U2

BEST OF U2-1980-90

Simply a great band! Period!

Review Score:

(10/10)
While U2 aren't necessarily my number one favorite band of all time, they are among the greatest rock bands to have ever existed and they are an excellent example of a group that was riding sky high in the 1980s, both commercially and quality-wise, and still kept every bit of their edge throughout the 1990s, even with a slight dip in commercial sales (1997's "Pop" is vastly underrated) but through it all, they have weathered the storm and are still a class act in the dawning years of the 21st century. U2 came out of nowhere with their 1980 debut album "Boy", and built greater and greater success through the mountain climbing that was 1983's "War", the following year's "Unforgettable Fire", their commercial magnum opus, before temporarily imploding with their often misunderstood 1988 live album "Rattle & Hum".

Who can ever forget the unsettling lyrics that made "New Year's Day" a timeless anthem for the dreary winter days or those punching guitars that opened "Pride In The Name Of Love" had forever burned that classic into our memories whether for agonizing torture for those who disliked their music or great memories for those who love this bands music (I fall into the latter category). And then there are those famous anthems "Where The Streets Have No Name", and "With Or Without You" that propelled their 1987 album "The Joshua Tree" to becoming one of the biggest selling albums of all time, and deservedly so.

This 1998 collection chronicles that unforgettable era in their career with 14 tracks from seven of their eight albums during this decade. This album completely ignores 1981's "October" for some odd reason. Besides, some of the songs are shortened, a couple are shortened to a damaging level that it mars some of their punch but they are still very good, just a little inferior to their parent album counterparts. "New Year's Day", "Where The Streets Have No Name" in particular suffers from this. As for the shortening of the original songs though, the versions on here are the single edits that we hear on the radio. It's for these reasons that I recommend their regular 1980s studio albums over this collection as they have even more gems that are left off this collection particularly on "Unforgettable Fire" but I'm totally cool about that as the albums have so many non-single gems that it would be downright impossible to put on this album. This collection, with more songs crammed on here, edits or originals, especially one or two from "October", could've been a lot more complete at around 75+ minutes.

This collection doesn't quite come off as a total cash-in though. There is one `new' song on this collection. That song is "The Sweetest Thing" which is actually a revamped rerecording of one of the 1987 B-Side of the same which can be found on the second disc of the B-Sides editon of this collection which I highly recommend. The version on this CD has a slightly orchestral style and less electric than the original. Both versions are very good in my opinion and it's a toss-up for me on which one's better.

Many seem to have a grudge against the last four tracks on this album. To me, it is quite unfortunate as these last four songs on this CD are very good. "Desire" is a totally funky and highly groovy blend of their trademark sound and some American-style blues rock thrown in giving the song a bit of a Western Stadium Arena atmosphere. The next three songs found U2 experimenting even more with American blues style music. "When Love Comes To Town" is an all out fun ride of a classic with a guest appearance from blues legend B.B. King and it totally works in just about every level. "Angela of Harlem" is a very delightful song with a slightly 1960s sound to it. "All I Want Is You" closes out this collection on a very good note with a very dramatic feel to it that almost forshadows some of the eeriness of "Throwing You Arms Around The World". The gradually grows more dramatic as the orchestra grows more and more intense before it all implodes at around the 6:28 mark. I have to revamp an earlier part of this review as the final track is listed as the final track but there is actually a hidden track that is a very pleasant piano interlude that is actually the title track to their 1981 "October" release so this collection doesn't completely ignore that album. They could've just made the hidden track the fifteenth song on this CD as opposed to hiding it within track 14. This is in my opinion, the biggest flaw to this collection. Quite simply, I totally object to the criticisms that have been flung at these four tracks from "R&H" Maybe I have only been reading negative reviews on them but I personally think that these four tracks from "Rattle and Hum" are very good songs even though they don't quite rank up with the rest of the songs on this CD.

Veteran fans who have or are familiar with U2's original 1980s albums will find little reason to buy this edition of this `best of 1980-1990' collection except for maybe "Sweetest Thing" but the 2-CD edition of this collection is totally worth getting even for those who already have their regular albums as the B-Sides are just as good as their hit singles. This 1 CD edition of this album is more of an introductory album for newbies who want to put their feet into the waters of this bands arc of music or for completists. The B-Sides version I ask that ALL U2 fans buy. This collection has it's flaws with the shortening of several of their songs but not as glaring as those that stymied the 1990-2000 collection. I highly recommend the 2-CD editions of both of these collections although this era in U2's career was much better represented as none of the original songs on here were rerecorded like several songs were on the second hits CD.

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