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Best of 1990-2000 by: U2

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Rating: - Rockage! ( but not as good as 1980-90)

A collection of U2's best work since 1990 seemed like a good purchase and I decided to buy 1980-1990 with it. The latter proved to be by far the superior asset to my music collection Although 1990-2000 is good, 1980-1990 is magnificent. I would reccomend that over this for any U2 beginner.

One of the main reasons for this album not being as good is because of U2's blank period from 1992-1998. Thus the best these missing six years come up with is the likes of Miss Sarajevo which are good but overly experimental.

The main source of rockage appears in the form of the "All that you can't leave behind" tracks and the theme to the Tomeraider film, "Elevation" is tragically missed off. This surprised me as this has easily been U2's most accesable pop song over the decade with the possible exception of "Beautiful Day".

The highlights of the album are the achung baby tracks: One and, more importantly, Mysterious ways (possibbly the best U2 song ever?). If you find yourself deeply emerged in their sheer magic then i reccomend Atchung Baby as your next U2 album.

This album does have its memorable moments, but mainly in the opening tracks-later it seems to pad out rabdomly into a collection of rock-disco fillers (Electrical storm, Miss Sarajevo to name just two). If you like U2 and are getting this to start off your collection I would reccomend "1980-1990" instead. If your getting it because you like the uptempo pop such as Beautiful Day then get "All that you can't leave behind". The only need to get this is to have a mixture of "Atchung Baby" and "Attclb" on one CD or to get some random U2 pop tracks lost in recent years.

Rating: - Essential, yes... but what's going on with the format???

U2's excellent Best of 1980-90 was followed up by this one, the best of their work from the 90s. First off, let it be said: this release was essential. It deserves just as much attention as the 80-90 collection, simply because U2 produced some stunning tracks during the 90s, many of which fans either didn't buy, or didn't hear. Why then, considering how important this compilation is, was it given such a trite formatting and sequencing job? Who was pulling the shots on this reissue?

Yes, it's hard to argue with many selections on this album, and indeed a lot of the material on this album is absolutely essential listening for any rock fan (i.e. "One", "Beautiful Day", "Stay", "Mysterious Ways"). But the Zooropa, and especially Pop, eras seems to have completely desiccated. Sure, new mixes of "Staring At the Sun", "Discotheque", and "Gone" are pleasant enough, but including them on the Best Of, in place of the original mixes, completely destroys the history associated with that era. Yes, we know the band were not happy with them. But for authenticity's sake, the original mixes should have been included, with a bonus disc featuring the new ones. Then fans could have decided what THEY wanted to listen to. It's also very strange to see "Numb" remixed, a track that stood up very well on its original mix. If anything, the classic dance mix of "Lemon" from Zooropa should have been included, a mix that WAS deserving to appear here.

And The Fly relegated to UK bonus track status?! Sorry to say, but that's a positive insult. It stands as one of the best tracks in the U2 calibre, and the track that mercifully dethroned Brian Adams horror "Everything I Do" from its never-ending grip on the chart. It certainly deserves a lot more than bonus track status, a decision that results in the rest of the world not hearing it.

On the plus side, its great to see the fantastic Passengers collaboration "Miss Sarajevo" on here, plus the excellent "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me" from the Batman Forever soundtrack. But whither other great tracks? "Dirty Day", "Elevation", "If God Will Send His Angels," "The Ground Beneath Her Feet," "Who's Gonna Wide Your Wild Horses": all should have had a place here. While The First Time is a fine track, it isn't as strong as any of the mentioned tracks here, so it's a bit mystifying as to why it was included.

The token new tracks "Electrical Storm" and "The Hands That Built America" are pleasant enough, and do shore up a basically good collection of songs. It's true, any casual fan that doesn't already own U2's 90s output will want to get a hold of this collection. And there's too much great material here to simply disregard. However, the way the "Pop" material, and other important tracks in the 90s, have simply been altered or abandoned altogether is infuriating. Any serious U2 fan could have put together a more consistent and better balanced compilation than the one Island has given to the world.

So, in short, yes it is a necessary compilation. Buy it. But sadly, it is one that could have been done so much better.

(Preferably, if you're buying, try to go for the 3-CD Special Edition, which features some great U2 B Sides and alternative mixes).

