Daniel Lanois performing at the Stockey Centre in Parry Sound, Ontario, Canada on November 8, 2008

Credit: Andrew Hoshkiw

Daniel Lanois on the two best albums he ever produced

Fri 23 February 2024 6:00, UK

Daniel Lanois has never been the hotshot producer in the traditional sense. For as long as he has been working in the industry, Lanois has relied on the feeling that comes from the music to guide him through the biggest hurdles of his career, usually making songs that are more concerned with ripping your heart out rather than worrying about every single note being pitch perfect. Outside of his work with various artists, Lanois thought that his work with U2 and Bob Dylan were among the crowning achievements of his body of work.

Away from his work behind the board, though, Lanois has always understood the importance of recognising the musician behind the instrument. When working with artists like Emmylou Harris in recent years, Lanois realised that the moments between the notes are just as important as the notes being played, almost like you’re capturing a real moment in the studio whenever someone performs.

While Lanois started working with U2 in the 1980s, he admitted that the best work he had ever done with them traces back to Achtung Baby. After completing The Joshua Tree and turning in one spellbinding performance after another, the band ventured to Berlin to make the anti-U2 record, coating their earnestness in irony and making new avenues for people to explore.

Beyond the performances, the album’s tone was much darker than before. Embracing the sounds of digital soundscapes and electronic noise, much of the album’s themes of alienation and feeling lost in the world are perfectly matched with the music, telling the band’s story musically without Bono having to open his mouth to sing half the time.

When talking about the album later, Lanois said that U2 helped capture what rock and roll was all about, telling MusicRadar, “I’ve enjoyed the Achtung Baby U2 record because it’s a great rock n’ roll record but with very inventive and unusual tops; melodies and harmonies and so on. So that one is dear to me”.

While Bob Dylan might feel like the polar opposite of what U2 was doing, Lanois helped the 1960s icon find his feet throughout his career. Despite making one of the greatest albums since his glory years with Time Out of Mind, Lanois singled out Oh Mercy as one of the finest pieces that he ever made.

Explaining his love for the album, Lanois thought it captured a certain energy captured in the album that he hadn’t captured since, recalling, “There’s a real smokiness to the first one we made together. It’s called Oh Mercy. It’s got that real nighttime New Orleans sound”. Lanois would also have a much more hands-on approach to the album, playing lap steel guitar along with the band.

Even Dylan would hold the album in high regard, being one of the focusing points in his book Chronicles Vol. 1. While Lanois would continue to work with some of the biggest names in classic rock and beyond, both U2 and Bob Dylan help teach him about making the most out of a musical feeling that doesn’t have to be limited to keys, tempos, or even set song structures.