Achtung baby
Reviews :
Exclusive Review from Rolling Stone
Having spent a good part of the Eighties as one of the most
iconic bands in the world, U2 hardly needs to resort
to a cheekily absurd title to draw attention to its first album
in three years. Then again, subtlety has never been one
of the group's virtues. In its early days and in its basic
musical approach--a guitar, a few chords and the truth, to
paraphrase one of Bono's more garish assertions--U2 fell in with
other young bands that cropped up in the wake of
punk. But U2 immediately distinguished itself with its huge sound
and unabashed idealism rooted in spiritual aspiration.
At their best, these Irishmen have proven--just as Springsteen
and the Who did--that the same penchant for epic
musical and verbal gestures that leads many artists to
self-parody can, in more inspired hands, fuel the unforgettable
fire that defines great rock & roll.
At their worst...well, the half-live double album Rattle and
Hum (1988)--the product of U2's self-conscious infatuation
with American roots music--wasn't a full-out disaster, but it was
misguided and bombastic enough to warrant concern.
With Achtung Baby, U2 is once again trying to broaden its musical
pallette, but this time its ambitions are realized.
Working with producers who have lent discipline and nuance to the
group's previous albums--Daniel Lanois oversees
the entire album, with Brian Eno and Steve Lillywhite assisting
on a number of songs--U2 sets out to experiment rather
than pay homage. In doing so, the band is able to draw
confidently and consistently on its own native strengths.
Most conspicuous among the new elements that U2 incorporates
on Achtung Baby are hip-hop-derived electronic
beats. The band uses these dance-music staples on about half of
the album's twelve tracks, often layering them into guitar-
heavy mixes the way that many young English bands like Happy
Mondays and Jesus Jones have done in recent years.
"Mysterious Ways" is a standout among these songs,
sporting an ebullient hook and a fierce guitar solo in which the
Edge
segues from one of his signature bursts of light into an
insidious funk riff.
Elsewhere, as in the fit of distortion and feedback that opens
"Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses," Edge evokes
the cacophony and electronic daring of noise bands like sonic
Youth. Indeed Edge's boldness on Achtung is key to the
album's adventurous spirit. His plangent, minimalist guitar
style--among the most distinctive and imitated in modern rock--
has always made inspired use of devices like echo and reverb; his
shimmering washes of color on "Until the End of the
World" and "Ultraviolet (Light My Way)" are
instantly recognizable. But other tracks find the guitarist
crafting harder
textures and flashing a new arsenal of effects. On the first cut,
"Zoo Station," he uses his guitar as a rhythm
instrument,
repeating a dark and buzzing phrase that drives the beat while
his more lyrical playing on the chorus enhances the melody.
Similarly, "The Fly" features grinding riffs that
bounce off Adam Clayton's thick bass line and echo and embellish
Larry
Mullen Jr.'s drumming.
Bono's task, then, is to lend his sensuous tenor and
melodramatic romanticism to expressions that match this sonic
fervor.
He announces on "Zoo Station" that "he's ready to
let go/Of the steering wheel"; what follows are the most
fearlessly
introspective lyrics he's written. In the past, U2's frontman has
turned out fiercely pointed social and political diatribes ,
but his more confessional and romantic songs, however felt, have
been evasive. On Achtung, though, Bono deals more
directly with his private feelings--not to mention his hormones.
"The hunter will sin...for you ivory skin," he sings on
"Wild Horses," and boasts on "Even Better Than the
Real Thing" that "I'm gonna make you sing/Give me half
a chance
/To ride on the waves that you bring."
Almost as surprising, and even more affecting, are Bono's
reflections on being an artist. On "Acrobat," over an
arrangement
that recalls the apocalyptic frenzy of "Bullet the Blue
Sky," he pleads for inspiration: "What are we gonna do
now it's all
been said?" On "The Fly" self-doubt gives way to
self-indictment: "Every artist is a cannibal," he sings
in a whispered groan,
"every poet a thief." Squarely acknowledging his own
potential for hypocrisy and inadequacy, and addressing basic
human
weaknesses rather than the failings of society at large, Bono
sounds humbler and more vulnerable than in the past.
