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U2 Album Review - Achtung Baby

U2 quickly surpassed their post-punk contemporaries to become one of the biggest rock bands worldwide. Leveraging their fascination for moody experimental aural textures into epic rock anthems and emotive ballads.

Once gaining international acclaim with 1983's War, U2 turned its attention toward charitable work; Bono meeting presidents to advance Northern Irish peace and fight poverty while performing after Sarajevo bombing relief efforts; playing for relief of AIDS-related suffering around the globe and playing post-bombing shows were among many contributions made by this band.

Boy

Bono, The Edge and Adam Clayton first united as teenagers in 1976 by posting an ad seeking musicians at their high school's bulletin board to form Feedback, practicing together in Mullen's kitchen.

Boy was released by the group in October 1980 and showcased their early influences: fear over sexuality, identity confusion and death. With its success came not only recognition in Ireland but worldwide too.

Producer Steve Lillywhite assisted them in crafting a musical style that combined rock anthem with elements of funk and dance rhythms. His production on early-'80s landmark albums Boy, October and War was powerful yet assertive while Pop and The Joshua Tree offered more experimental explorations into techno and dance music.

Rattle & Hum

After the worldwide success of The Joshua Tree (multi-Grammy winning album and rockumentary film), U2 upped their game with Rattle and Hum, both critically and commercially acclaimed albums and movies being critical and commercial hits respectively.

U2 explored American roots music to a greater degree on The Joshua Tree album and film than on any prior endeavor, leading them down a path that resulted in memorable tracks like Bo Diddley-influenced "Desire", an engaging Stax-soul tribute to Bob Dylan's Angel of Harlem song, as well as an acoustic folk ballad of unfulfilled desire, "When Love Comes to Town".

U2 realized they had reached their musical summit; they knew exactly where their journey should lead next. At that moment, they recognized where U2 needed to head next.

Pop

U2's Achtung Baby album remains one of the more divisive works in their discography; many see this record as marking their transition from rockers to pop icons. They embraced an expanded palette of sound and styles introduced with Achtung Baby but the results were uneven; sometimes moving far away from their strengths in some cases.

There are certainly moments of grace here, such as some Christian humility on "Get On Your Boots", and an absolutely stunning Johnny Cash guest spot on "The Wanderer", but overall this album feels like a missed opportunity.

Still featuring many of the iconic U2 moments we've come to expect, its first cover by Anton Corbijn sets an ambitious standard for their subsequent work.

Achtung Baby

Irish megaband U2 avoided obsolescence with Achtung Baby (pronounced AHK-toong BAY-bi), an album produced by Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno that saw both sound changes as well as changes to Bono's character - moving away from being an overt cowboy hero towards being an amusing trickster.

Alternative dance was influential on several songs on Achtung Baby, such as "One" with its catchy chorus and Edge's fiery guitar solos. Yet, "Lady With the Spinning Head" stood out among them all.

Richard Kingsmill, Triple J's Group Music Director and U2 fanatic, describes why one track from their album became so renowned: it tackles life's bigger questions head-on by asking two things that are out of our hands: when you were born and when your life ends.

Songs of Experience

U2's fourteenth album and follow up to 2014's Songs of Innocence is more reflective and subdued than previous efforts; several tracks address Bono's health problems while others question if U2 have any future together.

But nevertheless, it's an engaging record: Landlady features distorted slide guitars reminiscent of classic punk songs; Lights of Home features gospel-esque choruses that complement The Edge's atmospheric guitar part; while Love Is Bigger Than Anything In Its Way's singalong chorus nearly gives Bono a hernia attack!

Despite these obstacles, MSG Sphere was enough to lure back one of the biggest live acts on Earth for their debut performance at MSG Sphere in 2023. Since then they have continued pushing boundaries of arena-based shows around the globe.