton plays guitar, a reversal of their normal roles. In subsequent live performances (in all but two instances as the closing song), they play each others' instruments.
Album cover
The boy on the cover is Peter Rowan (brother of Bono's friend, Guggi). He also appears on the covers of Boy, Three, The Best of 1980–1990, and Early Demos.
Track listing
All songs written by U2.
- "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 produced by Bill Whelan
- "Two Hearts Beat as One" – 4:03
- "Red Light" – 3:46
- "Surrender" – 5:34
- ""40"" – 2:35
"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.
Chart positions and sales
Album
| Country | Peak position | Certification | Sales |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brazil | Gold | 50,000+ | |
| Canada | 3x Platinum [3] | 300,000- | |
| France | 2x Platinum [4] | 600,000+ | |
| Germany | Gold [5] | 100,000+ | |
| Netherlands | Gold [6] | 40,000+ | |
| Switzerland | Gold [7] | 25,000+ | |
| United Kingdom | 1 | 2x Platinum [8] | 600,000+ |
| United States | 12 | 4x Platinum | 4,000,000+ |
Singles
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | "New Year's Day" | Billboard Mainstream Rock | 2 |
| 1983 | "Sunday Bloody Sunday" | Billboard Mainstream Rock | 7 |
| 1983 | "Two Hearts Beat As One" | Billboard Mainstream Rock | 12 |
| 1983 | "Surrender" | Billboard Mainstream Rock | 27 |
Personnel
- Bono – lead vocals, additional guitar
- The Edge – guitar, piano, lap steel, backing vocals, lead vocals on "Seconds," bass guitar on "40"
- Adam Clayton – bass, guitar on "40"
- Larry Mullen Jr. – drums
Additional personnel
- 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"
See also
References
- ^ a b Larry Mullen Interview. White Lucy (April 1, 1983). Retrieved on 2007-11-06.
- ^ a b c Thrills, Adrian (February 26, 1983). War & Peace. NME. Retrieved on 2007-11-07.
- ^ CRIA
- ^ Disque En France
- ^ IFPI Germany
- ^ IFPI Germany
- ^ IFPI Switzerland
- ^ BPI
