Eno/Lanois: So who exactly did what on Unforgettable/Joshua Tree/Achtung?

[bread n' whine]

Does anyone know?

Lanois has an incredibly distinctive production style you can always recognize. Eno is more varied (or creative). People hear things and say "it sounds like Eno" but actually, some of his productions have not sounded that trademark ambient way at all. Talking Heads, for instance.

The weird thing about Unforgettable Fire to me is how much it sounds like War. If I hadnt known, I would have guessed the switch in producers had come before The Joshua Tree, not this one. I guess that's just the overdone '80s sound on both of them, I might actually call Unforgettable more overproduced than War, but the sound is very carefully molded and makes more of an impression. Lillywhite got close with the atmospherics of "New Year's Day" and "Seconds" and "Surrender" but could never have created the first two tracks on Unforgettable, and Eno wouldn't have allowed such awful backing vocals on a track like "Red Light," he would have... added cheesy synth. But Lillywhite might not have liked a song as minimal as "MLK" either. I find "40" pretty overproduced in comparison.

The Joshua Tree sounds to me like pure Lanois. I think what Eno contributed was some restraint-- minimalism. Don't let the echoey thing get too out of hand. The vocals are not subtle, but everything else is.

Somehow I hear very little of the "Lanois sound" anymore on Achtung Baby, except on "One."

Anyway, that's all speculation because I know nothing specific about record mixing. I just wonder how these two guys who by the late '80s were both successful producers in their own right, with their own different ideals (even if Lanois had started as an apprentice to Eno)... how they managed to work together and get anything done. Are there any interviews illuminating who did what, etc.? Who was it who wanted to scrap "Where the Streets Have No Name"? Did one of them work with the band first and then the other scheduled time in later months, or were they there at the same time?

Lanois had nothing to do with Zooropa, right? And neither Eno nor Lanois had nothing to do with Pop? Did they have a falling-out with the band at some point?

Sorry for all the questions.

 

[U2Kitten]

I was just talking about this with somebody yesterday, UF has Eno all over it.

 

[miss becky]

I've read (possibly in Bill Flanagan's book?) that Lanois was really bewildered by the Achtung sessions, and didn't "get" what the band was trying to do. When Brian Eno came in, however, he got it right away. So it would not surprise me to learn Lanois had little input on Achtung Baby.

 

[U2girl]

People who think Lanois had nothing to do with producing AB should look at the credits on the cover of that album.

 

[thrillme]

Concerning Joshua Tree, Steve Lillywhite was also involved with that album, he mixed "Streets", "With or Without You" and "Bullet the blue sky."

 

[thrillme]

According to the lyrics page in Achtung Baby.

Zoo Station--Daniel Lanois.

Even better --Steve Lillywhite with Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois.

One--Daniel Lanois with Brian Eno

Until--Daniel Lanois with Brian Eno

Wild horses--Steve Lillywhite, Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno.

So Cruel--Daniel Lanois

The Fly--Daniel Lanois

Mysterious Ways--Daniel Lanois with Brian Eno

Trying--Daniel Lanois with Brian Eno

Ultraviolet-- Daniel Lanois with Brian Eno

Acrobat--Daniel Lanois

Love is Blindness--Daniel Lanois

 

[bread n' whine]

I have all the liner note credits on my own copy, thanks for reminding me, but that's not really what I was asking...

It's a more vague sort of thing, like who was responsible for the album's ultimate direction. Usually that is a producer's role. Very rarely is there more than one producer, not counting coproduction by the band.

By the time of Achtung Baby, both Lanois and Eno were megasuccessful and had their own different formulas. Lanois at least, Eno's may have been more of a philosophy than a formula. But I guess they simply divided up the tracks and Eno's hands were completely off most of the Lanois ones and vice versa-- U2 was at such a point they were having their album worked on by an army of different people and THEY were the only ones really in charge, every track went through so many people's hands. So in the end when it came time to give out credits, they just saw more tracks had been worked on by those guys than anyone else and awarded them jointly? Even looking at the credits you can tell that's what happened on Pop and the recent albums. I didnt realize it was such a divided up process back then, though.

It has to have been completely different from working on Unforgettable Fire with those two guys taking on this band and helping set the course. Does the Joshua Tree "making of" DVD have anything about this stuff?

 

[guill]

In the Joshua tree the making of, it seems that Daniel Lanois really took care of the drums part and helped Larry a lot.
Daniel Lanois also played guitar on different tracks. I think that Brian Eno was more concerned with the vocal aspect, we hear him singing several times in the making of, and i think he was really involved in the "atmosphere" of the album (synthe, distorsion of sounds,...).
I'm sure that U2 have the final word for every song but i really think that the joshua tree is a collective album with the four menbers plus Eno and Lanois, that's what Eno said at the end of the making of : 'this album was the result of different people and different directions, and the whole process was to combine all these elements to make what we call an album'.
For AB, the creation was very difficult, Lanois was unhappy, he even fought with Bono during a session of Mysterious Ways... He was not invited for zooropa...
It depends of the mood U2 want to give to their album, when they want something direct they call lillywhite or flood, when they want something atmospheric they call Eno or Lanois.
Sorry for my english and for the long post, i hope it helps you bread n'whine!!

 

[Lancemc]

Ultimately I'd say, in terms of album and sound direction for each one

Unforgettable fire - More Eno
Joshua Tree - More Lanois (though this was probably the most Eno/Lanois probably shared production)
Achtung Baby-Eno saved the day, but ultimately Lanois

 

[guill]

I think that Flood is very very important in Achtung Baby

 

[Canadiens1131]

I believe Eno made the pinhole solar eclipse box, and Lainos plucked the violin string?

Not sure what else they did....

 

[bread n' whine]

How was Flood involved in Achtung Baby?

And, who is Flood, anyway? Did he have any reputation within the dance/electronic music community? Cause it seems the Pop production is largely his work, and he seems to have done the final Smashing Pumpkins album. He must have done something cutting edge before he became the guy aging rock bands called in to sound cutting edge.

It's funny but the two Lillywhite produced songs on Achtung are the worst produced, imo. Not necessarily the worst songs, but both could have been better if they were just a bit less slick.

 

[guill]

Cool down mamma
Flood produced the Pumpkins album melancholia and infinite sadness (sorry for the title), PJ Harvey, Bjork, etc...
He was the "elastic" between the band and Lanois who was upset, you should read a book written by N.Stokes about U2 songs if you want more information on the role played by Flood.
the band could have exploded without his good mood.
And POP is very well produced...
Lillywhite produced the worst tracks because U2 called him when they realized that both songs had a potential but were going nowhere, so no need to blame him.