Daniel Lanois Discusses Achtung Baby

Ahead of his induction into the Canadian Music Industry Hall of Fame, CBC Music asked Daniel Lanois to sit down and reflect on five albums that he's worked on over his acclaimed career.

Lanois walks us through the making of U2's Achtung Baby and how Bono and company took to Berlin to mix "flesh and machine" for their new record:






http://music.cbc.ca

Lanois looks back on U2's 'Baby'

Daniel Lanois (L) on U2's "Achtung Baby" recording sessions: "There was a certain kind of aggression in the air." (Reuters file photo)

There's an adage: If you can fake sincerity, you've got it made.

To their credit, the young U2 never went that route. Their emotions were genuine, their motives pure. And in the '80s, their earnest anthems made them the most vital, relevant band in rock.

But by 1990, even U2 were tired of U2. The grim B&W photos, the giant white flags, the rhetoric; it reached its zenith with 1987's Grammy-winning Joshua Tree. After that, they could only go down. And they did, pushed and pursued by charges of megalomania for the Americana-obsessed Rattle and Hum, which critically crashed and burned. Finally, during a New Year's Eve gig in Dublin, Bono announced it was "the end of something" for U2, and that they were off "to dream it all up again."

What they dreamed up was Achtung Baby, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this month. It was their seventh album. Some say it's their best. It was certainly pivotal. It was here they reinvented their sound. They reinvented their band. And with the help of The Fly and MacPhisto, they finally figured out how to fake it. But they weren't faking sincerity, they were faking insincerity. "I'm learning to lie," claims a mischievous Bono in a vintage documentary in the new Achtung Baby box set reissue. Truer words were never spoken.

U2's sonic and stylistic rebirth began in an unlikely setting: Post-unification East Berlin. They holed up in Hansa, birthplace of albums like Bowie's Heroes and Iggy's Lust for Life. They rounded up the usual suspects -- producers Brian Eno, Flood and Hamilton's Daniel Lanois. They began chopping down The Joshua Tree.

"It was very stark," recalls Lanois. "It was cold and the food was bad. We had no windows in the studio; it was an orchestral room with a control room down the hall. We were communicating by camera ... But that's Bono; he tries to place everybody in an unfamiliar environment so they don't fall into the same old habits. And I think his instinct was right."

By all accounts -- except Lanois, who recalls "a lot of cuddling" -- early sessions were tense and unproductive, as the band tinkered with synths and beatboxes, exploring dance and funk grooves. "We were starting to go a little more -- for the lack of another term -- industrial with our sounds," Lanois says. "There was a certain kind of aggression in the air."

The break came when guitarist Edge stumbled on the chords for One.

Much of the song was penned on the spot. Others followed: Even Better Than the Real Thing, Until the End of the World, Mysterious Ways and more. Lyrically, the tone was deeper and darker, more personal than political. Musically, says Lanois, it balanced past and future, humanity and technology.

"I like the fact that we were able to mix flesh and machine successfully. I listened to it from beginning to end a couple of months back, and as I hear the record now, the rhythm section is pretty much rock 'n' roll. The sounds of the rhythm section are not the futuristic sounds. The toppings are the futuristic sounds. So it's very rooted in tradition, and looking toward the future."

Man on the Train

Some months ago, we came to know that Larry Mullen Jnr was starring a movie. The name of the film is Man On The Train,  directed by Mary McGuckian ( Inconceivable).Larry's co-stars are Donald Sutherland and Graham Greene. It`s a re-make of a 2002 French film (L'homme du train starred by Johnny Halliday)
and it`s an Ireland-Canada co-production. Though it`s not the first time he acts in a film (he and Bono appeared in Phil Joanau's 1999 film Entropy), this will be his first starring role. When Bono was asked what he thought of his bandmate debut by the Canadian media, he said: "You know what? He`s been acting the bollocks for years..." 
 Now Pembridge Pictures has  shown the first stills of the movie:

  

Larry also composed the film`s original score together with Simon Clime. There`s still no date for its premiere.

www.pembridgepictures.com///popgoesthenews.blogspot.com///www.atu2.com

Daniel Lanois Talks About NLOTH

Over the last 25 years Daniel Lanois has produced landmark albums for U2, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson and Peter Gabriel, among many others. Last year — around the time he started to craft the album Le Noise with Neil Young — Lanois began writing his memoirs. The result, Soul Mining: A Musical Life, came out November 9. Co-written with Keisha Kalfin, the book jumps from era to era non-chronologically, focusing on some of Lanois' greatest records. "I tend to think in a non-linear way," Lanois tells Rolling Stone. "And chronology doesn't come into play for the creation of music, so I decided to work that way. It's probably also just the acid kicking back in."



Lanois isn't involved with any of U2's upcoming projects, but he says he keeps in regular touch with Bono. "Bono took advantage of his back injury and brought the band into the studio," Lanois says. "I haven't heard anything yet, but I'm sure it's adventurous." Lanois was heavily involved with U2's 2009 disc No Line On The Horizon, which didn't live up to commercial expectations.

Superstar producer Steve Lillywhite, who also worked on the disc, recently made headlines when he gently criticized the album. "They did not have the one song that ignited peoples imaginations," he said. "It's a pity because the whole idea of Morocco as a big idea was great. When the big idea for U2 is good, that is when they succeed the most, but I don't think the spirit of what they set out to achieve was translated. Something happened that meant it did not come across on the record."

Lanois says he doesn't totally agree with that assessment. "Steve came in late into the project so he would have a late-in-the-project perspective," he says. "The record started out brilliantly. We were just full of life when we started it in Morocco. Bono wanted to make a gospel record for the future. The first third of the record was filled with delight and we really hit on something special. We spent a long time on it, perhaps too long. The usual pressures came in at the end, like what's the first single going to be and what's gonna be in the set. If we had put out the record coming out of Morocco it would have been an amazing record, even at that stage."

Read the complete article here.

www.rollingstone.com

First Pics of Bono`s Recovery in his House in France

It seems our fave frontman is on his way to full recovery... Looking to be recovering quite nicely, Bono was spotted out for lunch with friends at La Voile d’Or in St-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, France on Tuesday (June 8).

The “U2” frontman seemed to be in good spirits as he made his way to his luxurious hotel after one of his first adventures out since his recent back surgery.

Hopefully, Bono will recover quickly and the tour will pick up again soon!

More pics in album .

source:www.gossipcenter.com

Unfortunately Daniel Lanois has canceled all upcoming tour dates after a motorcycle crash in L.A. this past Saturday, a press release announced today. “Lanois suffered multiple injuries but is expected to be released from intensive care soon,” the release states. “Due to the severity of the injuries, Lanois…will be recuperating for the next two months.” He had previously scheduled a European tour for this July.

We wish him to geet well soon as his friend and co-worker, Bono.

source:www.music-mix.ew.com