U2 enters the "megadeluxe remaster sweepstakes" with 20th Anniversary of Achtung Baby

[VHscraps]

I prefer Zooropa to Achtung Baby these days. I think the tunes are better - 'Stay' and 'Lemon' are two songs I particularly like - and it sonically kicks more ass. Never bought an album by them since, though.

What if Eno and Lanois produced VH?

U2 - Stay by guimolina

[Kristy]

What if Eno and Lanois produced VH?

Be interesting but would never work. Don't think Eddie is one to have anyone to tell him to adjust his guitar amp settings then again Lanois would bring out Eddie's keyboard playing

[VHscraps]

Be interesting but would never work. Don't think Eddie is one to have anyone to tell him to adjust his guitar amp settings then again Lanois would bring out Eddie's keyboard playing

And that's a shame, really. I think Eddie was probably more experimentally-minded in his 20s, and maybe more open to a producer telling him to try and forget what he would usually do. What did he do on his last album, the disaster that was VHIII? He hired the guy who wrote the theme tune to Hill Street Blues (Mike Post). (I only heard that for the first time about a year ago - truly, madly, godawful)

Excuse me for littering the thread with another clip of 'Stay', this one from the ZooTV concert film:

[Nickdfresh]

Remastered U2 albums...talk about polishing a turd.

Can they find a way to make Bono even more of a preachy bitch on the remasters?

Have you actually ever listened to Achtung Baby? Not exactly preachy...

[Etienne]

I prefer Zooropa to Achtung Baby these days. I think the tunes are better - 'Stay' and 'Lemon' are two songs I particularly like - and it sonically kicks more ass. Never bought an album by them since, though. ...

I also prefer Zooropa...

[Satan]

Always preferred this one in its early hippy psychedelic phase, before Bono totally rewrote the lyrics and came up with the whole Judas and JC theme....

This ain't in the box, by the way.

[FORD]

I'd like to see this one show up in the remaster, but I don't see it listed......

Pretty much the exact same musical track as the B-side "Lady With The Spinning Head", but the vocals here are totally different. Bono seems to have overdubbed himself, singing two entirely different things. At one point, he's singing "Wake Up Dead Man" which would later turn up on the Pop album, and there's another bit in here which would be cannibalized into the intro to "UltraViolet", but I always kinda liked this one as it is.

[Rikk]

Kind of sad to see ZOOROPA just thrown in there as a bonus with no extra content to represent it.

I have to say this: ACHTUNG BABY may be U2's second-best album, but ZOOROPA (to me) is the very best one. It just has an incredible edge, a complete lack of preachy-ness and songs with endless possibilities.

DADDY'S GONNA PAY FOR YOUR CRASHED CAR
LEMON
THE WANDERER (great Johnny Cash vocal)

...and my favorite, maybe my favorite U2 song...DIRTY DAY. This song smokes in the ZOO T.V. concert film from Sydney.

So, for this fantastic album to simply be a bonus disc on this box set (a box set just named after ACHTUNG BABY)...it's kind of disappointing. None of the bonus tracks represent ZOOROPA. SLOW DANCING was a nice B-Side (I own the CD-single for STAY, so I'm covered...but it should be on there). Also, the band stated in their autobiography that there were a few things left off ZOOROPA, and this would be a nice time for them to come out. An early version of WAKE UP DEAD MAN was supposed to be cut in '93. And few people know this, but the awesome single HOLD ME, THRILL ME was actually an outtake from the ZOOROPA sessions. It would be nice to hear the early version from '93 as a bonus track...and maybe also the final track from the soundtrack could be in the box set next to SLOW DANCING.

And frankly, ZOOROPA was such a progressive time for them that they could have at least included a half-hour documentary on the making of the album. Talk about recording on the go, literally cutting the album in a few weeks while they were still touring the world with ZOO T.V.

I love ZOOROPA...one of my Top 10 favorite albums.

[Nickdfresh]

I'm a tad surprised by the love for Zoopora here, but I love it too. But Achtung Baby for me will always be the penultimate album not only by U2, but by anyone. It's hard to explain to anyone who was a bit young to remember, but I didn't particularly like U2 when in high school (I was offered free tickets to see them in Buffalo in 1987 during the concert famous for Bono losing his head and threatening a fan after said fan kept grabbing his broken arm in a cast) for their "preachy" nice guy image and declined. But the minute I heard the industrial guitar of The Fly on the radio, and literally saying "who the fuck are these guys?" I was hooked...

[FORD]

Zooropa definitely had its good points, but I hate Lemon even more than I hate the disco crap on POP or some of the more useless "experiments" on the "Passengers" album.

