How do you know you're getting old? They start releasing 20th Aniversary editions of albums that you remember vividly being released in the first place. Twenty years since U2 put out Achtung Baby, no way! Alas the calendar does not lie and indeed it was 1991.
At the time U2 were massive. The Joshua Tree had been a phenomenon and Rattle and Hum the album and the movie had been a hugely successful follow up, even if in hindsight it was massively self indulgent and not just a little pretentious. So, what to do next? Follow in the footsteps of David Bowie and Lou Reed, disappear to Berlin, soak up the atmosphere and change directions.
My first taste of the album was in the lounge at La Trobe Uni's Glenn College. The TV was on and comming up soon was the premiere of the new U2 video for the first single of the upcoming album. I had been about to leave but that had me hooked. It was different, a little darker a bit of a harder edge maybe even a little funky. When I watched the video on youtube the other day it looked and sounded like they had been listening to Dpeche Mode. I liked it enough to buy the single and then the cd when it came out.
It was a new part of the U2 career, probably the third phase and while it is quite a good album it does have one of U2s greatest contributions to the world of popular music. The song One is pehaps their best song and has become a modern standard, having been recorded by the likes of Johnny Cash, REM, Warren Haynes and The Cast Of Glee.
It's probably time I gave the whole cd another listen, while it hasn't been twenty years it could well be ten.
