What is Missing on BEST OF

Jamy&Glen ([email protected])
Wed, 4 Nov 1998 09:00:17 -0500

The last thing the BEST OF compilation needs is more tracks from Joshua
Tree, R&H, or Unforgettable Fire. If Island was to include "Running to Stand
Still," for example (which it wouldn't, because it wasn't a single in the
first place), then there would be 4 tracks from an 11 song album -- new fans
wouldn't be as inclinded to go back to the original album itself and buy it.
Besides, why should there be another song from those albums when the first
few records are underepresented here?

Here's the breakdown:
BOY - 1 song
OCTOBER - 1 song (as a bonus track), the only non-single on BEST OF
WAR - 2 songs
UNFORGETTABLE FIRE - 3 songs
JOSHUA TREE - 3 songs
R&H - 4 songs
plus one remixed b-side

So, what is this saying? The first two albums, though rooted in jevenalia,
are energetic and very together for a band which is so young. So they may
lack the wide-screened panaorama and depth of the two Eno/Lanois albums, but
certainly they were an important phase in the band's career. I do have one
friend who is a huge U2 fan, but is really only interested in this period.
So I can understand his angst when he bough the BEST OF package yesterday
and moaned, "Where is 11 O'Clock Tick Tock?"

Indeed, where is 11 O'Clock Tick Tock -- the great single which never made
it to an album, except in live form, a turning point from u2's early
quasi-punk/pre-new-wave garage rock i.e. Boy/Girl. Why wasn't the
opportunity of a BEST OF package used to finally get this studio out to the
masses by including it on a BEST OF record? It wasn't as if this song was
recorded and quickly forgotten -- it was a mainstay in U2's live sets for
years, a highlight of their shows and of Under A Blood Red Sky.

October is the album which is the worse for the wear over the years, but
certainly Gloria should have been included on the compilation -- we all need
to hear Bono sing in Latin one more time, don't we (ha ha)?

A Celebration?

Out of Control?

Two Hearts Beat as One?

The powers that be picked When Love Comes to Town over these songs?

Oh well . . . . can't do anything about it now. The epitaph has been carved
into the stone, I guess.

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