U2 Celebrate 20 Years of 'Achtung Baby'

Wow. Can you believe that it's been nearly 20 years since U2 released their pivotal seventh studio album, Achtung Baby? The album spawned a whole slough of hit singles including "The Fly," "Mysterious Ways," "One," "Even Better Than The Real Thing," and "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses," with every single one of them going top ten on the Billboard Hot 100. The album became the band's third #1 on the Billboard 200, also going number one nearly every where else around the world. Those were the days! It seems like now a band is lucky if their first single goes top ten much less every single released off of an album. My how things have changed in the music industry.

To celebrate the 20 year anniversary of Achtung Baby's release (November 19th) U2 is releasing a special anniversary edition of the album, due out October 31st internationally and November 1st in the States. The album, a pinnacle of their career, was recorded over the course of six months at Hansa Studio in Berlin and Windmill Lane in Dublin. The album was produced by longtime U2 collaborators Daniel Lanois, and Brian Eno along with Steve Lillywhite. In addition to digital download, the special edition will be available in 5 physical editions including a vinyl box set, a 2-CD set, a 6 CD/4DVD set and a limited, numbered "Uber Deluxe Edition," featuring 6 CDs, 4 DVDs, music videos a baby double vinyl, an 84-page hardback book, a pair of Bono's trademark 'The Fly' sunglasses and much more. INSANE!  Check out details of each of the special editions and pre-order information HERE.

Earlier this year, U2 returned Hansa Studio in Berlin to discuss the making of that landmark album for a documentary film, From The Sky Down, directed by Academy Award-winning director Davis Guggenheim (Waiting For Superman, An Inconvenient Truth). The film opened the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival on September 8th and is included in the special edition release of the album. Check out the trailer for From The Sky Down below.

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'Music From Spider-Man Turn Off The Dark,' Out Now on Interscope Records

After being plagued by countless rewrites, behind-the-scenes reshufflings, actor injuries and a shit-ton of controversy, the new musical SPIDER-MAN Turn Off The Dark FINALLY opened at Broadway's Foxwoods Theatre on June 14th. While the reviews have been mixed, the powers that be are already trying to make up some of the debt incurred in bringing this ginormous soon-to-be flop to life.  First stop?  The obligatory soundtrack album, of course.

Music From SPIDER-MAN Turn Off The Dark was released June 14th (the same date as it's Broadway premiere) on Interscope Records, including 14 new songs co-written by Bono and The Edge and produced by massive ROCK producer Steve Lillywhite (U2, Dave Matthews Band).  Songs are performed by the shows talented cast, including Reeve Carney (Peter Parker/Spider-Man), Jennifer Damiano (Mary Jane), T.V. Carpio (Arachne), Patrick Page (Green Goblin) as well as Bono and The Edge - both of whom make appearances on the album.  The album is accompanied brilliantly by the production's twenty-member orchestra.

The soundtrack album's first single, "Rise Above 1" available now on iTunes, is a surprisingly solid rock song.  While I'm not imagining this winning a TONY or a GRAMMY, it's perfectly pleasant.  I think I was expecting it to sound totally Broadway and it doesn't at all.  "Rise Above 1" is very radio friendly.  While it might be too rock for the 'Top 40' format, I can totally see rock radio embracing this song.  The single was produced by Alex Da Kid (Nicki Minaj, Eminem, Rihanna) and features Spidey himself,  lead actor, Reeve Carney backed by Bono and The Edge.

Part of the reason why I think "Rise Above 1" sounds so commercial is because of it's vocalist.  28-year singer/songwriter and actor is less familiar with Broadway than he is with rock music...in fact, Carney has a rock band called...erm...Carney.  The band, which features Carney on lead vocals and guitar also features Zane Carney on guitar, Jon Epcar on drums and Aiden Moore on bass.  Interestingly enough, Reeve's band mates all play in the orchestra for the show.  Nice to see such supportive friends!  Check out this live performance of the song  from this year's American Idol Season 10 finale, courtesy of VEVO and listen to the soundtrack single version below.

Not too bad, right?  The song entered the Billboard Hot 100 at #74, peaking at #54 on the Digital Singles Chart and #25 on the Rock Digital Songs Chart.  Not too shabby, although the "featuring Bono" likely deserves much of the credit.  In the meantime, check out this live performance from the TONY AWARDS, featuring Spidey and Mary Jane singing a ballad from the soundtrack.  Download "Rise Above 1" on iTunes HERE.  You can also buy the album on iTunes HERE or on Amazon HERE.  Now below the cut you can check out more info on SPIDER-MAN Turn Off The Dark, per the press release, as well as the soundtrack tracklisting.  If anyone has seen the show, feel free to comment with your thoughts.  I'm kind of left wanting more from what I've heard (and read) so far but I can be persuaded.

