Great Songs from My Favorite Year in Music: 1985, Part 40

U2 - "Love Comes Tumbling"



(B-side Single Release: April 1985)
In 1985, I was about as big of a U2 fan as you could find. While that may be hyperbole, as surely there were U2 fans more fervent than me, I was definitely entranced by every song they performed. Toward the end of 1984, U2 had released the stellar The Unforgettable Fire. With songs such as "Pride (In the Name of Love)," "Bad," and "A Sort of Homecoming," U2 (guided along by Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno), built upon an already solid reputation built on three albums and ten singles. MTV had made U2 superstars thanks to being supporters of the Live at Red Rocks version of "Sunday Bloody Sunday." Here in the states, we were often deprived of b-sides that would appear on UK singles. That's why the EP of Wide Awake in America, which compiled two live tracks with two b-sides from the single, "The Unforgettable Fire," was such a treasure to me. (By the way, it is mere coincidence that my post yesterday found Paul Weller singing about "Walls Come Tumbling Down," and its protest of Thatcher-era politics and today Bono sings about "Love Comes Tumbling" about some of the ugly realities of love and deception). I love the sedated feel of this track as opposed to the usual U2 fare of big, boisterous, anthemic rock songs. Not much is ever written about "Love Comes Tumbling," and I'm not sure why. Maybe it is precisely because of its sedated quality, its languorousness, and understated feel. The Edge's hypnotic guitars are at their ambient best, while I am actually noticing Adam Clayton's bassline as more prominent than in most other U2 tracks. The harmonies, I'm guessing supplied by the Edge, as is usual, are gorgeous, as the two sing "All roads lead to where you are." Whoever mashed up the song with scenes from Control, Anton Corbijn's film about Ian Curtis and Joy Division, was inspired. Corbijn, of course, also shot many U2 videos and photos, including the now famous cover of what would become U2's biggest accomplishment, The Joshua Tree. Though it would seem like forever until that album hit the shelves in 1987, a full three years after their previous album, I would be comforted by this track and play it again and again, which is likely how it became one of my favorites. (And by the way, one more aside, I did not plan this to be the 40th in this series, making it an allusion to the band's song from War, "40." It was pure happy coincidence.)