U2: Bono (vocals); The Edge (guitar, piano); Adam Clayton (bass); Larry Mullen, Jr. (drums). Recorded at Windmill Lane, Dublin, Ireland in July and August 1981. Originally released on Island (90092). Though it's probably one of their least-acclaimed albums, OCTOBER is where it all began to come together for U2. The youthful exuberance they demonstrated on BOY was now a given, but for this, their second album, the conceptual end of things began to coalesce as well. The Edge had begun to expand his sonic palette, and the effects-heavy guitar approach that he would rely on for the next several years came to full fruition here. There's further development of the bold, anthemic approach that would come to characterize the band's arrangements, and the songwriting is just plain better. Most affecting, and indicative of the group's progress is the emotional epic "Gloria;" full of resounding major chords and throbbing rhythms, it's simultaneously an open admission of self-doubt and a call to arms to embrace life's uncertainties. This contrast is what makes OCTOBER, along with much of U2's early work, so effective.

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