The Unforgettable Fire has a lot to live up to - and it's this listener's verdict that it does so, unequivocally...

Blessed are the music makers: a truly unique guitarist, a fiery vocalist, and a rhythm section that can do just ...

This is not a 'bad' album, but neither is it the irrefutable beauty the band's fans anticipated...

An album of confident excitement, the work of a band completely secure about their powers... Bill Graham reviews Under A Blood Red Sky

Stairway to Heaven for smart people-even if it is played a tad too fast-and it kicks Under a Blood Red Sky over the rainbow...

A kind of grace through simplicity...

This is U2's most developed and mature album both lyrically and musically...

In spite of itself War is another example of rock music's impotence and decay...

'Complementing U2's lyrical growth is a newly developed dark sense of humour, which the band uses to striking effect throughout ...

A Celebration goes to No 47 in the UK charts

U2's contribution to the progress of rock is that they've divorced guitar heroics from the idea of a dazzling guitar hero.

October is a musical and spiritual growth for U-2, a passionate and moving LP for me.

U2 will endure. October hits that home magnificently. It's just how they will endure that'll trouble us come U2 '3' or '4'.

U2, I guess, will continue to "move" in live performance, just like James Brown. But they will only move on the lightest surface.

'Needs time to work its way into your heart...'

'It's not a fashionable record either, because it needs time to work ...

Boy released in US and reaches No 63 in the chart

Boy released in Ireland and UK. Peaks at No 52 in the British charts