Compilations 12-U2

[SAT-I need more room!!]

Well better late than never!

And unfortunately the U's don't have many artists and the artists there are don't have a lot of collections! But I'll do a brief review of U2.

Other than raritity collections, full career retros and single collections, they've basically had two GH albums covering the two decades of their career (up to that point). I'll just go over what's missing.

The first collection, The Best of 1980-1990, hits all the biggies. Some of the missing tracks-Gloria from October, Two Hearts Beat as One from War, In God's Country (which I have never heard-that's right, I NEVER owned Joshua Tree. And I'm ok with that.) and God Part II.

Those first 3 were actual singles. The last one is the one I miss the most. God Part II got FM play and it's a personal fave.

I found out long AFTER I bought this collection that New Year's Day, Bad, Streets are all edits! And NYD is the biggest edit at nearly a minute and a half. That bugs me. (I did get it for only $5 new so I can't complain too much-but I will.) Strange there is more songs from R&H than JT, but the former was a 2 album set. Also included is a B side Sweetest Thing.

The second collection, Best of 1990-2000, isn't as important to me personally. I don't think that second decade was anywhere near as good as the first. But it contains their best song from the period, Mysterious Way. Missing tracks that I can see are Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses and Lemon. And they have stupid new and different mixes, including one for Staring at the Sun, which I liked when I heard it. If someone is more familiar with U2 in this period, feel free to expand here!



And you?

[dave910]

U2 have always had a unique approach to their greatest hits. Even as a fan who owns everything, I myself had to admit that I was also disappointed in the structure of the compilations. The main reason I purchased the hits collections was for the limited edition second disc of b-sides. Best of 1980-1990 has the essential radio hits. But given the 80 min CD frame, they could have done more. I have never been a fan of the radio edits for "New Years Day" or "Where the Streets Have No Name". These were done primarily for top 40 stations. I made my brother a mix for 1980-1990 era, and I think I added more stuff and even had room for "The Sweetest Thing". I included "Two Hearts Beat As One" and "Gloria". These may not have been huge singles but fans of the bands early stuff think it's essential to their collection.

The Best of 1990-2000 gets a tricky. During those years the band released four albums. Two were hugely successful, one considered a sleeper and another was looked at as a "flop", even though it sold 1.5 mil. copies. To attempt to put the six hits from "Actung Baby" would have meant to eliminate some of the singles from "Zooropa" or "Pop." Even "All That You Can't Leave Behind" album had "Walk On" and "Elevation" missing from the collection.

Their third hits collection was U2-18 singles released back in 2006 two new songs. This is a compilation of the groups biggest hits over 25 year span on one disc. This one I refused to purchase, because there wasn't a bonus disc of b-sides and I didn't want to dish out my money for their duet with Green Day and another new song.

So with U2 remastering their catalog and having their music to purchase on itunes, perhaps the band may be moving away from the label regulated greatest hits and having fans to custom make their own hit packages. Which may be a good thing for even the more casual fans.

[Pete70s]

Sorry, Dave, but you know my opinion of U2. I'm SO sick of them, I think they're one of the most over-rated bands of all time. It's like every album they put out, suck-up critics and publications like Rolling Stone treat it like it's the greatest thing since the Bible! I just don't get it.

On occasion, I do like to hear some of the early stuff, from back when they were "young and hungry", which is why I copied the earlier albums from you. But Bono's politics and activism have, IMO, overshadowed the music to the point where I'm sickened by it all. Go ahead and save the world, Bono, just get out of my face already!

But, like you said, the iTunes downloads make it possible for the casual fans to get only the songs they want, without buying the same songs for the umpteenth time to get a couple of new ones.

[dave910]

Oct 3, 2009 14:51:15 GMT -5 Pete70s said:

Sorry, Dave, but you know my opinion of U2. I'm SO sick of them, I think they're one of the most over-rated bands of all time. It's like every album they put out, suck-up critics and publications like Rolling Stone treat it like it's the greatest thing since the Bible! I just don't get it.

On occasion, I do like to hear some of the early stuff, from back when they were "young and hungry", which is why I copied the earlier albums from you. But Bono's politics and activism have, IMO, overshadowed the music to the point where I'm sickened by it all. Go ahead and save the world, Bono, just get out of my face already!

But, like you said, the iTunes downloads make it possible for the casual fans to get only the songs they want, without buying the same songs for the umpteenth time to get a couple of new ones.

Pete,

I understand where you are coming from. I remember seeing Bono on the cover of Time magazine back in 2002. The headline read:Can Bono Save The World? Even I felt that was pretentious on the part of Time magazine!

[Ken]

Hey Adam,

I've mentioned here before that I'm far from being a huge fan of U2, but there are a few songs I do like (New Years Day, Pride (In The Name Of Love), With or Without You, Desire, When Love Comes To Town and Even Better Than The Real Thing to name a few). Lemon IMO is terrible, my apologies to those here who like it


You are not alone, I've never owned Joshua Tree either. In fact I own nothing by the band on CD, those tracks I do own, those mentioned above are on mix tapes.