Listened: Monday October 11
I’ve heard October referred to as U2’s weakest album, the inevitable sophomore slump. Bono’s notebooks full of lyrics were stolen right before recording, but I really think they made lemonade out of those lemons.
Gloria is a very underrated song in the U2 canon. According to Wikipedia, neither the song nor the video is included on any of their compilations. I don’t really understand why; it’s probably their first really anthemic song, if a little odd, given the Latin lyrics.
This album seems to be the most piano-heavy of all U2 albums. I actually kind of like the simple piano tones juxtaposed with The Edge’s signature guitar sound.
I guess I have to agree that if I was forced to rank U2 albums from top to bottom this one would be in the bottom half. But the competition is so fierce, I’m not sure that’s fair! Any run of the mill band would be thrilled to have an album this good.
Emily's Albums A to Z 
[…] to develop skills they put to maximum use on later albums (The Joshua Tree, Achtung Baby), but like October, I must admit that in a ranking of my favorite U2 albums, this would be near the bottom. It has […]
[…] while Boy and October were very personal, post-punk albums, something has definitely changed here. With War, the band […]