On Rainy Days We Go Swimming

I know that it probably sounds a bit odd reviewing a "Best of..." collection, considering that most of the material will have been covered and be familiar to the listeners who would buy it, and even doubly odd given that it's a U2 disc. Meaning, basically, that most people will have heard at least part of all the songs on the disc. That's the reason why I won't be doing a track by track review, however, there is material on this limited edition package that you might be interested in reading about before you rush out and make a mad dash for the record stores. ...and, honestly, if you haven't already picked up the CD, I suggest going this week if you want the limited edition. I know that it's only "limited" in the sense that it won't be going back to print, but there were some unscrupulous stores that, when the first U2 "Best of... & B-Sides" compilation was released, jacked up the price to $60 (from $23) Canadian the following Monday.

Now, personally, I've thought that U2's output throughout the 90's has been considerably lacking. They started off strong with Achtung Baby (a disc I consider to be stronger and more well-rounded than even The Joshua Tree), but the excesses and extravagancies of the Zoo TV tour that followed just soured me on the band through most of the 90's. Although looking back, I can appreciate some of the things they produced on Zooropa and Pop, it just seemed like a great rock band had become a Vegas act (think the general reaction to David Bowie's Glass Spider tour, and you'll have my reaction to the PopMart tour). There was also the Passengers "soundtrack", which was certainly interesting, but I could only listen to it in small doses. The only thing that really had any impact between Achtung Baby and All That You Can't Leave Behind was, of all things, the song from the Batman Forever soundtrack, "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me". [Just as a side note, isn't it sad when the soundtrack to your film is better than the film? As was the case with Batman Forever.]

Coming from that angle, you can probably guess my reaction to this new collection: less than overwhelming. It's a nice catalogue of the past ten years of the band, but it honestly doesn't hold a candle to the sheer power of the first collection chronicling 1980-90. It's still decent listening, and despite featuring the band at their strongest (Achtung Baby's seminal track "One" is one of my favourite songs ever) it also features them at what I consider to be their weakest: the extravagant, flashy, and overall empty "pop" songs. After All that you can't Leave Behind and the new song on this disc, "Electrical Storm", I have hope for future albums, getting back to the rock heart of the group, but that's not what's presented here.

The main "Best of..." disc strangely doesn't feature everything you'd expect, there's no "The Fly", no "Elevation", no "Walk On", yet does contain some odd choices like "The Hands that Built America" (a new track from the Gangs of New York soundtrack, good song, sure, but still an odd choice) and "The First Time" (from Zooropa and not one of the better ones). There are also new mixes of Discotheque, Gone, Staring at the Sun and Numb, which I do have to admit sound pretty good, but again, it seems somewhat odd when doing a retrospective you remix the songs that you're presenting. To me it just seems a little bit like missing the whole point. Also, sadly, "The Ground Beneath Her Feet" (from the Million Dollar Hotel soundtrack) doesn't make the cut, which is a little disappointing considering that it was one of their better songs in recent years.

The lure of the B-Sides is what really got me purchasing this set. I can honestly say that the collection from the 1980-90 collection, were nice, some "new" songs that were released with singles along with song great covers (you haven't lived until you've heard Bono doing "Unchained Melody"). What you get here is more in line with modern singles; remixes of songs you already own, often times badly done at that, as though they were an afterthought. The first half of the new b-sides disc is decent, culminating with a cover of "Happiness is a Warm Gun", but the rest of the tracks are empty, heartless, and cold "dance" remixes of songs that were already a little empty to begin with.

All in all, this collection reminds me as to how little and how disappointing the 90's were for U2. I'm sure that many consider Pop to be a great album, and with that mentality, you'll probably love this collection, but to me it represents U2's creative low.