U2 -- War

9/10

This is where it all comes together, at least for a little while. U2's War starts off with "Sunday Bloody Sunday"'s famous martial beat, Edge's staccato guitar, and Adam Clayton's circular bass line coming in, as vocalist Bono merges the political with the personal with the spiritual. With righteous anger, the band lament "The Troubles," a period of religious and political violence in Ireland, as Bono posits it's all being done under the guise "to claim the victory Jesus won." If Jesus died for the soul of mankind, why is mankind killing each other over Jesus? the furiously Christian Bono asks. It's one of the most powerful opening tracks in modern music history, and the band keep the fire burning over the next few songs. 

"Seconds" continues the martial vibe, while Clayton's bassline dallies with Aston Barrett's work on The Wailers' "Get Up, Stand Up." The verses are interspersed with Bono and the Edge singing like angels, a strong juxtaposition with the song's topic of nuclear annihilation. As soon as the band end the song with the repeated line "say goodbye," they launch into my favorite U2 song, "New Years Day." I will be using the phrase "my favorite U2 song" quite frequently throughout these reviews to describe completely different songs. 

"New Year's Day," the first U2 song I remember hearing, is one of the most urgent songs ever written, full of such a strong sense of yearning, one time I heard it in a Baton Rouge bar at 1 a.m. on a cold night, while eating a cup of duck and sausage gumbo, and cried a tear into my Rolling Rock. Musically, the song is driven by a propulsive bassline by Clayton, a driving piano line by the Edge, and a quick and steady beat from drummer, Larry Mullen, Jr. Meanwhile, Bono somehow turns the Solidarity Movement in 1980's Poland into everyone on Earth's sense of hope and disappointment and dreams on a cold winter's night, and U2 are the greatest band of all time. 

After "New Year's Day," the band keep that propulsive momentum going, with the fiery "Like a Song...," the most punk track the band have ever recorded, ironically about the disdain some punk band's had against U2 in the early 80's. With their crazy hair, and youthful earnestness, these four Irishman were the very opposite of the definition of cool, and their complete and utter lack of concern about this somehow makes them infinitely more punk than their aesthetically more punk peers. "Like a Song..." is incendiary. Naturally, the band follow it up with "Drowning Man," a sweeping ballad, full of religious fervor, from the perspective of Christ himself, quoting Isaiah 40 almost verbatim, beautiful chiming guitar like church bells from a distant, forgotten hill, violin swirling around Bono's soaring vocals. This band, and the first five songs on this album are 100% for me, as if the band said, "Let's record five straight tracks that The Nicsperiment will love more than any five song run on any other album." Those first five tracks: 10/10.

Unfortunately, this is only side A on my War record (the CD doesn't play when you flip it over, but if you keep it right side up, it plays all ten tracks straight through), and when I flip it over and listen to side B, I don't get quite as excited. Is the goofy, cowbell-heavy "The Refugee" the worst song from U2's first five albums? One could make a great argument. Is "Two Hearts Beat as One" a solid track, that just doesn't quite measure up to the album's first half? Yes. Is "Red Light," a good, saxophone-heavy song that again, just doesn't quite run with side A? Yep. Does "Surrender," with its chiming guitar and "I love you God, but I'm really, really tempted to act like a little devil" lyrical theme from Bono gets things back on track perfectly? Yes. Is the plaintive ballad, "40," which directly quotes Psalm 40, a serious contender in the very dense "Best U2 album closer" discussion? You bet. I love this album. War's second half is objectively weaker than its perfect, absolutely flawless first half, but as a whole, the total album is still great. It's U2's statement of superiority over their peers--and they would only get better from here.

P.S.: The album version of "New Years Day" is far superior to the single version used in this video, but you've got to admire the way the band froze their tails off for this video.

1983 Island
1. Sunday Bloody Sunday 4:38
2. Seconds 3:09
3. New Year's Day 5:38
4. Like a Song… 4:48
5. Drowning Man 4:12
6. The Refugee 3:40
7. Two Hearts Beat as One 4:00
8. Red Light 3:46
9. Surrender 5:34
10. 40 2:36