This is the first record by U2 that I bought, back when I was a young music explorer (with no internet, just the good old record stores and that big square packaging called vinyl) and because the first impression is always the strongest one, “October” remained my favorite U2 album. When I think of U2, I still picture them with funny haircuts and music that sounds strange, because it sounds different from everyone else’s. This was made in the period before they discovered the Blues (they did that on “Rattle and Hum” and since then their career went up and still goes in that direction). But somehow I am unable to grow familiar to the new, more bluesy, more rocking idiom they developed. For me, this LP is a classic U2 release, made from the heart and a true representative of the attitude they brought from Ireland.
“October” is the second studio album by U2, released on 12 October 1981 on Island Records. Inspired by Bono's, the Edge's, and Larry Mullen, Jr.'s memberships in a Christian group called the "Shalom Fellowship", it is filled with religious themes and doubts about the (im)possible relation between the Christian faith and the "rock and roll" lifestyle, doubts that threatened to break up the group. It’s a spiritual album, with lyrics that raise questions about God and authority and with metaphysical dilemmas typical for smart youngsters with no money in their pockets. But things change, kids grow and get rich, leaving the dilemmas for the new generations to cope with.
