20 Years Later - U2's Achtung Baby Album Review
It was 20 years ago today, that U2 went from being one of the biggest bands in the world to THE biggest band in the world. November 19th, 1991 was when the legendary Achtung Baby first released. It was a departure in sound and style, a revolution even, yet was still U2, in a re-imagined sense. It wasn't just a revolution in the recorded sound of the band but in how they presented themselves on stage. The massive, multimedia spectacle of The Zoo TV Tour became the benchmark by which all large-scale tours and concert performances (including their own future tours) would be compared to. And while hindsight may be 20/20, it was not the passage of 20 years that made Achtung Baby one of the single most important album releases of all time.
To celebrate the milestone of its release, the band has just reissued Achtung Baby in multiple, expanded formats. The band says it did not re-master the album, but merely "polished it" in places, feeling its sound didn't require full remastering. Whatever minor audio tweaking they did, it has definitely brought out more depth in the sound. There is noticeable improvement in the separation of the instruments from the original release. The better revealed strings in the opening of "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses" is just one of numerous examples that the polishing was very worthwhile for the listener. Perhaps best served by this new edition is bassist Adam Clayton, who's instrument is given vastly better clarity throughout the album.
Achtung is German for "Attention". And grabbing your attention is exactly what U2 does across every single track on the album. "Zoo Station", still sounds as fresh and urgent as it did two decades ago. The very un-U2 sound of The Edge morphing his signature, harmonic chiming guitar into a buzzing, near-metallic grind, coupled with Larry Mullen, Jr.'s industrially distorted drums makes for a powerful, attention grabbing opening track.
This is one of those rare albums where there isn't a throw away song to be found. "Zoo Station" transitions into the upbeat "Even Better Than The Real Thing" which segues into one of the singularly most beautiful pieces of popular music ever recorded, "One". The album continues with a trio of emotionally powerful pieces, "Until The End of The World", the majestic "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses" and the balladry of "So Cruel".
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| The collage imagery of Anton Corbijn from the front and back covers of Achtung Baby |
Historically, "The Fly" is the opener of side 2 of the album and is where Bono's The Fly character, with his wrap around shades and leather outfits commanding the stage in live performances was spawned from. The funky love song "Mysterious Ways" is next, followed up by "Tryin' To Throw Your Arms Around The World" and it's wickedly daft line "a woman needs a man, like a fish needs a bicyle".
Things get serious with the closing trio of songs, led by the love and desperation themes of "Ultraviolet (Light My Way)", the cynicism of "Acrobat" and the deeply metaphorical "Love Is Blindness", closing the album with a cathartic guitar solo from The Edge (who's marriage was ending at the time).
For the casual listener, the single-disc re-issue will more than suffice, but for a deeper listen the double-disc set adds remixes and B-sides from the album's singles. The 14 extra tracks are definitely well worth the extra coin, simply for the inclusion of the band-preferred version of "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses (Temple Bar Remix)" a cover of the Rolling Stones' "Paint It Black" and the haunting, cyberpunk instrumental "Alex Descends Into Hell For a Bottle of Milk/Korova 1". The latter being a B-side to "The Fly", credited to Bono and The Edge, which also appeared on the soundtrack to Johnny Mnemonic. This piece is actually from the score of the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of "A Clockwork Orange", hence the title-reference to the droog, Alex and the Korova Milk Bar.
But for a truly encyclopedic journey into the world of Achtung Baby, there is a 10-disc "Super Deluxe" edition which includes the album, it's follow up, Zooropa, three discs of outtakes, remixes and B-sides spanning both of these albums, plus a disc of an alternative version of Achtung Baby, dubbed the Kindergarten version. And that is just the music portion. The video discs include Zoo TV: Live from Sydney, Achtung Baby's music videos, bonus material and the new documentary film, From the Sky Down. The set also includes a massive, hard bound tome and a set of 12"x12" art prints of the 16 images by Anton Corbijn that make up the album's cover. This set isn't just for hardcore fans, but those seeking to expand their knowledge of this seminal turning point in U2's career.
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| A look at the contents of the Super Deluxe Achtung Baby |
When I declared Achtung Baby to be one of the most important albums of all time, I was serious and did not write those words lightly or as click bait to bring you here. Albums that earn this distinction are singular, touchstone moments. They may be revolutionary in sound, intent or use of technology. They may capture the zeitgeist of the era in which they were recorded. They may be some of or even all of these things. Albums bearing this distinction transcend all attempts at simple description or classification. So, when you drop names like The White Album, Are You Experienced, Who's Next, IV, Dark Side of the Moon, Thriller or Nevermind, one would be remiss not to include Achtung Baby.
If you are young enough to have not heard Achtung Baby, or if for whatever reason you haven't listened to it before, I encourage, nay, implore you to pick up the new re-issue, put your headphones on, shut out the world for 55 minutes and 29 seconds, and don't just listen, but experience it for yourself.
...coda...
On a personal note, Achtung Baby was literally the first album I ever reviewed. It wasn't my first exposure to U2. That came a decade earlier with the October album (which just celebrated its 30th anniversary last month) and the band was at that point among my all-time favorite artists. But it was that revolution in sound unleashed upon my ears that compelled me to literally sit down and write a track-by-track review of it during my first listen.
It was less a "review" than a euphoric, stream of consciousness experience, where thoughts flowed with each track heard from my brain to the keyboard. And while doing live-tweet first listen reviews of albums now is a fun thing to do, that first experience with Achtung Baby was one of those moments that truly only happens once. And even after countless listens in the intervening span of time, this morning's first re-listen is still as chill-inducing as it was 20 years ago.
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