-
By Instrumentation
Books on Music
-
-
-
Accessories
|
|
|
|
U2's Achtung Baby: Meditations on Love in the Shadow of the Fall (33 1/3) | 
 enlarge | Author: Stephen Catanzarite
Publisher: Continuum
Category: Book
List Price: $10.95
Buy New: $5.65
You Save: $5.30 (48%)
New (35) Used (9) from $4.69
Avg. Customer Rating:  4 reviews
Sales Rank: 82887
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 107
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 6.4 x 4.7 x 0.4
ISBN: 0826427847
Dewey Decimal Number: 782.421660922
EAN: 9780826427847
ASIN: 0826427847
Publication Date: September 15, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand New, Perfect Condition, Please allow 4-14 business days for delivery. 100% Money Back Guarantee, Over 1,000,000 customers served.
|
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Achtung Baby is a sobering album - U2's troubled, troubling, and most fully-realized effort. While many parts of the world were awakening from the assorted nightmares of the 20th century, U2 seemed to be entering the dark night of the soul. Once, the band summoned the sound of the trumpet blast that brought down the walls of Jericho. On Achtung Baby, the trumpet is often muted, somberly playing taps over the ashes of lost love, lost hope. In many ways, this dazzling and prophetic album seems to foreshadow the disintegration of the old world order and the splintering of traditional alliances which have marked the start of the third millennium. Add to that its nervous ruminations on the many facets and demands of love (romantic, erotic, and filial) and you have an album that Bono rightly called a "heavy mother". This book considers Achtung Baby through the prisms of politics, spirituality, and music. In the words of the author, "While this book is written chiefly as a series of reflections, it is not entirely meditative. Arguments are advanced and there is some wrestling with the mysteries of life, death, love, betrayal, God, man, woman, sin, salvation, time, and eternity. I invite the reader to pause from time to time to simply think about those mysteries - and I offer no apology if any of that sounds pretentious. Without a fair amount of pretension, rock and roll would never have made it past 1955, and U2 would never have made it out of Dublin."
|
| Customer Reviews:
 Excellent book December 13, 2008
First off, I think Achtung Baby is one of the best albums ever recorded. And true to the title, this book was a tremendous and well written meditation on love told through the album. It really did Achtung Baby justice and made me think about it in a way I hadn't before.
And yes, the book is obviously religious, but it doesn't overtly proselytize. Instead its payload is based on the core theme of Christianity, presented in an uncluttered fashion: it is a book on love and the sacrifices necessary to maintain it. The message is universal and it cuts straight to the heart.
Many of the songs on Achtung Baby are about people failing to make these sacrifices. Catanzarite writes about why these failures occur in human relationships. It is a difficult narrative to thread through the album, but, in almost all cases, he really pulls it off.
As the previous reviewer wrote, it is a book that transcends its subject. Even if I had never listened to the album, I still would have enjoyed Catanzarite's book and will likely pick it up again in the future.
 Where was the music? December 6, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Overall the book speaks to the thoughts that the author has when he listens to the album. He hears a concept that may or may not have been written into the lyrics and music. Precious little time is spent on the music however, and much more on faith, and more to the point, Catholicism. I feel like we're reading a graduate thesis on Catholicism that he dug out and wove in a few U2 references. It's the most disappointing book in the series so far, and frankly I'm surprised it was published.
A Smart and Soulful Contemplation of a Musical Milestone February 29, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Just lovely... compelling explorations of each track with the attendant subtleties and nuances of the joy and heartache of love as Stephen Catanzarite leads the reader through this lyrical meditation of "Achtung Baby." Gripping metaphorical character sketches and beautiful turns of phrases as well as poetic discourse on instrumentation make this wonderful little book a worthy companion to this landmark album.
Probably the best book ever about music and faith September 18, 2007
9 out of 10 found this review helpful
As the author helpfully reminds readers in the very first sentence, this is not a book about U2. If you are only interested in the technical details of how "Achtung Baby" was recorded, perhaps you should go elsewhere. But if you are expecting the sort of "This-is-how-Achtung-Baby-changed-my-life" drivel that often passes for music journalism today, you should also think again.
Stephen Catanzarite has done something almost miraculous: he has written a powerful and uplifting book of meditations about music and faith that shows he is incredibly knowledgeable about both subjects. (That's the miraculous part.) Much has been written about U2's spirituality, most of it centered around the band's early days and Bono's latter-day humanitarian efforts; you have probably read those books already. The subject of what Catanzarite argues is the band's most deceptively faith-based album -- and why it that is so -- has been left almost untouched, until now.
Because of Catanzarite's approach, this volume seems destined to have a long life outside this series. To call it an inspirational book seems the most accurate description; it seems like the sort of thing you might want to have on your nighttable for reading during those dark nights of the soul. I was reminded of the work of the late, great Trappist monk Thomas Merton, a guy who would probably have loved this album (and this book).
I was happy to see that the author makes no apologies for the way his Christianity informs his approach (also a novelty in the world of music writing), but this is not a "Christian" book, per se, nor a book about one man's faith. It is simply a book for everyone who grapples with the big issues; who loves clear, lucid (and often very funny) prose; and who cares about what we are all doing here on Earth, and how to make the best of it - as explained through the lens of one remarkable album, and one remarkable book.
|
|
|
| |
