Fabulous!!!!!!!!!!

I am a HUGE Beatles fan, and Eric Clapton is number 2. But U2 is unbelievably AWESOME!! I just saw U2 last night in LA, and if I could, I would pay whatever it takes to see them again. This compilation covers my favorite era of their music. My all-time favorite U2 song is Mysterious Ways. Buy this CD, pay whatever you have to for tickets, it is all WORTH it!!



Jacquelyn

Cherry Valley, California

ITS NOT AS GOOD AS 1980-1990, BUT ITS U2 NONETHELESS

I can honestly and securely say that U2s 80s music beats their 90s music, there was also a lot more material from the 80s (5 studio albums, 3 live albums), compared to the 90s (3 studio albums and 2 soundtracks they worked on). And with the exception of Acthung Baby, the rest of the 90's material really isnt worth owning, only a listen. As for this compilation it picks their greatest songs from this period 1990-2000, featuring songs from 2000s All That You Can't Leave Behind, their return to form, it features the songs: "Beautiful Day" and "Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Of." It also features a song from Gangs of New York soundtrack, "The Hands That Built America", and a brand new song "Electrical Storm." As for the rest of the songs they are from the 1990's, like the Batman Forever soundtrack single "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me", and the Passengers Soundtrack track "Miss Sarajevo." It also features singles from Acthung Baby ("One"), Zooropa ("The First Time") and Pop ("Numb"), which are their three 90s albums. Overall, this is a pretty good compilation, some of the tracks are weak, some are masterpieces and some are just good U2 songs, i highly reccomend this to U2 fans who like their music from 1990-2000.

PRAIRIE WHEAT AND MEADOW MUFFINS

Toward the end of RATTLE AND HUM, Bono announced that U2 would disappear and come back a different band. We hear these kinds of promises all the time and so no one took them all that seriously. But they did change. Their Christian, Pacifist do-gooder image was turned inside out and Bono turned into this "Fly" character in greasy hair and sunglasses complete with a sweaty, creepy aura that was intended to repeal as much as his earlier image attracted. The bass player (the openly non-Christian in the group) getting busted for cocaine at the airport helped things along.



Thus a disconnect was achieved-in some ways all too well. If for one generation U2 came to its creative apex with JOSHUA TREE, for this next group of youth ACHTUNG BABY said it all. For those coming of age in the 1990's, the U2 of the 1980's was just a little too precious in its earnest mysticism of OCTOBER and THE UNFORGETABLE FIRE. Meanwhile, early fans of the band tended to find the band's new pretense of decadence and excess masking an even more earnest social awareness just a little bit too obvious and boring. Individual songs could shine; but the albums themselves were not that memorable. Early fans found themselves not giving a damn.



U2 THE BEST OF 1990-2000 & B SIDES will not help. It is a confusing mish-mash of hits, re-mixes, new songs, re-mixes of the new songs, movie soundtrack songs and I suppose what stands in for "B-Sides" in this age of digital. 30 cuts over two discs is an awful long listen and for my money I could have lived without half of it. I do quite enjoy "Electrical Storm (William Orbit Mix)" and have put it into the mix of songs I keep for personal listening pleasure. But "Mrs. Sarajevo" and "The Hands That Built America" are sonic turds of the worst of rock in movies.



Meanwhile, the world burns. Bono runs to the U.N. to beg for compassion and then the band flies off to some godforsaken corner of the earth to play "Beautiful Day" to the uncomprehending and unfortunate natives. All is meant well and good is done. Maybe that is enough. That still doesn't mean this album is any good. Bits and pieces are good. As a whole it is a drag.