What they really should have included in the box though, is the live show from Dublin in 1993. It was broadcast live worldwide on the radio at the time, and has been widely bootlegged since, in various degrees of quality, but at least one version circulating was very obviously a professional recording, so the tapes are in the vault somewhere.

[Rikk]

I'm a tad surprised by the love for Zoopora here, but I love it too. But Achtung Baby for me will always be the penultimate album not only by U2, but by anyone. It's hard to explain to anyone who was a bit young to remember, but I didn't particularly like U2 when in high school (I was offered free tickets to see them in Buffalo in 1987 during the concert famous for Bono losing his head and threatening a fan after said fan kept grabbing his broken arm in a cast) for their "preachy" nice guy image and declined. But the minute I heard the industrial guitar of The Fly on the radio, and literally saying "who the fuck are these guys?" I was hooked...

Well, that's just it right there, isn't it? THE FLY. Great fucking song. Absolutely perfect representation of rock 'n' roll simplicity being the ultimate. That Edge riff sounds like it was written in five seconds but it says so much. But the real thing is the contrast to that lighter, organ-drenched, falsetto-led chorus. That sound, ladies and gentlemen, is the sound of 1991-1992 for me right there. I get so damn nostalgic for my high school years just hearing it.

I now like 80's U2, but it took me getting into ACHTUNG BABY (and then ZOOROPA) to dig those albums. And frankly, JOSHUA TREE and UNFORGETTABLE FIRE are farther down on my list. I like WAR the most out of their 80's albums. And BOY is fucking great too.

[Rikk]

Zooropa definitely had its good points, but I hate Lemon even more than I hate the disco crap on POP or some of the more useless "experiments" on the "Passengers" album.

What they really should have included in the box though, is the live show from Dublin in 1993. It was broadcast live worldwide on the radio at the time, and has been widely bootlegged since, in various degrees of quality, but at least one version circulating was very obviously a professional recording, so the tapes are in the vault somewhere.

Gotta respectfully disagree with you on this one, FORD (talking about LEMON, PASSENGERS and POP). I'm one of those people that is happy to moan that POP was woefully under-rated. Not a perfect album...but there is some amazing stuff there. STARING AT THE SUN is one of the band's best singles. And I still like DISCOTHEQUE. PASSENGERS had some great material. Had another of my very favorite U2 songs on it, YOUR BLUE ROOM. And LEMON? I still love it. Danced to it at my wedding.

BUT...your description of the Dublin '93 has me seeking the torrents right after I press "POST QUICK REPLY" here...

[FORD]

Try this link. It's been there a while, but there seems to be some seeds on it still.

[Rikk]

Much obliged, bro. Been on Trader's Den for years, but never saw this. Used your link and got a good download speed going now. Gonna crank this tomorrow while I clean the house.

[Nickdfresh]

Incidentally, I was one of the suckers that ponied up the $130+ for the Deluxe™edition...but the 10 CD and DVD discs are far worth it. Kinder Achtung Baby is completely fascinating in itself as one can see the transformative genesis of the album, especially with the often completely differently themed lyrics and choruses...

Well, that's just it right there, isn't it? THE FLY. Great fucking song. Absolutely perfect representation of rock 'n' roll simplicity being the ultimate. That Edge riff sounds like it was written in five seconds but it says so much. But the real thing is the contrast to that lighter, organ-drenched, falsetto-led chorus. That sound, ladies and gentlemen, is the sound of 1991-1992 for me right there. I get so damn nostalgic for my high school years just hearing it.
....

'Sup RIKK. Have you The Lounge (Fly Mix)? simply brilliant, building into a 'big-music' crescendo...

...Gotta respectfully disagree with you on this one, FORD (talking about LEMON, and POP). I'm one of those people that is happy to moan that POP was woefully under-rated. Not a perfect album...but there is some amazing stuff there. STARING AT THE SUN is one of the band's best singles. And I still like DISCOTHEQUE. PASSENGERS had some great material. Had another of my very favorite U2 songs on it, YOUR BLUE ROOM. And LEMON? I still love it. Danced to it at my wedding.

....

I respectfully agree in the context that the Pop songs are much better stripped down live with guitar fill. I downloaded the Sarajevo Popmart bootleg (where Bono's voice is shit, but surprisingly yields a better version of Discotheque with a low blues growl to compensate for his lack of mid-range). And the live Popmuzik intro fading into Mofo still gives me the chills sometimes. Gone maybe one of the best U2 songs written when performed properly...