Matt McGee ([email protected])
Thu, 29 Oct 1998 23:21:41 -0800
>From today's (Friday) Irish Times.
Matt
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An absolute winner
THE RECORDS
ALBUM OF THE WEEK
U2: "The Best Of U2 1980-1990" (Island)
Any album which gathers together U2's greatest hits of the 1980s has to be
an absolute winner - who can argue with anthems like Sunday Bloody Sunday,
I Will Follow or New Year's Day? Hearing all U2's brightest songs in one
sitting can be a dazzling experience, and even if your heart doesn't quite
burst during this CD, your voice will most definitely burst into song. The
inclusion of a limited edition Bsides collection should also give U2
completists plenty to be nostalgic about. Best Of 1980-1990 doubles as a
neat little historical document, charting the explosive passion of a young,
eager U2 in I Will Follow, tracking the expertly-aimed love missiles of
Pride (In The Name Of Love) and With Or Without You, and noting the mature
reflection of I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For. The album makes
the case for U2 as the defining band of the 1980s, who blended wide-screen
visionary rock with a sharp, post-punk sensibility, and who emerge as one
of the few acts of the era whose music still stands up proudly and loudly.
Interestingly, it's during the later Rattle & Hum period, when U2 were
supposedly on top of the world, that the weakest material can be found,
such as the quick fix of Desire or the overblown blues of When Love Comes
To Town. It's hard to find fault with one of the most consistently
far-reaching back catalogues in rock, and my only gripes are with the
omission of Gloria and 11 O'Clock Tick Tock, the unnecessary foreshortening
of New Year's Day and Where The Streets Have No Name, and the choice of the
studio version of Bad over the far superior live version.
Kevin Courtney
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Matt McGee / [email protected]
@U2 Web Page Curator
http://www.atu2.com
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