Reception
| The Unforgettable Fire | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | |
| The Austin Chronicle | |
| BBC Music | Favourable |
| Robert Christgau | B+ |
| CCM Magazine | Favourable |
| Hot Press | 12/12 |
| Rolling Stone | |
| Sputnikmusic | |
| The Unforgettable Fire | |
|---|---|
| Deluxe Edition | |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Pitchfork Media | 9.3/10 |
| Q | |
| Rolling Stone | |
Bill Graham of Hot Press wrote in 1996 that The Unforgettable Fire was U2's most pivotal album and that it was "their coming of age that saved their lives as a creative unit." Niall Stokes, also of Hot Press said that "one or two tracks were undercooked" due to the deadline crush but that it was U2's "first album with a cohesive sound" on which "U2 were reborn". Rolling Stone magazine gave the album a score of 3/5 stars, compared to the 4/5 stars given to the two previous albums, Under a Blood Red Sky and War. In the review, Kurt Loder said that "with The Unforgettable Fire, U2 flickers and nearly fades, its fire banked by a misconceived production strategy and occasional interludes of soggy, songless self-indulgence. This is not a 'bad' album, but neither is it the irrefutable beauty the band's fans anticipated."
Tony Fletcher of Jamming! said it was not "...an album full of hits. a forceful collection of atmospheric ideas and themes, forgettable at first but strangely haunting and soon firmly implanted." and that Eno's production has removed some of the "heavy metal" from U2 and replaced "emotion the driving force".
Read more about this topic: The Unforgettable Fire
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“He’s leaving Germany by special request of the Nazi government. First he sends a dispatch about Danzig and how 10,000 German tourists are pouring into the city every day with butterfly nets in their hands and submachine guns in their knapsacks. They warn him right then. What does he do next? Goes to a reception at von Ribbentropf’s and keeps yelling for gefilte fish!”
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