release date: Nov. 19, 1991
format: vinyl (212 110) / 2 cd (2011 remaster)
[album rate: 4,5 / 5] [4,25]
producer: Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois
label: Island Records - nationality: Ireland
7th studio album by U2 is a return to the collaboration work with the producer-duo Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno. Three years' work pays off with this conceptual album. U2 always was a near conceptual band but this is form and content matter in artistic synergy.
The resulting sound of this modern classic simply changes the sound of everything that follows in the early '90s. However, it's also the final really great U2 album, imho. It's really difficult to pin out the best tracks, as it only contains one mediocre song ("Love Is Blindness") - the rest is solid gold. The album was really a huge improvement from Rattle and Hum (1988), and again they did what they had done in 1984 with The Unforgettable Fire (1984) as they altered the music scene with something highly original. The album also signals the end of an era, and after this they have never again been close to this artistic level, and to me this is their swan song. The album is naturally enlisted in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die".
[ allmusic.com, Q Magazine 5 / 5, đRolling Stone 4,5 / 5 stars ]
