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Achtung Baby

U2 - Achtung Baby Audio CD

A fair review of the U2 "Achtung Baby" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all U2 reviews here, or go back to the U2 tabs.

Band: U2
Title: Achtung Baby
Rating:

Release Date: 1991-11-19
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Zoo Station 2: Even Better Than the Real Thing 3: One 4: Until the End of the World 5: Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses 6: So Cruel 7: Fly 8: Mysterious Ways 9: Tryin' to Throw Your Arms Around the World 10: Ultra Violet (Light My Way) 11: Acrobat 12: Love Is Blindness

Even Better Than the Real Thing
By moving away from their consciously American sounds of the late 1980s and into a more European, club-inspired, danceable sound, they not only renewed their own claim on musical greatness, but they helped usher in the squeaky-clean American pop music of the 1990s in a big way. U2 set out to shed the highly musical but bathetically self-serious vestiges of the Joshua Tree, and succeeded mightily.

With manic swings between peppy pop and moody ballads, U2 crafts a lush soundscape. But where the Joshua Tree was an outdoor sound, with ringing guitars seeming to echo off distant cliffs, this album is indoors, smoky, lit by halogen and full of crowds. It has a power every bit as strong as their prior work, but with no lingering vestiges of the post-punk sound that dominated their 1980s work.

But for all that transformation, they still engage the same themes that make the Joshua Tree classic. Spirituality, politics, sex, identity: it's all still there. Tracks like "Mysterious Ways," "One," and "The Fly" have a way if sticking with you long after the music goes quiet. That continuity amid change is an important part of why this album retains its massive impact after two decades.

Sandwiched between the painful earnestness of the 1980s and the silliness of the 1990s, it might be easy to forget just how powerful a band U2 was at the turn of the decade. But one listen to this timeless album is a capsule reminder. Most of this album remains part of their live concerts, and it's easy to see why. For a while there they were one of the most powerful cultural forces in the world.

One of U2's greatest
The powerhouse of the album "One" gets support from "Mysterious Ways", "Who's Gonna Ride your Wild Horses", and "The Fly". Achtung Baby is a great album and necessary for any fan of U2's work. The underlying tones of "One" make this album perfectly suited to people the world over lost in their own seclusion. The sounds of a man, Bono, yearning for peace and love in the world are emphasized by this album. Purchasing this will be a tremendous benefit to yourself and your music life.

U2's SECOND GREAT MASTERPIECE!!
After the huge success of "The Joshua Tree" in 1987 made U2 a worldwide sensation,
there was a brief period where it seemed as if they were going to go out as
quickly as they'd came in! But then, in the early 90's, they came out of nowhere
with yet another magnum opus and one of the 90's most interesting albums. .
ACHTUNG BABY!!---was perfection in every way, the same as JOSHUA TREE was!
Just put it on and vibe along to every track. . . there's no junk on this CD!
They topped this amazing album with one of the most spectacular live shows in
modern rock history. . . . THE ZOO TV TOUR!!
They used the grandeuse theatrics of the 70's glam/glitter spectacles like Bowie,
Alice Cooper, KISS and others. . . but they added their own originality to it along
with the newer technology and brought it into the 90's!
The show was a sell-out everywhere it went!--I saw it in Montreal Olympic Stadium.
There were alter-egos (Satan as a charismatic lounge singer!) and of course
there were the serious issues that U2 has always dealt with in their music.
If you don't already have this one in your collection, get it there immediately!.

THE album of the 90's
Corrupt political regimes were falling all over the world, disparate cultures were beginning to converge in a universalist mish-mash, and the old guard of rock and roll was forgotten in favor of fresher, more idealistic sounds. U2
Achtung, Baby; 1991
Island Records

My Rating: 10/10

In the four years between THE JOSHUA TREE and ACHTUNG, BABY, the world around U2 radically changed in a hundred different ways. U2 certainly faced the possibility of their own extinction - if it could happen to others, it could certainly happen to them. But like fellow alterna-rock heroes R. E. M. , U2 somehow managed to not only find its own place in the music revolution, but to ride said revolution to the top of the charts with another classic album. In fact, ACHTUNG, BABY not only achieves classic status, but manages to capture the international zeitgeist of the early-90's like no other record, combining sounds as disparate as garage rock, euro-pop, and world beat into a completely cohesive and romantic aural experience. The collision of worlds - in this case post-modern relativism with a definite hunger for spiritual experience - is once again U2's thematic recipe for success. ACHTUNG, BABY is doubtless one of the band's top 3 albums, and in the opinion of this humble reviewer, probably their best.

1. Zoo Station (4/5)
2. Even Better Than The Real Thing (5/5)
3. One (5/5)
4. Until the End of the World (5/5)
5. Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses (5/5)
6. So Cruel (5/5)
7. The Fly (5/5)
8. Mysterious Ways (5/5)
9. Tryin' To Throw Your Arms Around the World (5/5)
10. Ultra Violet (Light my Way) (5/5)
11. Acrobat (4/5)
12. Love Is Blindness (4/5).

Seminal, Classic U2
I must admit, at first I was severely disappointed. I got this album after hearing the samples and praise from anyone I asked about it. I found that I only liked a few of these songs. Now this is unquestionably my favorite U2 record and one of my favorite albums alongside Radiohead's "OK Computer", Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here", and Muse's "Black Holes and Revelations".

This was referred to as "the sound of men chopping down the Joshua Tree. " I hear why. This CD is nothing like its predecessors. U2 has taken there musical style to new and inventive heights with this. Each of these songs are memorable. One is beautiful, Zoo Station, Even Better Than The Real Thing, and The Fly make great use of distortion, as well as being very catchy.

Overall this album deserves the praise being heaped upon it. If you you're looking at this album you have great taste in music, for this is a musical classic as much as "The Three Musketeers" is a literary classic. .

You can see a complete list of all U2 discography, or go back to the U2 tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.