i am desperate to find a higher-resolution, uncropped, textless, original version of this Anton Corbijn photograph ~
~ there should really be no need to explain why; one's eyes offer no lies. But i'll go ahead anyway
This photograph has always meant alot to me, of all the seemingly limitless litany of Anton's beautiful lies that illustrate and illuminate 'Achtung Baby'. For one thing, this was the first image.
i can recall as if it were yesterday {and not a quarter century ago, almost to the week} the moment that my younger sister stood in the doorway of the hotel room {we were on our mid-term Autumn family holiday in Blackpool, England ~ bored & cold} and held aloft this magazine, yelling 'Have you seen THIS?!' My sister was not yet a fan of the band; she would fall, and fall hard, just a few short years later, and remains loyal to this day.
i leapt off the sofa and snatched it from her hands, before laying it on a coffee table to just...ingest it's power!
Given the tsunami of Anton images that followed so soon after - during the 'AB' release campaign let alone the ZooTV era, and given that these were pre-internet dirty days, where band images were carefully doled out to you, and in U2's case, more than most, that was frequently done in a very limited, sub-politburo type of way, it is almost impossible now to recreate the powerful and glorious effect this single image had on that cold early October morning. This was the first new official image we had seen of the band since Lovetown, and it just seemed somehow to represent a whole new world opening up for U2. A world away from the stark 'scope of 'The Joshua Tree' and it's aftermaths.
The first thing that struck me, and my sister!, was...is Bono rocking...blue eye shadow!? It was subtle but, after some debate we decided that the smile said it all, and yes he was. The fact that it echoed in the blue sheen of off his leather waistcoat (brought out even more subtly by Anton's genius massaging of tones in post processing) just added to the magnetism of the image. Larry too, we felt, was blooming with some kind of facial enhancement ~ possibly lippy. But frankly the nipple overode all. (Little did we know what further feminine 'delights' lay so near ahead!)
Edge & Adam's power lay in the mix of colours and fabric that Fighting Fintan had expertly mixed & matched, with, at this stage, just a corner peek at those Edge trousers that would eventually grace the LP cover.
The body language too of the four men suggested strength, pride and ease, as well as a certain insouciance. Bono & Larry in particular just looked like they knew what was coming, and as a fan staring endlessly at the depths of that cover i just wanted in on the joyous secret.
Not that the article inside offered up much revelation - this was the first magazine cover story for the 'AB' campaign, but the no interview policy was in place until the tour launch, so what we got from Demott Hayes was a professional & fairly elegant cut & paste job, with culls from 'Propaganda' added to some local tabloid knowledge, alonside a handful of more new Anton Berlin monochrome images - all of them to be reproduced repeatedly over the months (& years) ahead, and differing quite radically in tone from the subtle and beguiling patina (possibly a Polachrome?) of the cover shot, which to my saddo knowledge has only ever been published on this 'Select' cover, and a month subsequently on the cover of 'Crossbeat' magazine's Japanese reprint of Hayes article. (Politburo strategy at work - same teaser set-up piece for Europe then Japan?)
It was quite some time, after learning of the provenance of the various & multifarious 'AB' photo sessions, before i could even make a stab at guessing just where this shot was taken. Because of it's background darkness i never initially pinned it on the Morocco session, but Edge & Adam's apparel finally located it in Morocco, although i don't recall seeing Bono or Larry wear that gear combined in any other shots. The fact that they 'made-up' in Morocco also pinned it down.
This photograph's power has continued to persist with me down all the days, and years, both for it's inherent beauty, but also, i suppose, due to it's apparent scarcity. In all the retro articles over the decades, all the magazine pieces, all the Anton retrospective tomes and coverage, i have never seen it reproduced anywhere, in any size. Which i've always found queer, not just because i think it's a damn cool shot, but also because i assume that the band quite specifically selected this image and provided it to these 2 major magazines for these launch pieces. And then it just vanishes!
So i truly do hope that some kind soul in these parts has somehow, somewhere sourced a lovely high quality, clean & clear immaculate reproduction of this sublime 'lost' classic from the 'Achtung Baby' masterwork.
