U2‘s third album ‘War’ was a four-piece joined together views on politics and the human condition, it was the band strident march into rock legend, which have failed in ‘Boy’ and principally in the weak ‘October’. While the central themes of their earlier albums focused on adolescence and spirituality, respectively,War focused on both the physical aspects of war warfare, and the emotional after-effects. As well as the lyrics, the instrumental parts is richer and more varied, like the funky material on ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’ or the acoustic parts of ‘Drowning Man’.
War remains one of U2‘s most sonically raw sets. It opens with a huge power sound from Larry Mullen with Bono singing ‘I can´t believe the news today,’ on one of the best U2 songs ever, in sound and sentiment, ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’. The album is also notable for the inclusion of ‘Seconds’ one of only two U2 tracks ever recorded with the Edge on lead vocals. The third track, ‘New Years Day’ was another triumph, the opening piano that sets the song for a promise of change where the may also be as ‘one’ despite being torn in two. The song went on to become one of their most played songs on live performances. The second single released from ‘War’ was a love song that become a live favorite, ‘Two Hearts Beat As One’ full of funk groove open with Bono singing ‘I don’t know, I don’t know which side I’m on’. The album ends with the hymn-like ’40’ that was also used to close the shows during the 80’s era.
The album first released in 1983 was a commercial success for the band, knocking Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ from the top of the charts to become the band’s first number 1 album in the UK and peaked at No. 12 in US. The last album with producer Steve Lillywhite is an enduring record among the best albums of U2, and thus one of the best of the 80’s, delivered by a major band in the process.
