VARIOUS ARTISTS AHK-TOONG BAY-BI COVERED COMPILATION UNIVERSAL, Q MAGAZINE RELEASE: NOVEMBER 12, 2011 REVIEW: DECEMBER 5, 2011

"What are you doing reviewing a compilation given away with a magazine for? Are times really that hard?" These are questions you are probably asking yourself as you sit reading this, perhaps in disbelief. However when you look at the calibre of artists covering the tracks, the fact that the tracks actually make up one of the most successful albums of the 90:s by one of the most successful groups of all time - well you get the idea that this is going to be a bit special.

Just listen to the opening song "ZOO station" - you know it almost by heart right, but wait - you recognise the music as being that of somebody very different, and you're right - because this is not Bono singing the opening track to the legendary "Achtung Baby" album, but Trent Reznor, bringing some mellow menace to the proceedings.

And this is how the album continues - U2 invited specifically chosen artists to cover tracks from their album, including the calibre of those like Patti Smith, Jack White and The Killers, and the results are nothing short of magical.

The highlights are obviously Nine Inch Nails' opener, Damien Rice's very emotional "One", which is genuinely different to the original, Garbage's dramatic reinterpretation of "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses" and Gavin Friday's electro/industrial take on the classic "The Fly".

The best though is the almost hit-single like "So Cruel". Depeche Mode seem to effortlessly turn a U2 track into one that could easily have come from their own albums - in fact I wouldn't be surprised if they started playing it out, it's that good.

It's already clear from listening to it that this album will become something of a collector's item in the future, and will be revisited more often than the average cover-mount CD can expect to be. In fact, this could quite easily have been sold as a full price album and nobody would have questioned it. It's quality all the way through, but just a little pause for thought for you. From the snippet of an interview in Q Magazine, Martin Gore stated that "…we couldn't tackle One - that would be almost sacrilegious". But, oh - just imagine if they had…

MIKE WHYTE