A great title track is par for the course when it comes to great albums. If the title track doesn’t cut it, what does that say about the album itself? This month, the Mental Jukebox will be playing some of my favorite title tracks – inspired by @NicolaB_73’s music Twitter challenge, #TopTitleTracks.
As a child of the eighties, my music collection consisted mainly of cassettes. I missed the golden years of vinyl – and spent many years buying or duplicating cassettes before CDs were ever a thing. And the Unforgettable Fire, with its maroon and gold cover, was one of my most played cassettes. While “Pride” and “Bad” were the highlights, the album didn’t have a single filler track. For the next several years, the title track, in particular, was a staple on my local alt rock station.
The Unforgettable Fire album ran at three different paces. The slow tempo side was represented by “Promenade”, “4th of July”, “Elvis Presley and America” and “MLK”. The fast tempo side was occupied by the likes of “Wire” and “Pride”. In between, the mid-tempo songs included “A Sort of Homecoming”, “Bad”, “Indian Summer Sky” and “The Unforgettable Fire”. The title track shimmers and shines with The Edge’s understated guitar work and flourishes on keys, while Bono sings one of his most memorable melodies in the chorus.
“Walk on by, walk on through, So sad to besiege your love, So, hang on.”