Occasionally, here at earworm, a ‘classic album’ will be listened to and (re?)assessed to determine whether it truly deserves its place in the fabled pantheon of all those Best Albums Of All Time lists music magazines love to publish.
Feel free to join the debate and nominate albums for future ‘classic album?’ listening.
I’m ready, I’m ready for the laughing gas
I’m ready, I’m ready for what’s next
I’m ready to duck, I’m ready to dive
I’m ready to say I’m glad to be alive
I’m ready, I’m ready for the push
– Zoo Station, U2
Achtung! Achtung Baby is 20. To celebrate the occasion, U2′s 1991 album is being re-released in various wallet-tremblingly expensive box set editions.
Whether you have the cash or inclination to send more money Bono and co’s way or not, it’s a good opportunity to listen to the original set of songs – minus the bonus outtakes and alternate versions proffered in the super deluxe updates – and decide whether it stacks up as a classic album deserving the super deluxe treatment.
U2 had pretty much conquered the world with 1987′s The Joshua Tree but 1988′s Rattle And Hum bloated double album and movie saw many mock the band’s attempts to immerse itself in Americana rock and blues. Bono, perhaps smarting from the reaction, announced at a homecoming Dublin gig that “we have to go away and dream it all up again”.
Decamping to Berlin for a Brian Eno collaboration with co-producer Daniel Lanois also in tow, U2 re-emerged with single The Fly presaging Achtung Baby‘s release. Its clattering drum beats and The Edge’s new guttural guitar sounds were a radical change in direction for U2. It’s easy to forget now how surprising it was at the time. Bono also sensed many were — not for the first or last time — sick of his moralising self-importance and invented the wraparound shaded leather clad Fly character to inhabit, echoing David Bowie’s 1970s penchant for character reinvention.
When Achtung Baby proper arrived opener Zoo Station kept the discordant strum and clang vibe going with Bono declaring he was “ready for what’s next” as follow-up Even Better Than The Real Thing seemed to cheekily ask wavering listeners to “give me one more chance and you’ll be satisfied” before the lighters-aloft epic One returned to more comfortable U2 straightforward ballad territory.
Listening again now, that’s something that stands out that wasn’t highlighted at the time. For every inventive, risky — in U2 terms — track like Until The End Of The World or The Fly there was a safe bet anthemic song like Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses or Ultra Violet (Light My Way) to placate older fans. In retrospect, the game changing hype surrounding Achtung Baby was only half-right. U2 had an each-way bet just in case the new look and direction wasn’t commercially well received. They needn’t have worried.
Selling 18 million (The Joshua Tree clocked up 25 million but it was a monster and remains one of the biggest-selling albums of all time) U2 achieved what seemed like the impossible during Rattle And Hum‘s creative nadir by achieving critical and commercial success with Achtung Baby.
1993′s mini-Zooropa set would see U2 experiment more with dance beats while 1997′s Pop would see the band bizarrely mimicking The Village People but U2 would never be as interesting or credible again as they were in 1991. Achtung Baby is their best album and definitely a classic.
earworm’s next ‘classic album?’ will be 1965′s Highway 61 Revisited by Bob Dylan, nominated by reader John Crowe.
5 Comments
Like Radiohead, inflated bores, stadium rockers, and terrible writers. Bono terrorises the aid programs, The Edge the LA planning department. Comsat Angels, who once supported U2, were way better writers and musicians, the band that U2 could have been if they had any talent. Listen to Fiction, The Glamour, or My Mind’s Eye.
@Stephen. Wankers they may be but their music stands the test of time. BTW – I also like Radiohead – wankery or not.
@Stephen. I am no U2 lover – but I wish I had such outrageous talent as to be able to dismiss two of the most successful and critically acclaimed bands of the modern era with a simple mash of my keyboard. If I were so lucky, I would then go on to quote a band that was way cooler and more talented but tragically and unjustly less acclaimed. If only Thom Yorke had learned to use the word “happiosity” in a sentence, he would have held my interest past the bloated and self indulgent intro to every song he ever wrote.
In my book, every U2 album after “War” was a disappointment. Bono’s voice may not have been as polished (or digitally enhanced) on later studio albums, but the passion and energy of that album was always going to be tough to emulate.
Having said that, “One” is a great song. One of the best.
During the late ’80s I was a fanatical U2 fan. My interest started to wane around the time of Achtung Baby’s release. Why? They were becoming just like any other band. Their mystique was quickly disappearing.
During previous albums (exception: Rattle & Hum) dark themes permeated their albums, often matching their cover art. On Actung Baby I detected “happiness” or maybe even “contentment” and there was no dark theme continuity, more a mish-mash of ideas, again reflecting the cover art, whether intentionally or unintentionally.
It had never occurred to me that this album could be called a “classic”. I’ll make a point of giving it another go.