A few years ago I was visiting relatives in Salt Lake when I heard the obscure Faith No More song "We Care a Lot" (still better than most of today's rap-rock experiments) on a hard rock radio station, with the tongue-in-cheek line "We're here to save the world." I wondered, what if they really meant it? What if a rock band, instead of indulging themselves, went out and spoke up for human rights, and gave to charity?

I didn't realize at the time that U2 had been trying to save the world for years. Obviously they'll never achieve their goal, but they deserve immense respect for having the guts to try. With all the whiny, woe-is-me lyrics in modern rock music, U2 attempts to actually make a dent in solving the problems that fill the world with heartache. Still, people want to criticize them for being self-righteous and megalomaniacal. Perhaps they are, but in my book it's better than being apathetic or nihilistic.

U2's "Achtung Baby" was a marked departure from the U2 sound of the 80s. It remains a turbulent and unsettling album compared to their previous masterpiece, "The Joshua Tree". I only gave "The Joshua Tree" four stars, and I'm giving "Achtung" five. This is rather difficult for me, since I think it would be really hard to argue that the latter is a better album than the former. But at heart my reviews are subjective, and "Achtung" simply affected me more personally. So take that for what it's worth.

In the loud, techno-tinged, arena-rock world of "Achtung Baby", Bono is often singing out to somebody. But it's ambiguous exactly who the "you" is he's singing to. The media? The masses of the world? A woman he's in a relationship with? His bandmates? God? You don't know, and for some reason that makes things more interesting.

"Until the End of the World", "Tryin to Throw Your Arms Around the World", and "Ultraviolet" are weaker than the rest of the album's material. That's not to say they're bad songs. But "One" and "Mysterious Ways" would probably earn this album a reccommendation from me even if all the rest was total crap. Which it's definitely not.

To me the most powerful point in the record is it's dramatic closing. Once again, the way an album finishes is important to me, for better or worse. To me, it is the taste the record leaves in your ears, the final statement to sum up and complete the musical work. "Achtung Baby" does an excellent job of that with "Acrobat" and "Love is Blindness".

"Acrobat" is reminiscent of another second-to-last song, "Exit" from "The Joshua Tree". It isn't the most melodic song in the world, but it still is very captivating. It seems to be pure concentrated emotional tension caught on tape. It seems to be about bracing oneself for a struggle, and pure determination in the face of that. It ends with a warning to endure. "Don't let the b**tards grind you down," Bono gasps as the song ends in a cacophony of feedback.

The album ends with the incredibly haunting and enigmatic "Love is Blindness", a song which will send chills down your spine. Bono's singing is almost angelic on it, and Adam Clayton's bass line pounds with intensity. I can't say I totally understand what it's about, but it definitely conveys a mood.

"Achtung Baby" is a heap of conflict, confusion, arrogance, self-indulgence, world-weariness and desperation, featuring pounding beats, soaring falsetto voices, and distorted guitar. Perhaps the remarkable thing is that this album flows together and works so well, but it does. Get it.


Recommended: Yes