Achtung Baby

[joeysimms]

... I saw him play in Taos last year with Henry Rollins's backing band "mother superior" behind him and HOLY SHIT it was one of the most amazing and most thundering rock shows i've ever seen. It was like they were posessed by the spirit of Neil Young and Crazy Horse, but even harder sounding!

In fact, it might actually be the best rock concert I ever saw. Seriously, it was fucking insane. Every single song was reinterpereted and phrased differently. Blew my mind...

Having been lucky enough to play in a project with the Mother Superior guys, I can say i'm not surprised it rocked. Cuz they do. And, they've been playing together for something over 10 years, which is rare for a relatively unknown band. They rock rock rock and Jim Wilson's a great songwriter!

[citizenkeith]

... I saw him play in Taos last year with Henry Rollins's backing band "mother superior" behind him and HOLY SHIT it was one of the most amazing and most thundering rock shows i've ever seen. It was like they were posessed by the spirit of Neil Young and Crazy Horse, but even harder sounding!

In fact, it might actually be the best rock concert I ever saw. Seriously, it was fucking insane. Every single song was reinterpereted and phrased differently. Blew my mind...

Having been lucky enough to play in a project with the Mother Superior guys, I can say i'm not surprised it rocked. Cuz they do. And, they've been playing together for something over 10 years, which is rare for a relatively unknown band. They rock rock rock and Jim Wilson's a great songwriter!

I wasn't a big fan of the Lanois/Mother Superior show that I saw in Newport, KY last year. Lanois was amazing on guitar, but the band seemed totally out of place, especially the drummer. They came off as a good rock band, but I felt that they didn't really fit in with the music. If he had Crazy Horse backing him, that would work, but MS didn't seem to be sensitive to the songs.

I've heard boots from the same tour when it was just Lanois with Brian Blade on drums. THAT was off the hook good.

As for Achtung Baby... love it. I was a huge U2 fan in the 80s, and they kind of lost my with Rattle and Hum. When I first heard The Fly on the radio, I thought it was INXS. But over time I got used to that song and I think that record has U2 at their most loose and imaginitive. I didn't get into Zooropa or Pop nearly as much.

As for the new album, I really think there are some great songs on that record (Man and a Woman, Crumbs for Your Table, Miracle Drug) but the performances aren't as inspired or LIVE sounding as on Achtung Baby. And don't get me started on the maximizer...

[rubykeeler]

I love that Flood is wearing a Renegade Soundwave tshirt in the liner of Achtung Baby.

Agree that Achtung Baby is really good. It sort of is to U2 what Arugment was to Fugazi (career summary and new way forward) except that Fugazi is 10x better in my opinyum.

No one has mentioned WAR though, which is my favorite. Love the big ringing bass drum (esp. on "Seconds") and it still has that kind of weird, almost foreign flavor (do you know what I mean). They seemed much more foreign than Echo and the Bunnymen I mean.

Also the Memory Man bits on Unforgetable Fire are ace: Wire, for example. Though "Pride" signals the beginning of a long slide, says I.

[mertmo]

MS didn't seem to be sensitive to the songs.

I've heard boots from the same tour when it was just Lanois with Brian Blade on drums. THAT was off the hook good.

despite how blown away I was, I agree about their sensitivity to the songs.
And I totally believe it about the Brian Blade shows...