It would bode well for the sessions in Berlin. Both that experiment and Night and Day constitute the sound of a band throwing caution to the wind. It provides an intriguing snapshot into the direction U2 were taking - one where risk was central to their art. One of the tracks, Alex Descends Into Hell for a Bottle of Milk/Korova 1, was released as a B-side to The Fly and later featured on the 20th anniversary deluxe version of Achtung Baby. Poor reviews for the production meant a very short run and the contribution of Bono and the Edge passed under the radar. A Clockwork Orange 2004, as it had been renamed, required an avant garde approach and, heavily inspired by uncompromising German industrial bands such as Einstürzende Neubauten and KMFDM, the pair quickly delivered music that was at odds with anything they had done before. Bono and the Edge had agreed to work on the soundtrack for a new London stage adaptation of Anthony Burgess’s most famous novel. The process began shortly after the Lovetown tour ended in early 1990 - and well away from the spotlight. U2 have spent much of their career talking up new projects, then often not quite delivering, but Achtung Baby would be a true reinvention. It seemed as though the band had become jaded with their hugeness and, one imagines, stung by some of the reviews that greeted both the Rattle and Hum album and movie. The previous December 30, Bono told the crowd at Dublin’s Point Depot that U2 would be going away to “dream it all up again”. Clint Eastwood: Still riding high at the age of 91.Now, he was helping U2 reinvent themselves and much of June 1990 was spent getting Night and Day absolutely right. The English producer had been an engineer on The Joshua Tree, but his gifts in the studio were especially apparent on Violator, Depeche Mode’s big-selling seventh album which had been released in March. The fingerprints of Mark Ellis - aka Flood - were all over it. Clattering beats and elements of industrial rock offered an oddly pleasing counterpart to Bono’s croon. The sonic backdrop was eerie, edgy and evocative of the thrills and dangers of the nocturnal world. It was the first track they had brought out in the 1990s and it was quite unlike anything they had done before.
It featured contemporary artists putting their unique slant on Cole Porter compositions and U2 offered an especially inventive reinterpretation of Night and Day. It arrived on the Aids-benefit album Red, Hot + Blue, which was released on September 25, 1990. One week before U2 boarded one of the last commercial flights into East Berlin to make the album that would become Achtung Baby, they unveiled a new song, a veritable harbinger of their music to come.
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