By By Courtney L. Woods
Focus Editor
U2’s latest decade is chronicled on the new hits package The Best of 1990-2000. The ever-earnest era of albums like War, The Unforgettable Fire and the seminal album The Joshua Tree can be found on the first compilation, The Best of 1980-1990. However, the new Best of is the funkier and often darker side of the internationally adored, Dublin-based foursome, starting out with cuts from the amazing album Achtung Baby.
Achtung Baby ushered in a reborn U2; lead singer Bono developed his alter-ego, the Fly, the character we all know so well, bedecked in leather and huge fly shades, full of attitude and swagger. Guitarist the Edge became a throwback to psychedelia, adopting a style that included heavily embellished sparkly pants and huge guitar riffs. As for bassist Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen, Jr., they embodied the term “rhythm section,” dealing out dance beats and bottom lines on such songs as “Even Better than the Real Thing” and “Mysterious Ways.”
Other highlights from the Achtung Baby era featured on the new compilation include “Until the End of the World,” a song from Judas to Jesus, and the much beloved song “One,” which can be interpreted as the dying of a relationship, a call to arms against AIDS, or even a reason why people across the world should unite. “One” is one of those songs that makes U2 concertgoers cry, flick on lighters and sing at the top of their lungs: a veritable anthem. Three tracks from Zooropa, the album U2 recorded during their larger-than-life “Zoo TV” tour, also make it on the album: the beautifully melancholy “Stay (Faraway, So Close!),” “The First Time,” and the Edge-sung (or maybe it’s spoken) oddity “Numb.”
The often bashed and ill-fated album Pop doesn’t always get its due. It’s a good album, but the Best of 1990-2000 offers re-workings of three songs from the Pop album that are not better, but brilliant. “Discotecheque” is now less dance and more guitar-heavy (and regrettably “boom-cha”-less), “Staring at the Sun” is now a haunting masterpiece, and “Gone” is the best song on the entire compilation. In comparison of the album version and the new mix, it is a different song; a song that makes you hit the “repeat” button on your CD player and let it play consecutively for an hour.
Cuts from their 2000 album All That You Can’t Leave Behind are scarce; only the Grammy-winning song “Beautiful Day” and the gorgeous “Stuck In A Moment You Can’t Get Out Of” are included. The omission of the pumping “Elevation” and the anthemic “Walk On” is disappointing, although not devastating. It helps that the band has added side projects and new songs to the list, most notably the charging and fun “Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me” from the 1995 film Batman Forever and “Miss Sarajevo” from the side project Passengers. The new radio hit “Electrical Storm” is eerily lovely, mixing the sounds of a driving guitar, a William Orbit mix, and haunting lyrics by Bono. The other new song, “The Hands that Built America,” is the theme from the soon-to-be-released Martin Scorsese epic film Gangs of New York.
Those interested should note that there was also a limited edition two-disc set released, including a disc of B-sides like “Lady with the Spinning Head” and “Summer Rain” and remixes of songs like “Lemon” and “If God Will Send His Angels.” Also included with the limited edition was the History Mix DVD and a sneak preview of the Best of 1990-2000 DVD, which is set to be released on December 10.
Pure U2 fans will dig deep; however, everyone should give it a listen. U2 is an essential band of the 80s, the 90s, and the present. They are still going strong after nearly 24 years, and the world can only hope to have them around to see another Best of disc in the year 2010.
Cardinal Grade: A
