20th Anniversary Releases
The 20th anniversary of Achtung Baby was marked by several releases in 2011. At the band's request, a documentary film about the album entitled From the Sky Down was produced. It was directed by Davis Guggenheim, who previously collaborated with The Edge for the documentary It Might Get Loud in 2008. From the Sky Down documents the album's difficult recording period, the band members' relationships, and U2's creative process. Archival footage and stills from the recording sessions appear in the film, along with unreleased scenes from Rattle and Hum. For the documentary, the band were filmed during a return visit to Hansa Studios and during rehearsals for the Glastonbury Festival 2011. The film premiered at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival, and in October, it was broadcast on multiple television networks worldwide.
On 31 October 2011, Achtung Baby was reissued in five formats. In addition to a single-disc release of the album, a deluxe edition includes a bonus disc of remixes and B-sides from the album's five singles, and a vinyl edition includes the album on two LPs with two additional LPs of remixes. The 10-disc "Super Deluxe" and "Über Deluxe" editions include: the Zooropa album; three additional CDs with remixes, B-sides, and outtakes from Achtung Baby and Zooropa; a "kindergarten" disc with nascent versions of the album's 12 songs; and four DVDs containing From the Sky Down, Zoo TV: Live from Sydney, music videos, and documentaries. The "Über Deluxe" edition also contains the album on double vinyl, five 7-inch vinyl singles, and additional memorabilia, including a replica of Bono's "Fly" sunglasses. The media initially announced that the reissue was a remastered release. However, the initial press release by U2 made no mention of "remastering", and the band's website later removed any mention of the reissue being a remaster. The Edge confirmed that the audio was "polish", but that it was not fully remastered because the original recordings did not require it. "Blow Your House Down", an outtake included in the deluxe editions, was released as a promotional single in October 2011.
Q commissioned an Achtung Baby tribute album, entitled AHK-toong BAY-bi Covered, that was included in the magazine's December 2011 issue. It features performances by Jack White, Depeche Mode, Damien Rice, Gavin Friday, Glasvegas, The Fray, Patti Smith, The Killers, Snow Patrol, Nine Inch Nails, and Garbage.
Read more about this topic: Achtung Baby
Famous quotes containing the words anniversary and/or releases:
“The second day of July 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more”
—John Adams (1735–1826)
“We need a type of theatre which not only releases the feelings, insights and impulses possible within the particular historical field of human relations in which the action takes place, but employs and encourages those thoughts and feelings which help transform the field itself.”
—Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956)