U2 Album: “The Best of 1990-2000”

I would give this CD five stars if it contained U2's best songs of the 90's. But it doesn't!

Where is "The Fly" - the first single off Achtung Baby? Where is the single or album version of "Lemon" - the most popular song on Zooropa? What about Pop's most important song - "Mofo"? What about the single - "Please"?

Why is "Beautiful Day" and "Stuck in a Moment..." on this basically 90's CD? Shouldn't they really begin the next Best Of version: 2000 - 2010?

If I wasn't a fan I would be extremely unimpressed with some of the remixes, especially "Staring at the Sun". I would like to have the album-versions of these songs that I remembered and liked at the time.

I still bought this CD because I am a U2 fan, and I guess if you're not a U2 'fan' than you would buy this CD before you bought any other U2 album anyway - as most people that build up a collection of CD's usually start with the greatest hits CD's.

This CD does provide for the general music fan, but as a U2 fan I'm a little disappointed.

The second U2 "best of" was a waste of time. The first one, "The best of 1980-1990" was a pretty good compilation, but quite short ( 65 minutes, U2 could have added 2 extra songs like Gloria, Out Of Control or MLK ). This time, this compilation is 50% horrible.

The hands that built America is so boring, one of the worst U2 songs, without a doubt. All the remixes are so bad !!!!. This is overall a big, big mistake. This is not the best of. I remember once participating in a U2 poll, in which they asked to the fans the best song from each album, before this "best of". One of those songs was "Please"... so where is this song ??? why U2 didn't include it ??. I don't know why U2 keep putting "Until The end Of The World" as one of their best songs. "The Fly" or "Who's Gonna Ride..." were real songs for a "Best Of".

This would be my "Best of 1990-2000"

1- Even Better Than The Real Thing

From my estimation, there seems to be 5 kinds of U2 fans:

1. Those who think they went downhill after War

2. Those who think they went downhill after The Joshua Tree

3. Those who think they went downhill after Achtung Baby

4. Those who think they went downhill after Pop

5. Those who think U2 have been consistently good from beginning to present.

If you're apart of groups 1 & 2, don't get this record.

'90-'00 covers albums Achtung Baby, Zooropa, Pop, apart of All That You Can't Leave Behind, some soundtrack songs, and one new song.

Achtung Baby-all of the usual suspects are here except The Fly; but that song isn't really good anyway, so I'm glad they left it off.

Zooropa-Where's Lemon? Numb is remixed but the original is better.

Pop-All of its songs have been remixed and the remixes are actually better, but I listen to the originals as well.

All That You Can't Leave Behind-first 2 singles are represented, Beautiful Day and Stuck in a Moment...Personally, I think they're pushing it by putting these songs on this album. They should have all been saved for the 2000-2010 collection (that's if they make enough music to get a third collection.)

The song Miss Sarajevo is from another album called Passengers.

Hold Me...and Hands That Built America are songs from soundtracks.

Electrical Storm is a new song.

I like U2. Despite my fears, this album does not sound like a rehash of U2, even though it's a best-of compilation. I recommend it just for the Electrical Storm track, which to me is the most moving, powerful U2 song in years. Also, Beautiful Day and Stuck in a Moment, truly great U2 songs, are reasons to buy this disc if you don't own them on an album. These songs, especially Electrical Storm, remind me of the heyday of U2 when people were first in awe of them in the 80's and early 90's.

There are a host of other tracks that I forgot about from the mid 90's along with some I have not heard before. They are yet another reason to own this disc. You won't be dissappointed even listening to the Achtung Baby tracks (which were played to death in the early 90's).

Put this disc on and you will listen attentively to every song from start to finish. It's that good. And it's great to know this band still has that kind of effect after all these years.

U2’s second greatest hits package stands in stark contrast to their first greatest hits album. Listening to the two side-by-side, it almost seems as if they are two different bands. The discrepancy in sounds shows how this band are truly gifted musicians. The 1990’s found the band sliding into the Alternative music scene with their first release of the decade, Acthung Baby. That album is representing by the brilliant “Mysterious Ways”, “Even Better Than The Real Thing”, “Until The End Of The World” and the heartbreaking beautiful “One”. The album and, in particular, “One” (which is about AIDS) showed they could adapt their music to modern styles, yet still make music with a message. Zooropa was their next and it really was an extension of Acthung Baby, but it moved them even more away from their main sounds. Pop was a complete move into electronica and really sounds nothing like a U2 record. Long time fans were displeased with the album and the press jumped all over the band. While it is clearly the weakest album the band has made, they should be applauded for not standing still and have a willingness to experiment with new sounds. They also did some movie soundtrack work in the 1990’s with songs like “Miss Sarajevo” and the overlooked “Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me” from Batman Forever which is one of their best singles as well as contributing album tracks “Stay (Faraway, So Close!)” and “Until The End Of The World” to soundtracks (One of the two new tracks “The Hands That Built America” is also from a movie, Martin Scorcese’s Gangs Of New York). In 2000, the band returned to a more traditional U2 sound with All That You Can’t Leave Behind. The album was universally hailed and produced the glorious “Beautiful Day” that won a slew of Grammys. The album contains two new songs, but it also has new mixes of songs like “Discotheque”, “Numb” and others. U2 is one of the biggest rock groups in the world, but they are constantly evolving their sound and refuse to rest on their laurels. Not all of the sound changes they have attempted have worked, but they are constantly challenging their fans and keeping them entertained in the process.