U2 Achtung Baby – a look back

The Achtung Baby early sleeve drafts

ampvisual.com (the design consultancy based at  Dublin , which has been responsible of many of the visual work of U2) has published  a very interesting post on Achtung Baby and its covers.

When I first heard the opening salvo of U2 Achtung Baby and the channel flipping darkly distorted sound of Zoo Station, I literally thought that the CD player had broken, or that the speakers had blown, or that we had mistakenly been sent music by another band, it really was that different, that NEW, that un-U2 like.
It’s difficult to sum up the days before the internet, wall-to-wall media and the power of online networking – the days before instantaneous speed of the transfer of information. But after U2′s Lovetown tour ended just after the Dublin Point Depot shows and Bono saying that the band would have to, ‘go away and dream it all up again’, there was an almost 2-year silence, broken only by the band’s appearance on the Red Hot And Blue Cole Porter tribute album with their version of Night And Day in 1990 – the first real inkling of the band’s new direction. Otherwise just silence.


Then suddenly, The Fly, the first single off Achtung Baby. It was as if a very different door had opened for the band that allowed them to not only sound re-invented, but that also allowed them the freedom to act in a brand new way also. There were suddenly now so many new colours and shades to the band’s palette that it was mesmerizing to hear and to see it happening.


When Achtung Baby was released three weeks later, it was to astonishing reactions. The album had a visceral heat pouring from it. It crackled with brand-new sounds. It throbbed from your sound system with its expansive, distorted metallic textures and deep rhythmic sound with a sheer intensity. Bono’s double-voice, his falsetto and deep distorted low-register vocal spat out words of dark personal angst, sexuality and intimacy unheard before in his lyrics.


I was a youngster not too long out of college working with Steve Averill’s design studio Works Associates, when he asked me to work with him on U2′s as yet untitled new studio album in early 1991, my first job for U2. I was used to seeing the panoramic, monumental and monochrome imagery of The Joshua Tree sleeve and so on, but suddenly boxes of photographs were arriving in to us of new U2 photoshoots from Anton Corbijn that were very different to what I’d ever seen for U2. They didn’t have the serious sincerity of his previous work for the band, instead Corbijn had strove for a lighter vibe and the photos were a great combination of spontaneity and of a vivid kaleidoscope of colours from arctic blue to desert red mixed with ink black and sepia-toned lith prints of intense portraiture; of new landscapes, of various animals, of serious masculine men in frocks in full-on wigs and makeup, of band members smiling, fun… and nakedness. There was an astonishing amount of photographs – hundreds of beautifully printed photographs.


For us to make a sleeve that would break the mould of any previous sleeves done for band we had to see this as a brand new phase of the band, it had to be quite different from what had been done before. We wanted the sleeve to reflect the multiplicity of themes on the album, its shades of light and dark, its sense of place and time at the dismantling of the Berlin wall. We didn’t want a fashion sleeve, something that would be out of date soon after. We strove hard to make a ‘classic’ album sleeve that would thematically have both depth and meaning and that would go to form the complete album both sonically and visually. No one image was enough to convey the shades and personalities on the record and so out of many experiments we ended up with a regular grid of images with examples shown to the band of sleeves by the likes of Pink Floyd and The Who.

Download 'Ǎhk-Toong Bāy-Bi Covered'

Ǎhk-to͝ong Bāy-Bi Covered featuring Nine Inch Nails, Patti Smith, Depeche Mode, Jack White, The Killers and others is available for download from today in the iTunes Store.


All proceeds will benefit Concern Worldwide's work in famine-stricken areas of East Africa. (The album will be available on iTunes in the UK on November 28th.)


With the support of iTunes, the Independent Online Distribution Alliance (IODA) and all the participating artists, managers and labels, all proceeds from the sale of Ǎhk-to͝ong Bāy-Bi Covered will support Concern’s response to the East Africa crisis, where thousands of children have already died of hunger or related diseases and over 10 million people remain at risk.


'This crisis in East Africa is still very much an emergency and Concern is delighted that all of the parties involved are making this hugely significant contribution to our work in the region,' said Concern CEO, Tom Arnold. 'We are honored they have chosen Concern as the exclusive beneficiaries.


'It is disappointing that such a major ongoing humanitarian situation has largely disappeared from the media headlines. Offering the proceeds from Ǎhk-to͝ong Bāy-Bi Covered to Concern’s East Africa appeal also provides a timely reminder that alleviation of the hunger and wider health crisis in the region must not be forgotten and should remain a global priority.'


