War (Deluxe Edition)

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U2

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The 1983 U2 release, "War," features a boy with haunted eyes on the cover, and the song cycle displays an increasing political awareness by the group, with "Sunday Bloody Sunday," "Seconds," and "New Year's Day."

What caught my attention back in the day was the video for "New Year's Day" played in high circulation on MTV. The band playing their instruments in that snowy field was cool, but I really liked the powerful bassline and piano melody. The Edge's slashing guitar style was unlike anything I'd heard before, and Bono's vocals are passionate and evocative. This remains one of my favorite U2 songs.

"Sunday Bloody Sunday" invokes images of Irish history, and with its rat-a-tat-tat martial drums and guitars, it's more choppy than "New Year's Day" but more anthemic. This really hit home with the Red Rocks video when Bono was waving that huge flag. It's a powerful song.

"Seconds" benefits from being sandwiched between these two songs, but the cold war lyric and intertwining vocals of Bono and the Edge, along with the largely acoustic tracking, make this an interesting piece.

Another standout is "Two Hearts Beat as One," which does not usually make the best of compilations, but is an underrated nugget with a propulsive guitar line and vocal performance by Bono. "Like a Song" moves with youthful energy and urgency, and the band captures excellent dynamics. "40" is a short closer, but another anthemic rouser that was captured well on the live Red Rocks EP.

While less atmospheric than "Unforgettable Fire," the songs on "War" are full of heart and soul and the band's personal convictions. They're playing like they mean it.

I was really excited to have the first three U2 albums remastered with bonus tracks for the first time. These are my favorite U2 records (I am off the train after The Joshua Tree) and the b-sides, single only cuts and live tracks are nice to have in one package. So, how did the band screw up War's bonus material? By including some lame New Year's Day Ferry Corsten remixes instead of the original 12" versions. It's really nothing short of a slap in the face to the fans, whom i'm sure would like to have seen only original period songs included. October makes the same mistake by adding the Common Ground remix of Tomorrow, but that's a minor quibble. And while I know it would have been impossible to get ALL the War versions on the 2nd cd, it would have been in keeping with the spirit of the records to just play it straight. A five star record knocked down to three - what a shame....The other cds BOY **** and OCTOBER *****