Achtung Baby 30th Anniversary Releases & Promo

[ascender_RS]

As expected, there will be reissues of the album on Vinyl and a digital release of some of the stuff from the previous boxset. The rumours last week were that there might be lots of different colours of the vinyl which would be available from different sources, but so far its just the red and blue one being advertised.

Content-wise and yours for £44.99.

Package includes:
• 30th Anniversary Limited Edition Deluxe Product
• 2 x 180g heavyweight coloured vinyl – LP1 pressed on Red Transparent vinyl, LP2 pressed on Blue Transparent vinyl
• Exclusive slipcase with an individually numbered sticker on the reverse
• Both LPs housed in a wide-spine sleeve with a newly designed 8 page booklet including lyrics & credits
• A limited edition bespoke 60cm x 60cm folded poster

New, 30th anniversary editions of U2’s seminal Achtung Baby album are to be released by Island Records, Interscope, and UMe. The Standard and Deluxe vinyl release will be this Friday (November 19) with a 50-track digital box set available from December 3.

Achtung Baby (30th Anniversary Edition) will be available on standard black vinyl and deluxe color vinyl on November 19, with Achtung Baby (2018 Remaster) and Achtung Baby (Unter Remixes) available digitally the same day. The 50-track box set will include Uber Remixes, Unter Remixes, and B-Sides, featuring 22 tracks never before available digitally.

Also announced....

U2 have collaborated with the Berlin-based French artist Thierry Noir, the first artist to paint on the Berlin Wall, on a one-off installation at the famed Hansa Studios in Kreuzberg. Thirty years ago, the band commissioned Noir to paint the series of Trabant cars that featured in the album artwork, and on 1991’s Zoo TV Tour. U2 x THIERRY NOIR marks Noir’s return with a newly-painted Trabant for 2021, as well as an exclusive mural painted on a section of the Berlin wall. Click here for free access and information.

The bonnet of the Trabant is to be auctioned at Phillips, London on December 9, as part of their New Now sale, from which proceeds will go to the Berlin Institute for Sound and Music. More information is available here.

The band’s SiriusXM channel U2 X-Radio will this month present an Achtung Baby special that will include interviews with band members and their collaborators on Achtung Baby, Daniel Lanois, Flood and Anton Corbijn.

Also, the official store has lots of AB merchandise ready to buy.... Some of it is new prints of classic AB/Zoo TV shirts, plus a bunch of new stuff with the classic logos & symbols on them.

https://shop.u2.com/?utm_campaign=30th%20Anniversary%20%28Sy8a4P%29&utm_medium=campaign-email&utm_source=Accepts%20Marketing&_kx=2jwDMzbUDlvyRz0AOOaYXoJ1pzqgssxG943mBF_icRg%3D.LpGWpL

 

[wolbersu2]

Nothing new. Will not buy.
At least some t-shirts/hoodies have a great design. But if the quality is the same as last years I will not buy these too.
I would have paid for unreleased material or a great 5.1 High resolution mix of the album on blu-ray/dvd. A pro-shot official zootv concert would also be welcome.

 

[pacemaker]

As per usual, none of the merch is really doing much for me, but I'm looking forward to the newest master being widely available. Unless I completely glazed over it, I was really hoping for a digital release of From the Sky Down... or new ZooTV shows, or something. Maybe they'll fold some stuff into the video upscale project.

 

[LemonMelon]

I wanted the pin set until I saw it was $160.

 

[Hollow Island]

They're now as lazy with reissues as Edge is with his guitar playing.

 

[lazarus]

22 tracks never before available digitally.

I’m assuming this is just the Kindergarten versions and outtakes that were on the 20th deluxe set?

 

[womanfish]

 

[lazarus]

I wanted the pin set until I saw it was $160.

$30 for a tote bag? Fuck off.

You’re better off buying vintage AB/Zoo stuff on eBay; I have like 3 shirts that all cost less than these.

 

[dan_smee]

So strange that they didn’t do a vinyl box for AB like they did for ATYCLB? I thought at a minimum we’d have a zootv show on vinyl, and if we were a little lucky - not Sydney.

 

[Hollow Island]

22 tracks never before available digitally.

I’m assuming this is just the Kindergarten versions and outtakes that were on the 20th deluxe set?

The kindergarten versions aren't part of this. Just the album, remixes, b sides, and outtakes from the 2011 set.

https://www.u2songs.com/discography/u2_achtung_baby_30th_anniversary_release

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

What could they have put out that they haven't already put out besides perhaps another concert, of which we already have two (Sydney and Dublin)?

 

[The John Tree]

The kindergarten versions are a curious omission, yet I don’t believe these kindergarten versions were even true demos.

Though at this point, after the 20th anniversary release, there’s probably not much left over. They did the documentary. They released some vault-y stuff.

This band just doesn’t really want to truly delve into the vaults it seems. The Salome demos, to me, are interesting enough to release - but they chose to re-record them with modern vocals and (I believe) overdubs. I could listen to the early versions of Blow Your House Down all day. But the re-recorded version didn’t do anything for me.

Plus I could listen to the Wake Up Dead Man/Lady With The Spinning Head demo with the double vocal all day - but again, no dice. Maybe for the 40th anniversary.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

The kindergarten versions are a curious omission, yet I don’t believe these kindergarten versions were even true demos.

Though at this point, after the 20th anniversary release, there’s probably not much left over. They did the documentary. They released some vault-y stuff.

This band just doesn’t really want to truly delve into the vaults it seems. The Salome demos, to me, are interesting enough to release - but they chose to re-record them with modern vocals and (I believe) overdubs. I could listen to the early versions of Blow Your House Down all day. But the re-recorded version didn’t do anything for me.

