Discography: U2 - Conclusion
U2 has had a remarkable career spanning almost three decades in which they have consistently pushed the limits of what rock music can be while remaining incredibly successful. Few bands have done as much to shape music as U2 and certainly no one has done it for as long. They may be the only band to really play in the same league as the Beatles.
Because they had so many essential albums (three 10s, one 9 and two 8s by my count), it's hard to believe there would be much need for any kind of greatest hits collection. After all, you should just own the full albums or you miss out on an awful lot of great album tracks. However, in addition to filling albums with essential listening, U2 also had some fantastic B-sides which can be found on The Best of 1980-1990 and The Best of 1990-2000. The former is particularly full of gems that didn't make the cut at pressing time and only saw the light of day on the flipside of singles. "Sweetest Thing," "Everlasting Love" and "Silver and Gold" alone are worth the price of the double CD. The latter is little sketchier, because a lot of the B-sides are just remixes, but you still get a few fine pieces from soundtracks like "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me" and "The Hands That Built America" plus the new "Electrical Storm." The fact that so many songs were left over for B-sides and soundtracks after the band filled album after album with such high quality is yet another testament to what is likely the greatest band in history after the Beatles.
Because they had so many essential albums (three 10s, one 9 and two 8s by my count), it's hard to believe there would be much need for any kind of greatest hits collection. After all, you should just own the full albums or you miss out on an awful lot of great album tracks. However, in addition to filling albums with essential listening, U2 also had some fantastic B-sides which can be found on The Best of 1980-1990 and The Best of 1990-2000. The former is particularly full of gems that didn't make the cut at pressing time and only saw the light of day on the flipside of singles. "Sweetest Thing," "Everlasting Love" and "Silver and Gold" alone are worth the price of the double CD. The latter is little sketchier, because a lot of the B-sides are just remixes, but you still get a few fine pieces from soundtracks like "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me" and "The Hands That Built America" plus the new "Electrical Storm." The fact that so many songs were left over for B-sides and soundtracks after the band filled album after album with such high quality is yet another testament to what is likely the greatest band in history after the Beatles.
Labels: discography, rock
posted by bob_vinyl at 12:06 AM
2 Comments:
I've always felt that U2 is the ONLY logical successor to The Beatles and so far, history will probably reflect that, so long as it can get The Stones outta there
Ray - As you know, the Stones would be way down my list of important bands.
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