(I always seem to be harping on Eno lately... and I actually like the guy.)
Anyway, it just seems that in the popular perception, Brian Eno is U2's producer and Danny Lanois is his somewhere-in-the-corner assistant. Everytime I read something about, say, The Unforgettable Fire, it always says "produced by Brian Eno", with no mention of Lanois. This came to mind again when I read the NLOTH review in Mojo magazine, for which they had an artist design a full-page picture of little mini-U2 heads spinning around a scientific-looking device, with a giant head of Eno in the background -- no image of Lanois (the previous issue of Mojo features an in-depth interview with Eno... no mention of Lanois, but there is a tiny box of Qs with him where he gets to talk about how much he loves Eno).
If you check the credits of most of the albums, they list Lanois first as producer, and Eno second. My understanding is that Eno had rather a lot of direct input into Unforgettable Fire and maybe Joshua Tree, but rather less after that. In fact, I don't think he had much at all to do with Achtung Baby, but you still read all these reviews like: "...and then they returned to Brian Eno to make Achtung Baby". No mention of Lanois.
Understand I have nothing against Eno; obviously he's been good for the group, etc. But I almost feel bad for Daniel Lanois (if you can feel bad for a guy who makes money working with U2 and Dylan) in that he always seems to get a secondary mention in the U2 scheme of things, but has, it seems to me, rather a more important role in U2's overall history than Eno.
Then there's the fact that Lanois is actually a great musician...
Anyway, it just seems that in the popular perception, Brian Eno is U2's producer and Danny Lanois is his somewhere-in-the-corner assistant. Everytime I read something about, say, The Unforgettable Fire, it always says "produced by Brian Eno", with no mention of Lanois. This came to mind again when I read the NLOTH review in Mojo magazine, for which they had an artist design a full-page picture of little mini-U2 heads spinning around a scientific-looking device, with a giant head of Eno in the background -- no image of Lanois (the previous issue of Mojo features an in-depth interview with Eno... no mention of Lanois, but there is a tiny box of Qs with him where he gets to talk about how much he loves Eno).
If you check the credits of most of the albums, they list Lanois first as producer, and Eno second. My understanding is that Eno had rather a lot of direct input into Unforgettable Fire and maybe Joshua Tree, but rather less after that. In fact, I don't think he had much at all to do with Achtung Baby, but you still read all these reviews like: "...and then they returned to Brian Eno to make Achtung Baby". No mention of Lanois.
Understand I have nothing against Eno; obviously he's been good for the group, etc. But I almost feel bad for Daniel Lanois (if you can feel bad for a guy who makes money working with U2 and Dylan) in that he always seems to get a secondary mention in the U2 scheme of things, but has, it seems to me, rather a more important role in U2's overall history than Eno.
Then there's the fact that Lanois is actually a great musician...
