New black and colored variants coming
Island Records, Interscope, and UMe have announced the 30th Anniversary Edition release of U2’s seminal album Achtung Baby, which will see a special standard and deluxe vinyl release on November 19th, ahead of a 50-track digital box set available December 3rd.
Achtung Baby (30th Anniversary Edition) is available on standard black 2 LP vinyl and deluxe color 2 LP pressed on red and blue transparent vinyl on November 19th with Achtung Baby (2018 Remaster) and Achtung Baby (Unter Remixes) also available digitally that day. A 50-track digital boxset – to include Uber Remixes, Unter Remixes, B-Sides with 22 tracks never-before available digitally – will be released on December 3rd. The deluxe LP includes an exclusive slipcase with an individually numbered sticker on the reverse side housed in a wide-spine sleeve with one of four limited edition mystery covers. Both black and colored LPs include a newly designed eight page booklet and limited edition fold out poster.
Longtime band photographer Anton Corbijn first shared the news on Elevation with John Kelly on U2 X-Radio via SiriusXM on Sunday (Nov 14th). Corbijn stated his favorite photo he took of the band in the dark with a flashlight from the original album photography sessions will be used as one of four covers. The cows from the original cover will also be featured as one of the mystery covers.
U2 X-Radio, the band’s SiriusXM channel, will this month present an Achtung Baby special to include interviews with band members and album collaboration Daniel Lanois, Flood, and Anton Corbijn.
Thirty years ago, Bono described Achtung Baby as “the sound of four men chopping down The Joshua Tree” while Jon Pareles of the New York Times wrote that “stripped-down and defying its old formulas, U2 has given itself a fighting chance for the 1990’s”. The album won a Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance and became one of the most significant records of the Nineties and of U2’s career.
Recorded over six months at Hansa Studio in Berlin and Windmill Lane in Dublin, Achtung Baby is U2’s seventh studio album. Produced by long-time U2 collaborators Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno with Steve Lillywhite, Achtung Baby was engineered by Flood and released on November 18, 1991. Led by “The Fly,” four other singles followed: “Mysterious Ways,” “One,” “Even Better Than The Real Thing,” and “Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses.”
In celebration of Achtung Baby’s anniversary, the band have collaborated with Berlin-based French artist Thierry Noir (the first artist to paint on the Berlin Wall) for a special one-off installation at the legendary Hansa Studios in Kreuzberg. Thirty years ago, the band commissioned Noir to paint a series of now iconic Trabant cars, which featured on the album artwork, as well 1991’s Zoo TV Tour. U2 x THIERRY NOIR sees Noir return with a newly painted Trabant for 2021, as well as an exclusive mural painted on a section of the Berlin wall.
The bonnet of the Trabant will be auctioned at Phillips, London, on December 9th, as part of their New Now sale, with proceeds going to the Berlin Institute for Sound and Music.
A new line of merchandise has also been unveiled that includes shirts, hats, lithographs, jewelry and other items. All are available via U2’s webstore.
