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Liam Carey reviews
The Best of 1990-2000
Island
- Year: 2002
- Rating: 10/10
- Cat. No: CIDU 213
Track listing:
- 1. Even Better Than The Real Thing
2. Mysterious Ways
3. Beautiful Day
4. Electrical Storm
5. One
6. Miss Sarajevo
7. Stay (Faraway, So Close!)
8. Stuck In A Moment You Can’t Get Out Of
9. Gone
10. Until The End Of The World
11. The Hands That Built America
12. Discotheque
13. Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me
14. Staring At The Sun
15. Numb
16. The First Time
17. The Fly (U.K. Bonus Track)
So, here it is at last, the companion to 1998’s retrospective that focused on U2’s first 10 years. Whereas 1980-1990 was a fairly straightforward chronicle of Dublin’s finest through their ascent to the very summit of global domination, and equally foolproof to compile, U2 in the 90s were an altogether different proposition.
For a start, the band wilfully reinvented themselves at the dawn of the decade with the turbulent and stunning Achtung Baby. Borne from a creative turmoil and protracted recording sessions, U2 paradoxically emerged from its aftermath completely invigorated. There then followed a dizzyingly inventive and almost unending journey of artistic expression which, like most such soujorns, eventually ended somehwat unceremoniously with the relative failure of 1997’s overly ironic Pop album. It was fun while it lasted, and then some.
All That You Can’t Leave Behind (2000) saw a more traditional, back-to-basics attitude – not quite as intruiging, but more commercially rewarding. Bono, The Edge, Larry Mullen and Adam Clayton left the giant Lemon and Zoo TV screens in storage boxes around the world, having played the post-modern card perhaps a little too enthusiastically for some.
Chronologically, a no-frills Best Of 1990-2000 would have begun with The Fly, whizzed through the other Achtung Baby singles, followed by Numb and Lemon from the Zooropa project, before coming slightly unstuck with Pop’s less endearing hits (Last Night On Earth, Please) and then concluding on a high of sorts courtesy of selections from All That You Can’t Leave Behind. Simple. Except….
Well, this album is neither a Greatest Hits or Singles Collection in name nor intention, and U2 themselves have clearly called the shots here (no surprise, of course). Thus, the absence of Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses, never a favourite of the band, is explained away. Likewise, the “new mix” versions of the two Pop tracks to make the cut, making the most of a chance to put right certain things about the production which they always considered to be unfinished. Fair enough.
In fact, with its choice of material from the period, and the sequencing of the 17 songs, The Best Of 1990-2000 achieves, very successfully, in capturing the essence of U2’s most diverting and fascinating era to date. Credit where it’s due for not taking the obvious route, and instead featuring album tracks that were nonetheless key moments of their live shows in the heady Zoo TV days (Until The End Of The World) or simply standouts on their particular album (Gone was always the great single-that-never-was from Pop).
A pair of unreleased songs are the obligatory, neccessary evil – no contemporary look back at an act’s career is complete without them these days – but both manage to fit in, although Electrical Storm feels a little contrived in its efforts to do so.
Beautiful Day‘s use at countless sporting events and twice-weekly on ITV’s Premiership coverage has dulled an already average U2 anthem even further, but One and Stay (Faraway, So Close!) seem to only improve with age. Miss Sarajevo – for the first time in its uninterrupted single version – is still gorgeous, the highlight of the band’s dabbling in unchartered waters as Passengers. The Fly, which startled upon its release in October 1991, rounds matters off despite The Edge’s doubts over its long-term credentials.
Ten crazy years. Belly dancers, buffalo falling off cliffs, phone-calls to Pizza firms during concerts, MacPhisto, Pavarotti, Batman, Lara Croft, fluctuating sales, all-consuming ambition and indulgence (nobody mention The Million Dollar Hotel, alright?)….. oh, and some mighty fine music.
Review copyright © Liam Carey, 2002. E-mail Liam Carey
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.