Amazon.co.uk Even though it was greeted at the time as U2's reinvention as a dance/rock post-modern revue, with a bit of post-Wall Berlin thrown in for luck, distance now shows that Achtung Baby is in fact a suite of extraordinarily perceptive and tender songs on the breakdown of the Edge's marriage. "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses", "The Fly", "One", "So Cruel"--it's as if Bono shuffled into the studio and said "Er, Edge. Was it a bit like this?" And the Edge wept until his hat became soggy. U2 fans will argue until the end of "Until The End Of The World" which is the best album in the band's exemplary canon, but with Bono sounding like a scorched St Paul, the Edge augmenting those electrified sheets of sound with deft funk-flicks and producer keeping it spacious, hot and holy, chances are, this is it. --Caitlin Moran Review Or how U2 reinvented themselves into something deliciously post-modern. After taking being earnest to new levels with their part-studio, part-live homage to America, Rattle & Hum in 1988, U2 realised that to keep their exalted position as 'Greatest Rock Band In The World' from up-and-coming whippersnappers such as REM, they needed to do something radically different. So, glitter, glam and irreverence replaced large hats, furrowed brows and facial hair. Working again with their production team of Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois, they created a noise that was irresistibly modern yet absolutely classic. And for a while in rock, it was impossible to escape from the spell and influence of Achtung Baby. Recorded in Berlin and Dublin, the album feels similar in many respects to David Bowie's Low and 'Heroes', and, in Eno, they had a direct link with the period. Opening with The Edge's guitar squall and electronics, this dense sound is irresistible; sometimes, this creates moods rather than hummable tunes, such as on 'The Fly', 'Zoo Station', Acrobat', yet it also contains the grandstanding stadium-sized 'Even Better Than the Real Thing', the baggy-influenced 'Mysterious Ways' and arguably the greatest U2 anthem, 'One'. The relentless playing down of their previous seriousness (the title was a line from Mel Brooks' The Producers) actually made U2 even more unassailable Later, lots of other lesser groups donned make-up and went po-mo (INXS, Deacon Blue) poorly, but under the pretence of not caring very much, U2 painstakingly crafted an album of incredible depth and texture. --Daryl Easlea This link will take you off Amazon in a new window