Achtung Baby (Deluxe Edition) [Remastered]

iTunes Review

This album is Mastered for iTunes and includes 14 bonus tracks. By the end of the ’80s, U2 already ranked among the planet’s rock titans. Rather than rest on their laurels, the quartet tapped into throbbing club beats and ambient electronic sounds to create 1991’s Achtung Baby. The band’s spiritually inspired idealism and bracing guitar textures remain. What’s strikingly new here is a groove-driven approach that puts fresh meat on U2’s previously lean sonic bones. Bono is equally adventurous as a lyricist, adding a potent erotic charge to his themes of redemption and unity. “Even Better Than the Real Thing” and “Mysterious Ways” pulse with transcendent passion, while “Trying to Throw Your Arms Around the World” marries salvation with sensuality. From the metal-tinged fire of “Zoo Station” to the smoldering grandeur of “One,” the band creates music both timeless and boldly contemporary. From its first track to the last, Achtung Baby is a risk-taking work that re-defined U2 for the rest of the ’90s.