U2 Achtung Baby LP

£ 23

$ 30

£ 23 Sold For

Jan 9, 2019 Sold Date

Jan 2, 2019 Start Date

£ 3 Start price

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Great Britain Country Of Seller

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Description

Achtung Baby (/is the seventh studio album by Irish rock band U2. It was produced by Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, and was released on 18 November 1991 on Island Records. Stung by criticism of their 1988 release, Rattle and Hum, U2 shifted their musical direction to incorporate influences from alternative rock, industrial music, and electronic dance music into their sound. Thematically, Achtung Baby is darker, more introspective, and at times more flippant than their previous work. The album and the subsequent multimedia-intensive Zoo TV Tour were central to the group's 1990s reinvention, by which they abandoned their earnest public image for a more lighthearted and self-deprecating one.

Achtung Baby Studio album by U2 Released 18 November 1991 Recorded October 1990 – September 1991 Studio

Hansa Ton Studios(Berlin)
Elsinore (Dalkey)[nb 1]
STS (Dublin)
Windmill Lane Studios(Dublin)

Genre Alternative rock Length 55:27 Label Island Producer Daniel Lanois, Brian Eno U2 chronology Rattle and Hum
(1988) Achtung Baby
(1991) Zooropa
(1993) Singles from Achtung Baby

"The Fly"
Released: 21 October 1991
"Mysterious Ways"
Released: 24 November 1991
"One"
Released: 24 February 1992
"Even Better Than the Real Thing"
Released: 8 June 1992
"Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses"
Released: August 1992

Seeking inspiration from German reunification, U2 began recording Achtung Baby at Berlin's Hansa Studios in October 1990. The sessions were fraught with conflict, as the band argued over their musical direction and the quality of their material. After tensions and slow progress nearly prompted the group to disband, they made a breakthrough with the improvised writing of the song "One". Morale and productivity improved during subsequent recording sessions in Dublin, where the album was completed in 1991. To confound the public's expectations of the band and their music, U2 chose the record's facetious title and colourful multi-image sleeve.

Achtung Baby is one of U2's most successful records; it received favourable reviews and debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 Top Albums, while topping the charts in many other countries. Five songs were released as commercial singles, all of which were chart successes, including "One", "Mysterious Ways", and "The Fly". The album has sold 18 million copies worldwide and won a Grammy Award in 1993 for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. Achtung Baby has since been acclaimed by writers and music critics as one of the greatest albums of all time. The record was reissued in October 2011 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of its original release.

BackgroundEdit

After U2's 1987 album The Joshua Treeand the supporting Joshua Tree Tourbrought them critical acclaim and commercial success, their 1988 album and film Rattle and Hum precipitated a critical backlash. Although the record sold 14 million copies and performed well on music charts, critics were dismissive of it and the film, labelling the band's exploration of early American music as "pretentious" and "misguided and bombastic". U2's high exposure and their reputation for being overly serious led to accusations of grandiosity and self-righteousness.