U218 Singles

Performer: U2
Engineer: Daniel Lanois; Flood; Brian Eno; Carl Glanville; Paul Thomas; Robbie Adams; Richard Rainey; Dave Meegan; Paul Barrett; Greg Fidelman; Joe O'Herlihy; Kevin Killen; Patrick McCarthy; Stephen Harris; Tim Palmer; Flood; Carl Glanville; Paul Thomas; Robbie Adams; Richard Rainey
Producer: Daniel Lanois; Brian Eno; Steve Lillywhite; Jimmy Iovine; Craig Thomas; Nellee Hooper; Rick Rubin; Daniel Lanois; Brian Eno; Steve Lillywhite; Jimmy Iovine
Distributor: Universal Distribution

Notes: U2: The Edge, Adam Clayton, Larry Mullen, Jr., Bono . Personnel: The Edge (guitar); Terry Lawless (Wurlitzer organ); Adam Clayton (bass guitar); Larry Mullen, Jr. (drums, percussion). Audio Mixers: Daniel Lanois; Flood; The Edge; Carl Glanville; Steve Lillywhite; Chris Lord-Alge; Greg Collins ; Nellee Hooper; Andrew Scheps; Rob Jacobs; Shelly Yakus; Simon Gogerly; Simon Osborne; Stephen Harris; Tim Palmer. Recording information: EMI Abbey Road Studios, London, England; Hansa Ton Studios, Berlin, Germany; HQ, Dublin, Ireland; Slane Castle, Co. Meath, Ireland; Sts, Dublin, Ireland; The South Of France; Windmill Lane Recording Studio, Dublin, Ireland. Photographers: Andrew McPherson ; Sheila Rock; Matt Mahurin; Colm Henry; Pennie Smith; Paul Slattery; Anton Corbijn. By the time 2006's U218 SINGLES was released, U2 had been one of rock's reigning behemoths for a good quarter century. Whittling down the group's hefty discography to 18 tracks seems impossible, but U218 SINGLES solves the problem by focusing, as the title suggests, on singles. Consequently, some crucial tunes, namely early ones like "I Will Follow," "Gloria," and "Two Hearts Beat As One," are missing. But since one of U2's greatest strengths is their ability to create imaginative and engaging music that can also cross over into the mainstream, the collection brims with great material. Some of the band's best recorded moments--"Pride (In the Name of Love)," "New Year's Day," and "One," for example--are showcased, along with immediately familiar anthems like "Sunday Bloody Sunday," "Mysterious Ways," and "Sweetest Thing." A handful of tunes from the 2000s--like "The Saints Are Coming," the band's famed collaboration with Green Day--round out the set. Most of these songs have already become a permanent part of the pop-culture fabric, but that doesn't lessen the appeal of hearing them on this smartly compiled set. U2's first two greatest-hits albums neatly divided themselves by decade, with the first covering the '80s and the second summing up the '90s. Their third hits comp, 2006's U218 Singles, is at once more ambitious and more concise, offering an overview of their first 26 years on a single disc comprised of 18 tracks -- and since two of those are new songs, that leaves just 16 songs to tell their whole story. That's not much space for a band with a career as lengthy and ambitious as U2, so it's inevitable that some painful cuts have been made. Nothing from October, Zooropa or Pop is here, and unless you're buying various import editions that have "I Will Follow" as a bonus track, there's nothing from Boy, either. There's only one cut each from The Unforgettable Fire and Rattle and Hum -- and bucking conventional wisdom, none of their three widely accepted masterpieces -- War, The Joshua Tree, or Achtung Baby -- provide the most songs here. No, out of all their albums the one that dominates U218 Singles is All That You Can't Leave Behind, their 2000 comeback from the depths of the misguided Pop, and one of two records that they've released since their last hits compilation, The Best of 1990-2000. The other record they've released since then is How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, which provides two songs here -- or, as many as there are from War and Achtung Baby. What this means is that this compilation skews very heavily toward latter-day U2 -- eight out of 18 tracks, a full 44 percent of the collection, are from 2000 on, which means that U218 Singles presents the classicist version of the band, featuring the anthems from U2 at their peak, plus the highlights from when U2 were trying their best to sound like U2 at their peak. They did it quite well, of course, from both a commercial and artistic standpoint, sometimes writing songs that stood proudly alongside "Pride (In the Name of Love)" and "Sunday Bloody Sunday" (as in "Beautiful Day") and sometimes not ("Elevation"). When it's all mixed together, it paints a portrait of a band that's a little slicker and streamlined than it often was, and it's hard not to miss the big-hearted yet moody band that made "Bad," "Gloria," and "A Sort of Homecoming," not to mention the middle-aged Euro experimentalists responsible for "Numb" and "Stay! (Faraway, So Close)," two essential components of the band that has been forced aside by the arena rock pros on display here. Then again, U2 always were the best arena rockers of their generation, and for those who love the spectacle and sound of the band in full flight, U218 Singles serves up that side of the band quite well, along with two new entries that find the band continuing the assured, even-handed sound of Atomic Bomb: a cover of the Skids' "The Saints Are Coming," recorded with Green Day and rewritten to vaguely address the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and "Window in the Skies," an anthemic pop number that relies too heavily on synth strings yet is saved by the band's sturdy songwriting and reliable performance. As such, it might not cover all the bases, but it covers enough of the major ones to be a good summary for fellow travelers who just know U2 from the radio, and it's also a good one-stop introduction to the basics for neophytes. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Rolling Stone (p.129) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[T]his CD is U2's catalog stripped down to the stadium-shaking warhorses..." Q (p.154) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[T]here's a sense of personal care and attention here, as if the whole thing comes with U2's personal seal of approval." Uncut (p.96) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[A] demonstration that U2 are out on their own now, the last of their kind."

U2's Bono was one of the few real rock heroes of the 1980s, leading the Irish band to international recognition with a charged, political approach to music. The band's early efforts brought a stadium-size presence to post-punk, with Bono's expressive vocals and the Edge's distinct guitar lines interacting seamlessly with the rhythm section of bassist Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen, Jr. In 1987, U2 broke through to superstardom with THE JOSHUA TREE, a grand culmination of their '80s sound. In the 1990s, however, the band very purposefully deflated that epic image, simultaneously adding ambient, dance, and electronica touches on 1991's ACHTUNG BABY. Mining that vein for much of the decade, U2 kicked off the 21st century with a triumphant return to form that was embraced by new and longtime fans alike.

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