Published on Nov 21, 1998
Old school U2 fans, listen up. That album that U2 promised to
give to you after
Zooropa came out…that album that was a promise by the band
to be a return to their stripped down, rock-oriented stuff of the
’80s? Well, your order finally came through. It’s on
The B-Sides collection from U2’s latest greatest hits
collection. That is all, carry on folks.
Let’s face it. U2 owed their old-school constitents big time
when
Pop came out. It was far from a return to their classic
heydays like,
The Unforgettable Fire or
The Joshua Tree. Some fans refused to listen the moment
after hearing the opening chords of “Discotheque”. Too bad for
them. While not a return to their roots,
Pop was at least a move forward in a new directon.
By listening to
The Best Of 1980-1990, your views on when U2 hit their prime
will be confirmed. Some see the 1980’s decade of U2 as their best.
Their political and insiprational fires bled through with such
classics as “Pride (In The Name Of Love)” and “Where The Streets
Have No Name.” The 14-song collection has those singles as well as
some lesser-known hits from the band, such as “Bad.”
Critics of that era say the band was pretentious. That view is
confirmed by including four songs from their album
Rattle And Hum. It was a good album, but many considered it
to be U2 at their most excessive and self-promoting. Not to say
that the “Zoo-TV” tour wasn’t. It’s just that
Achtung Baby marked the turn from U2 looking at the world
outside to the band looking inward at themselves. And “Zoo-TV” and
the
Zooropa tours were deliberate exercises in
self-promotion.
Still,
The Best of 1980-1990 represents some of the best moments of
U2. A few major faults obviously: their albums stood as testaments.
Unlike other “greatest hits” collections, U2 albums usually need to
be listened in their entirety, not broken up like on this format.
And even old school fans may gauff that
Rattle And Hum has the most tracks on the greatest hits
collection. Repeat,
Rattle And Hum occupies more space than
War and
The Joshua Tree.
The B-Sides is that rock album that U2 promised to make
their fans. It is a collection of U2’s b-side releases throughout
the ’80s. Thank God this finally came out. U2 has made some of the
best b-sides of any artist out there. Some artists blatantly put
out b-sides as throwaway tracks. But many of the b-sides U2 has
made were great songs that just couldn’t fit the flow of any of
their albums.
For all their left-leaning, protest-leading posturing,
The B-Sides will show the true U2 of the ’80s. Yes, they
were political, but in essence, they were romantic saps. Most of
the songs on “The B-Sides” are ballads. Ballads that brainy high
school students would play to their sweetheart when “Every Rose Has
Its Thorn” just wouldn’t do.
The overly sincere cover of “Unchained Melody” is entertaining
to listen to. Yes, it is excessive, but Bono’s voice can handle the
melodramatic. Other highlights include “The Three Sunrises,”
“Dancing Barefoot” and “Silver and Gold.”
The surprise of
The B-Sides is the flow of the collection. Most “B-sides”
collections feel like “cut-and-paste” creations. But honestly, you
would swear
The B-Sides is a legitimate album based on the flow of it.
No drum machines, no keyboards, no turntables, just four musicians
who are extremly capable in their fields. In an interview with Pete
Townshend of the Who, the pioneering guitarist said he felt he
should get out of the business when he first listened to the Edge.
That’s a damn powerful statement and it is heard from the Edge’s
playing on
The Best Of 1980-1990 and
The B-Sides.
No doubt U2 will pull in the sales that
Pop couldn’t on this collection. Like Garth Brooks’s
The Limited Series collection, this one will be a limited
edition. Try and resist that, fans of the old U2. All 14 million of
you that bought
The Joshua Tree. Hell, try and resist the urge to buy it if
you really like the ’90s version of U2. Do it quickly though, this
album will only be around for…well, I don’t know. It just says
‘Limited Edition,’ supplies are limited. Buy Now!