Like most people, I imagine, I am very well versed in the well known songs of U2. How could I not be? During the 80s they were ubiquitous. U2 and R.E.M. (possibly the subject of a later listening post) came out at the same time, have lasted the same amount of time and had roughly the same number of hits.
The difference is that, while Stipe and Co. soldiered on after a key member left (after saying that they wouldn’t ever do such a thing) U2 has been comprised of the same 4 Irish lads since 1980.
1980! If Rock and Roll began in 1955, which is the accepted norm, then u2 has been around for more than HALF of the history of Rock.
What really surprised me as I began to research this retrospective is just how young they all are. Three of the members were born in 1961 and the other is even younger. I was born in 1965 which makes Bono and the gang close to being contemporaries.
The thing is, I have never heard the entire albums. I own them, in various forms, but after the big hit songs it just all sounds the same to me, so I would turn the record, CD, mp3, off.
Who among us doesn’t own “The Joshua Tree”? And who has really listened beyond the first four tracks? (U2 notoriously front loads their albums with the hit singles starting off with a bang but giving us little reason to keep listening sometimes)
So, an end shall be put to that for me. I have begun the great U2 retrospective of 2008. And here’s what I think:
U2 – Achtung Baby – 1991 (Buy it)
Well, this is awkward, isn’t it? I mean, I had eschewed and poo-pooed the dublin lads for so many years…Bono is too messianic and self important. The Edge is overbearing. They’re a one note band, they do one thing very well and that’s it.
Screw me. I’m a wanker.
Achtung Baby is remarkable in a few ways. First off, it continues a remarkable streak of brilliance. After the stumble of October came the 1-2-3 punch of War, Unforgettable Fire and Joshua Tree. That should be enough, right? How long could the brilliance last? Turns out, long enough for at least one more CD.
Achtung Baby was a lot like Joshua Tree for me when it came out. I mean, we all had it, right? If you belonged to Columbia House or BMG then they sort of sent it to you automatically.
You HAD to have “One”, a song so great it transcends it’s overexposure. So, I had Achtung Baby but for some reason I just listened to the hits and moved on. Grunge was more interesting at the time. To me, at least.
I’m older now and the time might be perfect to reevaluate this album because, well, I’m more mature and less patient. I have a one year old, a career, a book I’m working on, Rock Band to play and to really give a listen takes time, you know?
Achtung Baby is a crowning achievement. In a word? It’s Brilliant.
The U2 “sound” is now so far in the past that this almost sounds like a different group. And yet, it doesn’t. The rhythms are sexy, groovy, dangerous and powerful. This is not a wistful evocation of need and desire the way so much of their past work has been. This album cuts with understanding. The kind of worldview that only comes with age. With disappointment. With broken hearts and broken bodies.
It is the album that only U2 and their producers could have made.
I think it says something that U2 turned their back on America after obsessing over it on “Unforgettable Fire” and “Joshua Tree”. Perhaps the lambasting they took after Rattle And Hum showed them failing at Blues Rock took it’s toll. Whatever the case, they anticipated the emergence of dance rock influences well before it would take hold stateside and they are the better for it.
Evans’ guitars SOUND angry on this album. He sounds furious. That self-righteous veneer no doubt cracked over the break up of his marriage, why wouldn’t he be pissed? It shows on the record. And it affected Bono’s lyrics as well.
When Achtung Baby is finally over, the listener is left breathless, exuberant, sad, exhilarated, pumped and exhausted.
Grade A+
A Side: One
Blindside: So Cruel & Acrobat
Downside: Tryin’ to Throw Your Arms Around the World (but that’s nitpicking)