"Desperation is a tender trap," he sings on "So
Cruel." "It gets you every time."
That's not to say that U2 has forsaken its faith or that Bono
has abandoned his quest to find what he's looking for. On the
radiant ballad "One," the band invests an unexceptional
message--"We're one/but we're not the same/We get to carry
each
other"--with such urgency that it sounds like a revelation.
Few bands can marshal such sublime power, but it's just one of
the
many moments on Achtung Baby when we're reminded why, before
these guys were the butt of cynical jokes, they were rock
& roll heroes - as they still are.
Rolling Stone Network.
Exclusive Review from CMJ-New Music Report
With a lot less hype, but with as much anticipation as Use
Your Illusion I & II, U2 releases Achtung Baby, an eerie,
adventurous and powerful pop record. In a way it's the prettiest,
most polished disc U2 has recorded, but it's also the
weirdest - full of wild beats, blown level guitar noise and other
experiments (maybe Eno forced them to listen to hours of
Stockhausen while they were taping in Berlin). The result, thanks
to Lanois, Eno and Lillywhite, is the union of the beautiful
moodiness of The Unforgettable Fire with the bratty attitude of
Boy. It was worth waiting three years to hear The Edge
tackle more sounds, from even spacier rhythm chords to downright
funky jams. On "Tryin' To Throw Your Arms Around
The World," Bono sings the lines with such pure phrasing
that you're convinced he's finally caught hold of those black
soul
muses he's been chasing for a decade. And with near-industrial
vocals on "Zoo Station," you can hear he's not just
satisfied
with crooning. Even Adam Clayton's bass playing wakes up to go on
the attack and stands in front of tracks like "Acrobat"
and "Mysterious Ways." Like R.E.M.'s latest, Achtung
Baby should dispel any notion that popularity and maturity has
made
them "uncool." Danke Schön Baby: All the above plus
"Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses," "One,"
"So Cruel" and "The Fly."
College Media, Inc.
Quick Quotes :
4.5 Stars - Outstanding - "...the band is able to grow
confidently and consistently on its own native strengths...few
bands
can marshal such sublime power..."
Rolling Stone 1/9/92, p.50
"...ACHTUNG, BABY is dense, tough and endlessly
surprising...a great accomplishment..."
Musician 12/91
"..Dense, self-serious and overly ambitious: all the
things this band is rightfully famous for.."
New York Times 1/1/92
5 Stars - Classic - "...U2's heaviest album to date. And
best..." - One of Q Magazine's 50 best albums of 1991.
Q Magazine 12/91
"..refreshingly personal - deeper and denser than any of
the band's previous releases..." - Rating: A
Entertainment Weekly 11/29/91
Picked by critic John Dilberto as one of the 10 best albums of
1992.
Jazziz Dec.-Jan./92, p.94
Notes :
Additional personnel: Daniel Lanois (guitar); Brian Eno (keyboards).
Recorded at Hansa Ton Studios, Berlin, Germany; Dog Town, S.T.S. and Windmill Lane Studios, Dublin, Ireland.
All songs written by U2.
A conscious reaction against "the myth of U2" (as
guitarist The Edge put it), ACHTUNG, BABY was the result of
two years work in Berlin and Dublin.
Attempting to withdraw from the musical world and
"re-invent" U2, the band secluded itself in studios,
writing hours
of material that was whittled down to 12 songs. The band's
secrecy about the project aroused so much curiosity that
early master tapes were stolen and bootlegged in Europe.
ACHTUNG, BABY reflects the band's interest in differing musical
sounds. The quasi-industrial opening to "Zoo Station"
and the hip-hop influence in "Mysterious Ways," define
U2 as a group of musicians determined to challenge themselves
and their audience.