Achtung Baby/ Zooropa remaster/ reissue - Part V/Five

[digitize]

Hi All

Long time lurker on this thread - first post.

What I really really really want to know is ... is Zooropa "re-mastered"/tweaked in any way.

I have always considered the mixes on both AB and Zoo to be particularly quiet (not good for playlists) and overly compressed so a while a boost for AB is great news, a similar tweak for Zoo would be the icing on the cake.

Thanks in advance

Welcome to Inteference!

Unfortunately, I don't think any of us actually know yet - you're not the first to ask.

 

[TheEdge25]

My opinion:

The Kindergarten Achtung Baby Disc alone makes purchasing the Super Deluxe worth it.

 

[morgan1098]

Yes, mine has the FBI warning on it too (UK version)...but there was a sticker on the shrink wrap saying "CD's made in Germany.' It was a small white sticker with black writing? Many, if not all Blurays have the FBI warning at the start of the disc. It seems to be an international piracy warning these days.

If you have the actual box in hand, can you tell us about the liner notes? Are there essays? Commentary by the Edge? What's in the book besides a lot of cool photos?

 

[Chrisedge]

Seems as if some of the Baby songs are 2011 vocals too.

 

[TheEdge25]

Seems as if some of the Baby songs are 2011 vocals too.

I was thinking this too....I wonder which ones are and which ones are not.

 

[waynetravis]

I think I prefer Baby One than the well known One

 

[mikal]

Seems as if some of the Baby songs are 2011 vocals too.

really? i didn't catch that on the first listen.

 

[sonichka]

really? i didn't catch that on the first listen.

Neither did i. Wouldn't that defeat the purpose of releasing these as demos?

 

[BVS]

Yeah, I think Chris might be mistaken. I haven't caught any yet.

 

[sonichka]

I can easily hear a recent Bono, in Blow Your House Down for example. But as far as the demos go i didn't notice anything yet.

 

[Claudio Dirani]

I was expecting "One" to be a work-in-progress track, in the same vein it appeared on From The Sky Down film. It seems just a bare, stripped version, taken from the master.

 

[super fly guy]

I prefer ''baby'' EBTTRT'' to,well the real thing! All the rest are great.but the album versions are better.

 

[Y2K]

I was expecting "One" to be a work-in-progress track, in the same vein it appeared on From The Sky Down film. It seems just a bare, stripped version, taken from the master.

I think the band pretty much nailed the structure and lyrics of the song early on, but they apparently worked on the mix for a long time. This 'baby' version is likely something they worked on at Elsinore. Consider the following from One's Wikipedia article:

The band returned to Dublin in 1991 to record at the "Elsinore" mansion on the Dalkey coastline. The band continued to work on the song there, adding various overdubs, but not finding a mix they were satisfied with. The Edge thought that they had the foundation for the song, but that it needed "foreground". Eno interceded, explaining to the group that "One" was among the sessions' tracks in which "The song has gone, whatever it is you liked about this song is not there anymore", and that the track had "disappeared under layers of overdubs". He created his own mix, which gave the band a better idea of an arrangement they liked. Eno wanted the band to remove the melancholy elements of the song and persuaded them to remove the acoustic guitar from the song. He also worked with Lanois and The Edge to "undermine the 'too beautiful' feeling", which is why they added the "crying guitar parts that have an aggression to them".

Flood, the sessions' engineer, was unconvinced by the song's mix, saying he "was the nagging doubter. I always felt it was a bit straight, until we did the final mix." The final mix was completed at Windmill Lane Studios in September 1991 on the last night of the album's recording sessions,when some last minute additions were made. Bono did not like a line in the vocals and spent most of the day re-recording it. Later, after the song's mix had just been completed by the production team, The Edge came up with a guitar part he wanted to add to the song's end near the lyric "Love is a temple". After convincing the production team to allow the addition, The Edge played the part once and had it mixed in ten minutes later.

 

[Chrisedge]

The Baby "One" seemed to be "new" vocals to me, WGRYWH seems too polished over the salome version we have had for a while too. (But his falsetto seems to throw me off too) MW seems too clean as well.

I could be wrong, but they already have shown they like to re-do the vocals so I bet some are new...

 

[Niceman]

The more I listen to the Kindergarten and the "new" tracks, the more I'm convinced what we're hearing is more new than old. The "baby" version of One has a string section???

