October Album Review
In 1981, U2 experienced a bit of a spiritual awakening. Bono and Edge left the band temporary to join a religious sect called the “Shalom Fellowship”. Admittedly, the band have confessed the pressure they were under to record “October”. “October” is filled with themes of adolescent angst, although not quite as edgy and seems even less polished than “Boy”. There are plenty of fillers on this album, both in terms of in-parts within the songs themselves and a few not up to scratch altogether. The opening track “Gloria” is actually quite a good song, full of the energy that was prevalent on “Boy”. “I Fall Down” is the start of a few songs that make prominent use of the Piano. While it sounds a bit out of place here, it at least shows they are ready to experiment with other instruments. After all they did manage to master the piano as lead on their hit single “New Year’s Day” on “War”. Speaking of other instruments, Uilleann pipes are on show, in “Tomorrow”, a song about Bono’s mother’s funeral. Most of the songs on this album show great potential, but are let down either by really poor song structure or just pointless lyrics. “I Threw a Brick through a Window” and “With a Shout (Jerusalem)” are two such songs. The lyrics of these two songs are abstract and simplistic, while both stretching out too long. They feature a lot of fill-in drumming which serve no real purpose. The most beautiful song on the album is actually not really a proper song- the nearly wordless “Scarlet”. It is unfortunate that this wasn’t developed into a full song, as it contained a perfect platform for a ballad. All the instruments just mesh in perfect unity leading to a fitting climax .The album ends on a good note, with the song “Is that All” and makes us wonder why the rest of “October” isn’t fueled with the same passion.
Nothing from
“October” really stands out at all (maybe except
“Gloria”) and lacks real energy, passion or youthful enthusiasm of
“Boy”. However it is an album of completely different undertones of spirituality and religion. The main problem with this album is that it is neither here nor there. There’s a little bit of experimentation, some songs with great potential- the template is there to make a good album. Admittance from the band that they were under pressure suggested a lot of the songs were rushed; such is the completely pointless title track
“October”. All of which is a real shame, alas it’s just an average album.
6/10
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