Thank You for reading
~ there should really be no need to explain why; one's eyes offer no lies. But i'll go ahead anyway
This photograph has always meant alot to me, of all the seemingly limitless litany of Anton's beautiful lies that illustrate and illuminate 'Achtung Baby'. For one thing, this was the first image.
i can recall as if it were yesterday {and not a quarter century ago, almost to the week} the moment that my younger sister stood in the doorway of the hotel room {we were on our mid-term Autumn family holiday in Blackpool, England ~ bored & cold} and held aloft this magazine, yelling 'Have you seen THIS?!' My sister was not yet a fan of the band; she would fall, and fall hard, just a few short years later, and remains loyal to this day.
i leapt off the sofa and snatched it from her hands, before laying it on a coffee table to just...ingest it's power!
Given the tsunami of Anton images that followed so soon after - during the 'AB' release campaign let alone the ZooTV era, and given that these were pre-internet dirty days, where band images were carefully doled out to you, and in U2's case, more than most, that was frequently done in a very limited, sub-politburo type of way, it is almost impossible now to recreate the powerful and glorious effect this single image had on that cold early October morning. This was the first new official image we had seen of the band since Lovetown, and it just seemed somehow to represent a whole new world opening up for U2. A world away from the stark 'scope of 'The Joshua Tree' and it's aftermaths.
The first thing that struck me, and my sister!, was...is Bono rocking...blue eye shadow!? It was subtle but, after some debate we decided that the smile said it all, and yes he was. The fact that it echoed in the blue sheen of off his leather waistcoat (brought out even more subtly by Anton's genius massaging of tones in post processing) just added to the magnetism of the image. Larry too, we felt, was blooming with some kind of facial enhancement ~ possibly lippy. But frankly the nipple overode all. (Little did we know what further feminine 'delights' lay so near ahead!)
Edge & Adam's power lay in the mix of colours and fabric that Fighting Fintan had expertly mixed & matched, with, at this stage, just a corner peek at those Edge trousers that would eventually grace the LP cover.
The body language too of the four men suggested strength, pride and ease, as well as a certain insouciance. Bono & Larry in particular just looked like they knew what was coming, and as a fan staring endlessly at the depths of that cover i just wanted in on the joyous secret.
Not that the article inside offered up much revelation - this was the first magazine cover story for the 'AB' campaign, but the no interview policy was in place until the tour launch, so what we got from Demott Hayes was a professional & fairly elegant cut & paste job, with culls from 'Propaganda' added to some local tabloid knowledge, alonside a handful of more new Anton Berlin monochrome images - all of them to be reproduced repeatedly over the months (& years) ahead, and differing quite radically in tone from the subtle and beguiling patina (possibly a Polachrome?) of the cover shot, which to my saddo knowledge has only ever been published on this 'Select' cover, and a month subsequently on the cover of 'Crossbeat' magazine's Japanese reprint of Hayes article. (Politburo strategy at work - same teaser set-up piece for Europe then Japan?)
It was quite some time, after learning of the provenance of the various & multifarious 'AB' photo sessions, before i could even make a stab at guessing just where this shot was taken. Because of it's background darkness i never initially pinned it on the Morocco session, but Edge & Adam's apparel finally located it in Morocco, although i don't recall seeing Bono or Larry wear that gear combined in any other shots. The fact that they 'made-up' in Morocco also pinned it down.
This photograph's power has continued to persist with me down all the days, and years, both for it's inherent beauty, but also, i suppose, due to it's apparent scarcity. In all the retro articles over the decades, all the magazine pieces, all the Anton retrospective tomes and coverage, i have never seen it reproduced anywhere, in any size. Which i've always found queer, not just because i think it's a damn cool shot, but also because i assume that the band quite specifically selected this image and provided it to these 2 major magazines for these launch pieces. And then it just vanishes!
So i truly do hope that some kind soul in these parts has somehow, somewhere sourced a lovely high quality, clean & clear immaculate reproduction of this sublime 'lost' classic from the 'Achtung Baby' masterwork.
Thank You for reading
well, that went well for my first post! 
