Achtung Baby

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U2
Achtung Baby

[ Island Records / CD ]

Release Date: Thursday 21 November 1991

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Reinventions rarely come as thorough and effective as Achtung Baby, an album that completely changed U2's sound and style. The crashing, unrecognizable distorted guitars that open "Zoo Station" are a clear signal that U2 have traded their Americana pretensions for postmodern, contemporary European music. Drawing equally from Bowie's electronic, avant-garde explorations of the late '70s and the neo-psychedelic sounds of the thriving rave and Madchester club scenes of early-'90s England, Achtung Baby sounds vibrant and endlessly inventive. Unlike their inspirations, U2 rarely experiment with song structures over the course of the album. Instead, they use the thick dance beats, swirling guitars, layers of effects, and found sounds to break traditional songs out of their constraints, revealing the tortured emotional core of their songs with the hyper-loaded arrangements.

In such a dense musical setting, it isn't surprising that U2 have abandoned the political for the personal on Achtung Baby, since the music, even with its inviting rhythms, is more introspective than anthemic. Bono has never been as emotionally naked as he is on Achtung Baby, creating a feverish nightmare of broken hearts and desperate loneliness; unlike other U2 albums, it's filled with sexual imagery, much of it quite disturbing, and it ends on a disquieting note. Few bands as far into their career as U2 have recorded an album as adventurous or fulfilled their ambitions quite as successfully as they do on Achtung Baby, and the result is arguably their best album.
5 / 5 All Music Guide.

Rolling Stone (5/13/99, p.50) - Included in Rolling Stone's "Essential Recordings of the 90's."

Spin (9/99, p.128) - Ranked #19 in Spin Magazine's "90 Greatest Albums of the '90s."

Q Magazine (12/99, p.70) - Included in Q Magazine's "90 Best Albums Of The 1990s."

Rolling Stone (1/9/92, p.50) - 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..."

Musician (12/91) - "...ACHTUNG, BABY is dense, tough and endlessly surprising...a great accomplishment..."

New York Times (1/1/92) - "..Dense, self-serious and overly ambitious: all the things this band is rightfully famous for.."

Q Magazine (12/91) - 5 Stars - Classic - "...U2's heaviest album to date. And best..." - One of Q Magazine's 50 best albums of 1991.

Entertainment Weekly (11/29/91) - "..refreshingly personal - deeper and denser than any of the band's previous releases..." - Rating: A

Jazziz (Dec.-Jan./92, p.94) - Picked by critic John Dilberto as one of the 10 best albums of 1992.

Tracks:

Zoo Station
Even Better Than the Real Thing
One
Until the End of the World
Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
So Cruel
The Fly
Mysterious Ways
Tryin' to Throw Your Arms Around the World
Ultraviolet (Light My Way)
Acrobat
Love Is Blindness