 Ǎhk-to͝ong Bāy-Bi Covered was conceived for Q Magazine to mark their 25th Anniversary issue,  coinciding with the 20th Anniversary re-release of Achtung Baby. The CD is available with Q Magazine’s December 2011 issue. 


'Drought may be an act of nature, but famine is not.'  Visit ONE  for  more information on the causes of famine and how to prevent it.





www.u2.com

Memories: U2 at McGonagles ,1979

Novelist Peter Mc Cluskey recalls his band supporting U2 in 1979.

This photo really takes me back. It was taken in the dressing room of the Dublin venue McGonagles around Christmas 1979. That's me with the glasses and blue windcheater, with Bono and Ali Hewson behind me. Ali is fluffing up Bono's hair as he's just about to go on stage.

The guy with his head down is Denis Rusk, the lead guitarist in my band The Strougers. I played rhythm guitar.

That year was one of the most exciting times in our lives.

I spent my youth on the Navan Road, hanging out with friends, but I was never any good at basketball or soccer.

Then punk rock came along and anyone could be in a band. Suddenly, all our friends were coming to see us play. By chance, we ended up doing a few gigs with U2 in places such as Howth Community Centre, and the Dandelion Market, as they were just starting out too.

You wouldn't believe how many other Dublin bands hated U2 back then. They hated them because they thought they were loaded rich kids, or seemed arrogant.

Playing with them, I never found U2 like that. I suppose I was one of their first fans.

Bono was always very mannerly if we were chatting to him before a gig. I remember distinctly that if you spoke to Edge, he gave you his complete attention. He wouldn't be messing, or getting distracted; he would listen to every word you said.

Then U2 would plug in and play. I can't possibly explain how good U2 sounded playing to 20 people.

For a start, Larry Mullen had come out of the Artane Boys Band so he was a proper drummer. He could make this unbelievable racket. Edge had this very futuristic-looking Gibson Explorer guitar but he could really play it, and Adam completed the sound.

Towards the end of 1979, we ended up playing McGonagles the same night that U2 were doing the late show.

A friend took this picture on my Olympus camera, which I'd just bought. I remember taking lots of shots that night and Bono getting thrown by the flash constantly going off, but he never complained.

If you're wondering why I'm wearing a blue windcheater if I was a punk back then, all I'll say is it was a wet December night in Dublin and I wasn't going to get drowned coming in from the Navan Road, new wave or no new wave.

Not long after this picture, things changed radically for U2. We stopped playing with them and they moved into a different league, releasing an album and touring America.

A couple of years later, myself and Strougers' bass player Shay Hiney went to see U2 playing a huge gig at the RDS. We bumped into their manager Paul McGuinness and, remembering us, he gave us tickets to the aftershow.

We walked straight into Bono, who was now a big star. I remember Shay telling Bono that his girlfriend was on the way to the party, and that she was a huge U2 fan.

For a laugh, Bono starting asking Shay all these questions about 'Jenny', then disappeared.

We thought that was the last we'd see of him. But, later in the evening, he was back and straight over to Shay and his girlfriend. 'You must be Jenny, Shay's girlfriend,' Bono said, and he started listing off all these things he knew about her.

Jenny couldn't believe it because she was a massive U2 fan and Bono knew everything about her. We laughed and laughed.

People say to me, 'Your band and U2 were playing around Dublin at the same time, yet they became global superstars and you didn't'.

They expect me to be envious, but I'm not all. I was delighted U2 made it, because the night this picture was taken in McGonagles, I had already picked U2 out as a band with a future.

I think I got that one right.

Peter McCluskey's latest book is called 'My Little Lighthouse'.

Interview by Ken Sweeney.

(c) Irish Independent, 2011.

www.independent.ie

AWF's 7th Annual Got Water? Auction Runs Nov. 7-14

Once again the African Well Fund  will host its  annual auction. eBay auction begins this Monday, Nov. 7, and will run for one week.Proceeds from the auction will fund water and sanitation projects in sub-Saharan Africa.

Forty items are up for bid this year include a print signed by Bono, the book "The Story of Island Records" signed by Chris Blackwell, "U2 by U2" signed by Neil McCormick, a water bottle signed by the cast of "Parks & Recreation," the memoir "Happy Accidents" signed by Jane Lynch, the book "Bossypants" signed by Tina Fey," the book "The Beekman 1802 Heirloom Cookbook" signed by Josh Kilmer-Purcell and Brent Ridge, the book "Papa John" signed by John Phillips, U2 memorabilia, and other collectibles.

