The Unforgettable Fire

This is U2's record, produced by Eno and Lanois. Sessions began on May 7, 1984 at Slane Castle in County Meath, where the band lived, with most tracking in the library because the ballroom was too large and reverberant; a second phase ran at Windmill Lane in Dublin from June 6 to August 5. The castle's water-wheel generator sometimes lacked power, and the band recorded live together. Eno worked on conceptual direction and Lanois closely with Larry Mullen Jr. on drum parts. Lanois told Sound On Sound the ballroom sounded too splashy, that his setup was modest and portable, and that too much time went to experimentation and too little to hard recording. Per Reuters in 2009, Bono wanted a building with ghosts in the walls, and Lanois recalled that the best part was that everyone was living there. Chrissie Hynde sings backing vocals on "Pride", credited as Mrs. Christine Kerr, and Noel Kelehan arranged the strings. It reached number 1 in the UK and 12 in the US. NME's Paul Du Noyer praised a panoramic soundscape, and Pitchfork gave the 2009 deluxe edition 9.3. The 25th anniversary remaster came out on October 27, 2009.