Better than The Joshua Tree? No chance. U2 hit the finest blur of pop commerciality and artistic appeal with their 1987 effort, and it left Achtung Baby with nowhere special to head. A sensational album all the same, but one where the overrated and overplayed efforts of Bono and friends can be found. It is always a pleasure to return to classic U2 albums, especially at a time when the band’s attempts to recapture that brilliant pop style are falling well short of expectation. Consistency is what Achtung Baby has over The Joshua Tree. But the latter album has some of the all-time greatest U2 songs, whereas Achtung Baby has some of their best mood-setting moments. Apples and oranges, to some degree, but it is the same band after all. These are some excellent works from the band as they return to the dream they abandoned on Rattle and Hum.
Fundamentally, they had changed, though, and the alternative rock presence is overwhelming at times. Achtung Baby opens well enough with Zoo Station and does not lose sight of its rock and roll goal. Even Better Than the Real Thing suggests this faux attitude to pop rock, this suggestion that the alternative is, in fact, stronger than the main draw. They are not wrong. Achtung Baby still stands tall as a pillar of the 1990s pop scene, but it is ahead of other efforts solely through instrumental variety. Sincerity in the lyrics comes through, too, though it is the instrumentals which win out more than not. Bono sounds magnificent as he always does here, especially on One, which is better in the hands of Johnny Cash than it is in Bono’s. Still, the original is a strong example of Bono using his religious upbringing, his brushes with faith and fame, to deliver a staggering and honest look at himself. He took that a little too far on the releases to follow, but with Achtung Baby, what prevails is the musical integrity.
Considering the intensity of the meaning behind some songs, it is a marvellous achievement to hear the band hold firm with an easy-listening style on some songs. It cuts into the replay value of Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses, but that laid-back attitude, which affected U2 at the time, helps the project. Likeable enough songs like that are frequent on Achtung Baby, which does not have the same intensity or eagerness of The Joshua Tree. Part of that is because Achtung Baby is a reaction to the preceding album, rather than a continuation of those preceding qualities. Brian Eno can certainly be heard, hard at work in overhauling the band after their first stumble. Pieces like So Cruel and The Fly are all the better under his stewardship, the latter giving The Edge a sound quite unlike anything in their punk-adjacent past.
Such is the point of a great producer. Eno elevates the band in all the right ways and also moves them away from the sounds of their past. Bono may be returning to the well for those emotionally charged moments, but they are offered up as a new direction, some fresh splendour to the band. They get their edge back, something they maintained on The Joshua Tree with just a splash of faux intrigue. Some truly great and obvious moments from the band come through with Mysterious Ways and Ultra Violet (Light My Way), and much of it captures the spirit of the 1990s perfectly. U2 have their fingers firmly on the pulse of alternative rock at the time, and by that success, become the mainstream. It is a masterstroke, but it does remove their punk and faith rock roots.
AB far from removes their punk roots..
Let’s not forget, AB was the band’s way of “chopping down the Josua Tree”
If you read the lyrics to Zoo Station, Bono clearly takes a stab at those who stood they were “too serious” and is mocking himself.
In my opinion, AB is their masterpiece and is there a concert tour before or since which can match the scale and impact of Zoo TV? I think not.
Agree completely
Masterpiece indeed! It’s one if not their best.
Well said.
I disagree with so much of this. But to each their own.
Achtung Baby is not only U2’s best album, it is the best album ever. It took massive bollocks to do this after The Joshua Tree and Rattle and Him, huge bollocks. The tour has never been bettered either. All imho.
A.B. was or should is an album that stands out not only from their previous work but from everything in that genre in the 1990s. It stirs feelings and memories from that time. It is one of their best albums to date.
It is soul searching, inspiring and sine tingling all at the same time.
AB – is a brilliant album and in my opinion U2 completely reinventing themselves , not only musically but visually almost mocking what was to come. I was lucky enough to see them on the zoo tv tour .
As great as Johnny Cash was, ‘One’ was definitely not better in his hands than Bono’s. AB is the U2 masterpiece
One wasn’t better in Johnny Cash’s hands. And Achtung Baby is U2’s best album and one of the greatest albums spawning arguably the greatest music tour of all time. 4 stars is…odd.
While I agree that The Joshua Tree is brilliant, Achtung Baby is their opus. It has the coherence of The Joshua Tree but is more adventurous and creative.