To check out this year's items and place your bids, click here.

www.africanwellfund.org

Two Awards for U2

U2  won two awards at the Billboard Touring Awards . The U2 360 tour won the Top Tourand Top Draw awards. The first is for the highest-grossing tour of the year; the second is for the most tickets sold. As far as we know, no band members were on hand.

The U2 360 tour ran for more than two years (June 2009 through July 2011) and saw the band perform 100 concerts. The tour sold 7.1 million tickets and became the highest-grossing tour in history at $736 million.

www.billboard.com

U2 not splitting up

McGuinness ends speculation on band's future in  an interview for Belfast Telegraph.
It's official - U2 are not splitting up. The band's manager, Paul McGuinness, last night flatly denied reports that the four school friends are going their separate ways after 35 years.
Known as the fifth member of U2, Mr McGuinness (60) has steered their career from local outfit to global superstars. Asked about the constant speculation that U2 have hit the end of the road, he said: "No, and I think I would have heard. Not all all. They are always working on the next record."
Fears of a U2 split began with an interview Bono gave to 'Rolling Stone' magazine last month in which he hinted that himself, Larry Mullen Jnr, the Edge and Adam Clayton may part company sometime in 2012.
"I'm not so sure the future hasn't dried up," said the 51-year-old frontman.
"It's quite likely you might hear from us next year but it's equally possible that you won't. The band may have finally run its course."
However, at the opening of a new stage version of Edna O'Brien's novel 'The Country Girls', Mr McGuinness said: "I'm not sure what was said, but I think it was a chance remark taken out of context. I would disregard it."


www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk

The U2 Paradox

Never has a band been more mockable, never has a band been more successful.

Extracts from  Eric Hynes´s essay posted in Slate 

Paris 1987, Joshua Tree Tour.

Photograph by Bertrand Guay/AFP/Getty Images.

In a piece written for Rolling Stone 20 years ago this month, producer Brian Eno identified why the rock band U2 is singularly enduring and enervating. “Cool,” he wrote, “sums up just about everything U2 isn’t. The band is positive where cool is cynical, involved where it is detached, open where it is evasive.” For 35 years, rock journalists, culture’s self-appointed guardians of cool, have monitored U2’s ups and downs, smash hits and embarrassments. The relationship between critics and the band was fraught from the start, with their anthemic, highly emotive music winning them millions of fans but just as many skeptics. The rock of rebellion and decadence seemed allergic to a band this earnest, emotive, inclusive, politically engaged, and, worst of all, openly Christian. You couldn’t invent a more mock-worthy outfit.

Cool or not, Bono and co. have done quite well for themselves. They’ve sold a gazillion records, have been the no. 1 live act for a few decades, were elected into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility, and are globally unavoidable—advocating for U2 is like telling someone to pay more attention to Steven Spielberg. This fall marks the 20th anniversary of their best and most important album, Achtung Baby. A remastered, deluxe box set of the album drops this week, and Showtime will debut the Davis Guggenheim documentary From the Sky Down, which revisits that album's tumultuous recording sessions. With R.E.M. recently giving up the ghost, U2 is basically the last band standing from the Album Oriented Rock era. Inspired by punk but drawn to pomp, suckers for abstract textures but addicted to pop, the band has straddled the realms of art and commerce more audaciously than any other in rock's history. They've sincerely tried to change the world and have strived to remain the best band in the world—differently ambitious, equally dubious pursuits. Yet for the moment, let’s put aside Bono's blathering public persona—his extra-musical forays into politics, policy, and wraparound-specs addiction—and just talk about the music and its impact on the culture. in the era of 99 cent downloads, U2 continues to conceive of albums as long-form journeys, with individual songs—like chapters in a novel, scenes in a film, or members of a band—contributing to a greater whole. They’ve always thrived on both consistency and change, applying a surprisingly strict formula to their albums while challenging one another to evolve, adapt, and reinvent their sound. And rather than choose between art and commerce, they’ve almost naively struck a course between the two. Especially today, with music acts either serving the marketplace or accepting their niche, U2 has no peer. I listened to every album, B-side, and soundtrack song, watched every music video, movie, live clip, and costume change. If you’re a fan, let’s compare notes. It you’re not, I’ll tell you what you’ve missed.

You can read the complete essay here.

www.slate.com