U2\u2019s 1980-1990 collection was darn near perfect, covering the band\u2019s biggest hits from the decade and a couple of album tracks to boot. One would hope the sequel would follow suit…and boy, does it ever not.<\/p>\n
To be fair, pulling it off would have been tricky no matter who compiled it. 1991 marked the debut of Achtung Baby <\/i>and the new-look, electronic, ironic, gaudy U2, a trend that would increasingly continue on Zooropa <\/i>and Pop <\/i>before the band returned to its \u201croots,\u201d if you will, on All That You Can\u2019t Leave Behind<\/i>. There were some hits during this period and some non-album singles, but not enough to fill up an entire disc.\u00a0<\/p>\n
So, the compilers choose two new songs and a selection of album tracks, seemingly chosen by throwing darts at a board listing U2 songs. There is no reason why \u201cNumb,\u201d \u201cThe First Time,\u201d \u201cUntil The End of the World\u201d the dull soundtrack-only \u201cThe Hands That Built America\u201d and \u201cDiscotheque\u201d get to be here. There is no reason why the remix of \u201cElectrical Storm\u201d is present as a new song instead of the superior original version, which is buried on the second disc (if you buy the deluxe edition…more on that later). And on the topic of remixes, what is the point of remixing \u201cGone,\u201d \u201cNumb,\u201d \u201cDiscotheque\u201d and \u201cStaring At The Sun?\u201d The new takes don\u2019t add anything.<\/p>\n
The hits that one expects are here, and front-loaded (like all U2 albums), from \u201cOne\u201d and \u201cBeautiful Day\u201d to \u201cMysterious Ways\u201d and \u201cStuck In A Moment You Can\u2019t Get Out Of\u201d to \u201cStay (Faraway, So Close)\u201d and \u201cEven Better Than The Real Thing\u201d and the Batman Forever <\/i>glam-rocker \u201cHold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me.\u201d These all deserve to be here and they make this collection a solid find for a new fan who wants to dig a little deeper than 18 Singles <\/i>but doesn\u2019t want to buy four albums and a soundtrack to a bad movie.<\/p>\n
But boy, those superfluous songs replace much better ones from the four albums in question. Why on Earth are \u201cElevation\u201d and \u201cWalk On\u201d missing? What about the rampaging tour de force \u201cMofo,\u201d or the fuzzy disco \u00a0\u201dLemon\u201d (a minor alt-radio hit) or \u201cThe Fly\u201d (which sparked the whole Macphisto persona on the Zoo TV <\/i>tour)? Heck, even the Johnny Cash collaboration \u201cThe Wanderer\u201d or the forgotten gem \u201cPlease\u201d would be more useful. Taken with the hits, they would have truly told the story of this fascinating decade. Points added for including the Pavarotti collab \u201cMiss Sarajevo\u201d from the Passengers <\/i>disc, released to little fanfare halfway through the decade.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Compilations can be subjective, though, and it seems the song selection and remixes tries to downplay the gaudier, more colorful elements of these records, trying to get them to fit alongside The Joshua Tree <\/i>like the whole Popmart tour never happened. It\u2019s not true, and anyone who knows U2 knows this, but casual fans won\u2019t know and will be very surprised if they explore further.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s odd is that the second disc is completely at odds with the first one, but keeping in line with the actual spirit of these albums. The disc is all of the B-sides from the first disc\u2019s singles, many of which are techno-inspired remixes or fun originals like \u201cLady With The Spinning Head,\u201d the Beatles cover \u201cHappiness Is A Warm Gun\u201d and the fantastic \u201cSalome.\u201d The original B-side \u201cSalome\u201d is worth seeking out for all fans, but the remix takes the song in a more fun, albeit slightly cheesier, early techno direction.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Also on this bonus disc are two downbeat yet strong rarities in \u201cNorth And South Of The River\u201d and \u201cYour Blue Room,\u201d the latter of which sounds like a dry run for 2009\u2019s amazing \u201cMoment Of Surrender.\u201d The 2000 B-side \u201cSummer Rain\u201d is a solid acoustic rocker too. Unfortunately, all of these songs occur in the first half of the disc, and the second is given over to remixes of songs that weren\u2019t that great to begin with. But it keeps in line with the experimentation and flirtation with electronica during the decade, I suppose, and not all experiments work.<\/p>\n
So here\u2019s the line. If you only want the huge hits, 18 Singles <\/i>has them, or you can get them individually on iTunes and make your own mix. If you want to really dig into this era of the band, it\u2019s better to just check out each of the four albums, which each have their own personality and should be heard as such. If you want just a very basic, flawed overview of this decade of the band, then pick this one up, but just know that only tells part of the story and is nowhere near the success it should have been.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":32533,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5708],"rating":[5619],"class_list":["post-44296","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-u2","rating-rating-c"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/44296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44296"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/44296\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=44296"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=44296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}