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Dim The Lights, and Here We Go...

Download Lee DeWyze's New Single, "Beautiful Day" on iTunes

The 9th season of American Idol came to a close last night with the crowning of the newest singing sensation, Chicago's own Lee DeWyze. While Crystal Bowersox was originally my first choice to win, Lee may just have won me over in the end. Since the beginning of the competition Lee was definitely a front-runner for me, but a series of misses (i.e. - "Chasing Cars," "Lips of an Angel," "Fireflies") had me second guessing myself. It wasn't until his Top 12 performance of The Rolling Stones' "Beast Of Burden" that I really started to see what I saw during his audition round in Chicago.



Not only is he dreamy, but he's got this little-bit-rough, lotta-bit-soulful voice that exudes both sensuality and vulnerability at the same time and when he hits his stride...MAN can he sing. The boy's got pipes! While there were a few mis-steps along the way (i.e. - "A Little Less Conversation," "Kiss From A Rose,")...and a shockingly disappointing finale week performance (where his nerves got the best of him), he pulled it out in the end and won over America's vote. I was nervous last night. Well...nervous AND excited. I was still straddling the fence last night and when Lee faltered during...all of his performances...I thought that there was a shred of hope for Crystal to win, since she knocked it out of the park. After watching the finale though, I feel really good about the end result.

Watching Lee get choked up even before Ryan Seacrest announced him as the next American Idol got ME all emotional. This guy REALLY wanted to win and in the end, I think he deserved it. After being panned WEEK over WEEK for not showing how much he WANTED THIS title...after watching the last few minutes, how can you not see his passion? He was practically wearing it on his sleeve. Congratulations Lee DeWyze! Well done. Well deserved. Lee's single, a cover U2's "Beautiful Day" is available for download now.

Download Crystal Bowersox's New Single "Up To The Mountain" on iTunes

I generally dread the American Idol finale. Almost as much as I dread "Idol Gives Back" and 3/4 of every single Results Show. There's just SO MUCH FILLER! It drives me crazy! That being said...I was pleasantly surprised by this years finale (granted, due to a Comcast issue I missed the first 30 minutes or so). While I'm sure much of the spectacle of it all had to do with Simon Cowell's last appearance on the show...that didn't mean that it was any less spectacular. American Idol delivered quite an enjoyable finale.

Let's first talk Idol singles..."Beautiful Day" by U2 for Lee...and Patty Smith's "Up To The Mountain" for Crystal. OK...well...I need to brush up on my Patty Smith I quite enjoyed Crystal's performance last night. It's a song that fits her vocal style and her whole vibe. "Beautiful Day" is another good fit for Lee's voice and style. It's...as Kara would say...very commercial, which is good. Lee's got a commercial vibe about him that I think will do better on mainstream radio, and his cover of "Beautiful Day" may go on to prove that point. Gone are the days where American Idols release a cheesy, saccharine piece of pop-garbage (i.e. "A Moment Like This," "This Is My Now") and THANK GOD for that. I've always thought that the American Idols should release cover songs as singles. That's what the X-Factor contestants do! In my opinion, a good American Idol cover song has a much higher likelihood of actually being played on mainstream top 40 radio. Also...don't the contestants spend all season singing covers? Why derail the train just to give some college student the chance to get his or her songwriting break. Keep the momentum going with an updated COVER song. Well done American Idol. Well done.

Let's briefly talk about the finale spectacle itself...starting with Will Young's performance of "Leave Right Now" on Tuesday night's show. Loved seeing Will performing in America, although too bad he was singing over a Season 9 Montage and no one was paying attention. Last night's finale had several highlights for me. The first being an appearance from Ms. Paula Abul, who gave her buddy Simon a proper send off. To that end, the parade of Idol contestants, all singing "Together We Are One" really teared me up. I don't think it was the performance itself...because that was a cluster, I think it was more seeing everyone on stage in one place. Kelly Clarkson, Ruben Studdard, Fantasia, Jordin Sparks, Taylor Hicks, Kris Allen...and a whole slew of past contestants all marched on stage and sang their hearts out. Very touching. Seeing Janet Jackson perform was also quite wonderful. She hasn't lost one bit of...anything over the years. Ms. Jackson (if I'm nasty) has still got it going on. Love her new hair by the way, don't you? Solid.

All in all a very entertaining Finale. Given what a shit show this past season was, I am surprised by how much I loved the last 3 hours of the season. The final 2 deserved to be at the top. Crystal, despite not winning is going to be JUST FINE. I look forward to watching the journey these two talented kids are about to embark on. It's going to be quite the ride, I'm sure.

Check out American Idol on the web:

Official Site