Best of 1990-2000

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Product Description ------------------- UK version of the standard edition includes one bonus track, 'The Fly'. Covering the years 1990 to 2000, it's seventeen tracks are the highlights of the albums, 'Achtung Baby', 'Zooropa', 'Passengers Original Soundtracks 1', 'Pop' & 'All That You Can't Leave Behind'. Two tracks have been recorded for this set, 'Electrical Storm' (the first single) & 'The Hands That Built America' (featured in Martin Scorsese's 'The Gangs of New York'). Additionally, four songs, 'Discotheque', 'Gone', 'Numb' & 'Staring at the Sun', have been substantially reworked by producer Mike Hedges. 2002. .co.uk ------ The Best of 1990-2000 can be seen as an introduction to the reinvented U2 (Part One), the group who ruined irony for everyone. Gone were the mullets, canyon-scraping guitars and "locust winds", and out came the fly shades, leather and TV remote. Bono hid behind a , started enjoying himself, and the band began making the best, most interesting, diverse and rewarding music of their career. When grouped together, however, the material on The Best of 1990-2000 feels mix-matched. But that is hardly surprising considering the between-album sonic leaps (bordering on artistic self-indulgence and poncy-Eno ( /exec/obidos/artist-search/Brian%20Eno/%24%7B0%7D )fications with Passengers ( /exec/obidos/ASIN/B000001E8S/%24%7B0%7D )) and only half finishing Pop ( /exec/obidos/ASIN/B000001EAQ/%24%7B0%7D ). Despite Pop's patchiness, the songs' zeitgeist experimentation and fundamental nonchalant attitude to their own position in the U2 scheme of things are both invigorating and satisfying. Notably though, they've been reworked (i.e., finished) here: "Staring at the Sun" apparently suffering from "mid-temp syndrome". The new versions are better, and the new songs "Electrical Storm" and "The Hands that Built America" are stronger still. However nothing comes close to the dark, d masterpieces from Achtung Baby ( /exec/obidos/ASIN/B000001DTM/%24%7B0%7D ), particularly "The Fly". The track order is odd, with some telling omissions ("Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses") and strange inclusions ("The First Time"), which just goes to show how hard the band have considered the songs as they see them today. Let's hope that after their current back to basics attitude they'll go all weird again soon. --Ben Johncock