I think what happened was that U2, in 2011, sat down with the 200-disc version of the Salome tapes and went in and made all of this. It's not just an opening of the vault. They went and finished it all. I know what a U2 demo sounds like and these are not it.

 

[Chrisedge]

I would add "Trying To Throw..." with new 2011 Vocals.

 

[super fly guy]

If any of they vocals are new,bono is sounding great!

 

[Tyagu_Anaykus]

Baby Love is Blindness is absolutely amazing...

 

[Popmartijn]

Heaven and Hell sounds....oh, so beautiful. I love this version of it. I can't believe it never made it onto the album and was only a B-side.

To be nitpickery, it wasn't even a B-side. It's an outtake that only now is being released officially for the first time.

 

[Niceman]

If any of they vocals are new,bono is sounding great!

Did you hear how amazing he sounded at the Hollywood bowl with Clinton?

 

[Melon50]

The Baby "One" seemed to be "new" vocals to me, WGRYWH seems too polished over the salome version we have had for a while too. (But his falsetto seems to throw me off too) MW seems too clean as well.

I could be wrong, but they already have shown they like to re-do the vocals so I bet some are new...

Hi Chris,

If you put the baby One and final version next to each other the vocal track is identical, it just has more reverb in the baby version. The musical track is clearly in development in that stage. I think One is the only "baby" that has the final vocal, compared to the released Achtung Baby.

Really, the only songs that have a new vocal are Blow your house down, Heaven and Hell, and Oh Berlin. Down all the days and Everybody loves a winner are also 1990.

As far as my trained ear can hear

 

[ar195]

Really, the only songs that have a new vocal are Blow your house down, Heaven and Hell, and Oh Berlin. Down all the days and Everybody loves a winner are also 1990.

As far as my trained ear can hear

You're absolutely right!

 

[zoofred]

Is there a thread with the new lyrics of the 'Baby' versions ?

 

[chocky]

Baby WGRYWH and LIB are like having totally new tracks and they're amazing. I love the vocals on UTEOTW, maybe even more than the original.

I'm really impressed that U2 opened their vaults for this. They're a very pedantic band so to have 18 'unpolished' tracks is special.

Wonder why they didn't remaster Everyones a Winner though? Lots of hiss on that track.

 

[santiago]

I would add "Trying To Throw..." with new 2011 Vocals.

No way! Bono is clearly improvising part of the lyrics in the take, it's an early take.

I do not see why he would go back and improvise new melodies over an old demo and make up lyrics about a head like a cabbage!

 

[Steved1998]

Agreed. These "Baby" tracks are actually some of the best "bonus" material of all the reissues. Far superior than anything we got for the Boy/October/War sets. It's a pity they didn't do something like this for all the reissues, because it's far more interesting (and useful for repeated listening) than all the remixes combined.

Let's put it this way...unlike remixes, I'll listen to this more than once and it will make its way into my regular U2 listening, at least for a while.

I can see not having too many alternate versions that are actually good from their early days. I thought they did a great job with the Boy and October bonus discs, personally. Lot of good stuff on there. This is certainly their best one though, as it should be.

 

[Chrisedge]

No way! Bono is clearly improvising part of the lyrics in the take, it's an early take.

I do not see why he would go back and improvise new melodies over an old demo and make up lyrics about a head like a cabbage!

Not sure which songs I am thinking of, but some seem to have both "old" lyrics as well as "new" overdubs. Just hearing how clean some of these sound compared to the Outtakes, it seems that there is some overdubs to me.

 

[mikal]

so i'm going to do a little bit of nitpicking:

as much as i love Heaven and Hell and am generally pleased with the polished version, i'm a little annoyed by Bono's lyrics in the verses. did he just decide that he was going to try to fit in as many words as humanly possible? i would have preferred a subtle approach in the verses. also, the "duop" throws me off a little too.

with that said, the guitar solo is fantastic and the band really nails the 2nd half of the song.

 

[Steved1998]

If someone can merge these two images, it may be the perfect interference pic.


Emperor McGuinne$$.

I found a picture that matched up surprisingly well...

 

[youarenotimmune]

fuuuuuuckkkkkkkk....baby Acrobat is just ripping me apart

this is by FAR the best band on the planet. or any planet. in any universe. ever