This week is the 30th anniversary of U2’s landmark album Achtung Baby, and they’re marking the occasion by announcing vinyl reissues of the album (out Nov. 19) and a 50-track digital box set (out Dec. 3), which will feature 22 songs that have never been released digitally.
They’ve also re-teamed up with the Berlin-based French artist Thierry Noir, who created the band’s iconic Trabant cars on the 1992 Zoo TV tour, for a new art installation at Hansa Studios in Kreuzberg, Germany. It includes a newly pained Trabant car and a mural they created on a section of the Berlin Wall.
The band’s SiriusXM channel U2 X-Radio will have a monthlong Achtung Baby celebration that will feature new interviews with members of U2 along with co-producer Daniel Lanois, engineer Flood, and photographer Anton Corbijn.
In a 2011 interview with Rolling Stone, the Edge reflected on how innovative new acts like My Bloody Valentine, Nine Inch Nails, the Stone Roses, and Einstürzende Neubauten inspired the band to move radically away from their past music when they started work on the album. “I always remember the intense embarrassment when I happened to be in a club and a generous-spirited DJ would put on one of our tunes from the War album,” the Edges said. “It was so evident we had never been thinking about how it would go down in clubs. So we just wanted to stretch ourselves in the area of rhythm and backbeat and groove.”
Looking toward the present, the group is working on their follow-up LP to 2017’s Songs of Experience, but it’s unclear when it will be ready. They recently released “Your Song Saved My Life” from the soundtrack to Sing 2. It’s their first new song in three years. In the movie, Bono provides the voice of a reclusive rock & roll-singing lion named Clay Calloway. The movie comes out Dec. 22.
Achtung Baby 30th Anniversary Edition Tracklist
Component 1 – Achtung Baby (2018 remaster, not currently available digitally)
Zoo Station
Even Better Than The Real Thing
One
Until The End Of The World
Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
So Cruel
The Fly
Mysterious Ways
Tryin’ To Throw Your Arms Around The World
Ultra Violet (Light My Way)
Acrobat
Love Is Blindness
Component 2 – Uber Remixes (New remaster)
Night and Day (Steel String Remix)
Real Thing (Perfecto Mix)
Mysterious Ways (Solar Plexus Extended Club Mix)
Lemon (Perfecto Mix)
Can’t Help Falling in Love (Triple Peaks Remix)
Lady with the Spinning Head (Extended Dance remix)
Real Thing (V16 Exit Wound Remix)
Mysterious Ways (Ultimatum Mix)
The Lounge Fly Mix
Mysterious Ways (The Perfecto Remix)
One (Apollo 440 Remix)
Component 3 – Unter Remixes (New remaster)
Mysterious Ways (Tabla Motown Remix)
Mysterious Ways (Apollo 440 Magic Hour Remix)
Can’t Help Falling in Love (Mystery Train Dub)
One (Apollo 440 Ambient Mix)
Lemon (Momo’s Reprise)
Salomé (Zooromancer Remix)
Even Better Than The Real Thing (Trance Mix)
Numb (Gimme Some More Dignity Mix)
Mysterious Ways (Solar Plexus Magic Hour Remix)
Numb (The Soul Assassins Mix)
Even Better Than The Real Thing (Apollo 440 Stealth Sonic Remix)
Component 4 – B-Sides And Other Stuff (New remaster)
Lady With The Spinning Head (UV1)
Blow Your House Down
Salomé
Even Better Than The Real Thing (Single Version)
Satellite Of Love
Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses (Temple Bar Remix)
Heaven And Hell
Oh Berlin
Near The Island (Instrumental)
Down All The Days
Paint It Black
Fortunate Son
Alex Descends Into Hell For A Bottle Of Milk / Korova 1
Where Did It All Go Wrong?
Everybody Loves A Winner
Even Better Than The Real Thing (Fish Out Of Water Remix)
From Rolling Stone US
