U2 'The Unforgettable Fire'

Chart Peak: 6

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Side 4 starts here. Which isn't very surprising, because this would be an amazingly difficult segue from the previous track, even by the broad-church standards of the Now albums. It's a struggle to believe that these two tracks even existed in the same universe, let alone that they were briefly in the chart together.

In fact, this track doesn't entirely seem to belong anywhere, although the very fact that it went straight into the Top 10 (albeit for a relatively short run) seems a sure sign that U2 had arrived at true stardom and now had a big enough fanbase who'd rush out to grab the limited double-7" single. That's not to say that it's anything other than brilliant, but it's by no means an obvious pop hit. It made so little impression on my seven-year-old self that I don't remember hearing it at all until I started listening to Radio 2 a couple of decades later, and even then I struggled to remember which one it was. Once I had my own copy of the album, it was a different story and this swiftly became one of my favourite ever U2 tracks, instantly engaging with its rock-solid rhythm section but also admirably resisting the big obvious chorus it always seems so close to. And one of Bono's best vocal performances too, for my money: entirely committed but without the huffing and puffing that mar so much of his work in the Joshua Tree and Rattle And Hum eras. Around this Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois have built a soundscape that defies detailed description; and that's not just a cop-out on my part, it seems like it'd ruin the mystique a bit. It's for the same reason that I've tried to avoid thinking too hard about what the lyrics are supposed to mean: I know the song and album title were influenced by an exhibition of photos of Hiroshima, but the actual content doesn't seem to be that linear, and the mood is as uplifting as it is gloomy in the end.

Also appearing on: Now 4, 20, 22, 32, 36, 37, 41, 47, 48, 49, 53, 57 [LMC vs U2], 60, 61, 62, 63, 66, 72
Available on: The Best Of: 1980-1990