Plus I could listen to the Wake Up Dead Man/Lady With The Spinning Head demo with the double vocal all day - but again, no dice. Maybe for the 40th anniversary.

yea short of a full on official release of the salome tapes, they've milked Achtung Baby for all they can at this point.

they put out a shirt with adam's wang on it, tho

 

[Hollow Island]

yea short of a full on official release of the salome tapes, they've milked Achtung Baby for all they can at this point.

they put out a shirt with adam's wang on it, tho

Same with Joshua Tree but that didn't stop them from doing a 30th anniversary set with a new live show, a handful of new remixes, and putting things on vinyl that hadn't been previously released. They should have done something like that for Acthtung, especially since the super deluxe has been OOP for several years. Even the 2cd with the b sides is OOP.

The digital-only set should also be released on vinyl and cd, with the Kindergarten version and audio and/or video from another Zoo TV show. They're handling the 30th anniversary of their greatest achievement terribly.

 

[U2girl]

Two bad reissues in a row. Way to not honour some of your best known albums.

Ab30 tour in 2023 ? Full album performance a la bbc night in 2017 ? Some live non Sydney show as a fan club gift ? This album deserved better.

 

[bono_212]

This is the second reissue of AB in, what, 5 years? I didn't really WANT anything else. But I wish that one hat wasn't a trucker hat, because it's probably the only piece of merch I want

 

[Hollow Island]

This isn't a reissue: all they're doing is repressing the LP because it sold out, and adding some bullshit packaging so they can pretend that it's new.

 

[the tourist]

I don’t actually have Achtung Baby on vinyl, so I’m okay with this. I might pick it up.

 

[Hollow Island]

It's nice that it's being repressed but it would have happened anyway. If pressing plants weren't so backed up it wouldn't have gone out of print.

 

[Hewson]

they put out a shirt with adam's wang on it, tho

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

No truth to the rumors that Achtung Baby now comes with a free bowl of soup

 

[cobl04]

Pretty disappointing, but I'm absolutely still buying it. Would have loved one of the hoodies but they're pretty expensive and my favourite is sold out. Will get the baby beanie.

What was the previous re-issue? 25th anniversary? It was miles better. But I got the uber boxset then I think, and it only came in CDs from memory. Looks like none of the tracks being released digitally weren't already on that re-issue?

 

[ascender_RS]

There's some nice merchandise but its pretty pricey If the quality is the same as some of the recent stuff.

The cupboard is indeed bare for this era of music. We did talk about this before, but the only thing I thought they might have released to fans in some way would be audio and/or video of something from the first leg of Zoo TV. Those indoor shows had a different energy to them than the stadium ones IMO and remain my favourite ever gigs I've been to.

The 25th anniversary boxsets did have vinyl in them as well as CDs and DVDs. And yes, looks like there's nothing new in this release, it was all in there and they are just making things available on all platforms now.

 

[DeVaul]

Pop box would’ve been cooler.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

This is the second reissue of AB in, what, 5 years? I didn't really WANT anything else. But I wish that one hat wasn't a trucker hat, because it's probably the only piece of merch I want

exactly. i get it - but they kind of blew this out 5 years ago.

 

[Hollow Island]

There was no Achtung Baby reissue 5 years ago and there were no 25th anniversary sets featuring vinyl, cd, and video for any album.

"The cupboard is bare" argument doesn't hold water given that the Joshua Tree 30th set was largely a duplicate of the 20th anniversary but with a different book and a different live show that was audio only instead of dvd. And, most importantly, the b sides and outtakes were available on vinyl. Given how much it's going for in both formats there was clearly demand for what was largely a repacking of a previous reissue, and the demand would surely be there for a similar AB. There is no reason that they couldn't have taken the same approach with Achtung 30.

For new extras, they could have cleaned up Salome tracks and released them they way they are or they could have finished them like the Stones have been doing, and like U2 did for AB 20. There are plenty of interesting things they could have done. They just chose to not do them.

 

[DeVaul]

They’re lazy.

 

[prbiker15]

A bit confused - is this also showing up on streaming services, or just for purchase?

 

[ascender_RS]

There was no Achtung Baby reissue 5 years ago and there were no 25th anniversary sets featuring vinyl, cd, and video for any album.

"The cupboard is bare" argument doesn't hold water given that the Joshua Tree 30th set was largely a duplicate of the 20th anniversary but with a different book and a different live show that was audio only instead of dvd. And, most importantly, the b sides and outtakes were available on vinyl. Given how much it's going for in both formats there was clearly demand for what was largely a repacking of a previous reissue, and the demand would surely be there for a similar AB. There is no reason that they couldn't have taken the same approach with Achtung 30.

For new extras, they could have cleaned up Salome tracks and released them they way they are or they could have finished them like the Stones have been doing, and like U2 did for AB 20. There are plenty of interesting things they could have done. They just chose to not do them.

Bloody hell... was that uber-deluxe box set 10 years ago?! That's properly scary.

They could tidy up those Salome demos, but we all know they won't because they wouldn't be happy with a quick polish, so it becomes a fair bit of work for them to do - we saw how much work and production went in to the tracks that they did release from the era.

Even the demo versions of the final tracklisting were clearly nearly-finished ones, so as much as I thought they were interesting, I'd have liked to have heard much earlier versions.

 

[MattD]

Two bad reissues in a row. Way to not honour some of your best known albums.

Ab30 tour in 2023 ? Full album performance a la bbc night in 2017 ? Some live non Sydney show as a fan club gift ? This album deserved better.

Working with cheap and tacky folk like Guy Oseary, Martin Garrix and Ryan Tedder has probably made them disown Achtung Baby while they go full Adele with their next album.