Rating: - Best of Vol 2

They've done it again. U2's first best of (1980-90) seemed to contain their best ('Pride', 'With or Without You', etc), and to many it was only 1991's Achtung Baby that offered much more before U2 somewhat lost the plot in the mid-90s. Well, 'The Best of 1990-2000' combines a rather eclectic mix of material to reveal that, despite Bono going somewhat off-track (which he always was) U2 continued to put out a steady stream of high quality material.

The big hits from Achtung Baby are mostly present ('Even Better...', 'Mysterious Ways', 'One') though 'Who's Going to Ride Your Wild Horses' is strangely absent. Their recent 'return to form' is borne out by the presence of 'Stuck in a Moment...' and 'Beautiful Day'; the greatest classic U2 songs since Achtung. At first the new single 'Electrical Storm' sounds slightly out of place, but it's another that really grows on you, and augurs well for the future. Personally I'd have quite liked to see 'Elevation' included too, but it wasn't.

We do, however, get 'Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me' from the Batman movie soundtrack, and another new song 'The Hands That Built America' (theme from Gangs of New York). Unfortunately neither of these are particularly exciting, and the same can be said for a couple of others - one can't help wondering if 'Miss Sarajevo' was included more for its political message, or Luciano Pavarotti's warblings, but either way I'd have left it out.

Most interestingly, much of the material from the mid-90s albums appears in 'new mixes' by Mike Hedges. Perhaps an admission the band weren't fully happy with Pop themselves, or maybe a response to the fans' reaction. Whatever the reason, the edginess of 'Discotheque' and 'Numb' is thankfully retained, but 'Staring at the Sun' doesn't fare so well. Still, at least these new versions add something more for fans that already have the respective albums.

Completists might want to consider the 2CD version with b-sides/remixes.

Rating: - 'The Best of' an excellent decade

U2 give us another selection of their many hits over the last decade, and it's an interesting mix. I wonder who chose these hits out of the many dazzlers they've had over the past ten years, and why? Chart highlights as oppose to great songs perhaps? It's a difficult choice to make. I personally wouldn't have included 'Stuck in a Moment...' it's the worst song they've ever done (I have to fast forward it every time it comes on). Having said that, there are some classics here - Mysterious Ways, One, The Fly (OK, so I love everything from Achtung Baby), Beautiful Day and Discotheque. But I wonder where is 'Ground Beneath Her Feet' or 'If God Will Send His Angels'. Their absence makes way for some remixes, and I really like the remix of 'Gone'. And of course there's the new song 'Electrical Storm' to make this CD a must-have for all U2 fans (along with the theme from 'Gangs of New York'). Maybe it should've been a double CD.. but then maybe I should just go and play all my U2 CDs back to back!

Rating: - Not bad, but could have been better

I'd like to get something off my chest at the start of this review. I really detest the current trend to produce hits compilations that feature remixes, rare tracks and new tracks (often scrubbed up b-sides that weren't good enough in the first place) in an attempt to get committed fans to buy them as well as the general public who don't own an album by the artist in the first place. I don't see the point of it - completists will have most of the tracks in the first place and joe public just want to listen to the hits the way they sounded on the radio.

Unfortunately, this compilation is overrun with remixes that lack the immediacy, and often the quality, of the original tracks, which is a shame because most of the original tracks are great. It's especially nice to see Miss Sarajevo and Hold Me, Thrill me, Kiss Me, Kill Me here. I didn't particularly like U2's last album but the singles sound a lot better here than they did on that record. The excellent Zooropa is somewhat under-represented, though - where's Dirty Days or The Wanderer? It's disappointing to see Please from Pop missing too - but short of making this a double CD, it's hard to see how there could have been space to fit everything in.

Of the two new tracks, Electrical Storm is dreadful - another bit of bland filler like that on All That You Can't Leave Behind - but The Hands That Built America is the best thing they've done in ages.

I think what's worst about this is that it could have been a lot better - maybe more selectivity about the tracks, and avoidance of the remixes. Ironically, although I prefer U2's 90s output to their 80s, the 80s compilation CD from last year is better than this one - check that out first instead, and then maybe Achtung Baby (which makes up 1/3 of this CD anyway).

Review Pages: 1 2