U2 War 180g LP

TAS Rated 4/5 Music, 3.5/5 Sonics in the November 2008 Issue of The Absolute Sound!

U2's first three albums have been re-mastered and are available on 180g virgin vinyl! The packaging has been restored and expanded, with new liner notes for each title and previously unseen photos and full lyrics.

Ireland's premier pop/rock band, U2, burst onto the scene in the early eighties and were dominant through the early nineties! War features such U2 classics as: "Sunday Bloody Sunday," "New Year's Day" and "Two Hearts Beat As One." A piece of '80s nostalgia.

Sunday Bloody Sunday and New Year's Day are easily two of the era's best songs... and they have never sounded better than they do here. On the whole, the album sports solid imaging and a wide deep soundstage...

U2 were on the cusp of becoming one of the Eighties' most important groups when War came out. It's the band's most overtly political album, with songs about Poland's Solidarity movement ("New Year's Day") and Irish unrest ("Sunday Bloody Sunday") charged with explosive, passionate guitar rock.

'New Year's Day' lifted U2 out of the rock underground for good. As he often did, Bono made up his lyrics on the spot. 'We improvise, and the things that came out, I let them come out,' he said. 'I must have been thinking about Lech Walesa being interned. Then, when we'd recorded the song, they announced that martial law would be lifted in Poland on New Year's Day. Incredible.

This rallying cry set to a military beat was inspired by two Sunday massacres in the ongoing civil war between Irish Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland. The band changed the song's opening line from 'Don't talk to me about the rights of the IRA' to 'I can't believe the news today' out of fear that its plea for peace would be misconstrued.

This is a very good post-punk band exploding into something bigger. A touchstone for rock music.