While not my favourite U2 album, I can see that this one really does deserve its place on the list. The band had been slowly evolving their overly-earnest sound, working through early post-punk, to a more nuanced pop-rock under the tutelage of producers Eno and Lanois, and then eventually delving deep into America’s rock and blues sound. But when they released “Achtung Baby” (a line from Mel Brooks’ “the Producers” and an exclamation often uttered by one of the studio crew) it was a reasonably sizeable stylistic left-hand turn for such a major band.
The band were embracing dance rhythms and electronic elements, a style that, to my mind played to the strengths of sonic experimenter, guitarist the Edge, and metronomic, powerhouse drummer Larry Mullen Jr.
The road to the album hadn't been an easy one. The band limped through fractious sessions in Berlin that yielded hardly any useable tracks. Close to the tipping point, the band came up with the track "One" and from then on things started flowing, with the band picking up sessions again back in Ireland.
There are looped bass and drum sounds, "Rubber Soul"-era Beatles-style vocal harmonies (a combination that sounds not unlike some of the Chemical Brothers' work with Noel Gallagher). There's the chunky wah-wah guitar of "Mysterious Ways", and the psychedelic swirl of "Even better than the real thing". It's the track "the Fly" that really strikes me: Bono can be a bit of a self-righteous twat on occasion, but he really can write some good lyrics when it comes down to it. I don't usually listen much to lyrics, but there's something about Bono's desperate, whispered delivery that makes you take notice.
The band would carry on down this avenue of experimentation through the "Zooropa" album, culminating with the "Pop" album, maligned by the band, but something of a favourite of mine. After that, they returned to a more earnest, straight-ahead rock sound and were viewed by fans to have 'made a comeback' but I still enjoy this era of exploration.
