There is a rawness to this LP that was less evident as they matured with later releases. And whilst everyone knows the opening track, for me, the stand out track on Side A is by far and away ‘Seconds’. A driving hard hitting apocalyptic song that, squeezed between SBS and NYD is easy to ignore and forget but the book covers around it, hide a fabulous track. All in all it is an extremely fine opening sequence of songs.
And talking of New Year’s Day, if you turn the volume up very loud the bass throb on this track powered by Edge’s classic guitar playing is sublime. I hadn’t quite appreciated the power on show. And there is no relief on Side B. If you ever wanted U2 to play a whole show on just one LP, this would be it. It is an awesome offering showcasing a band that was gouging out a path for themselves.
Without doubt they went onto bigger things, certainly more commercial success to top out as one off the biggest bands on the planet, but I wonder If they ever think back to this offering, before mega stardom hit and simply remind themselves how good this LP was at the time. Boy, it’s more than good in many ways.
