Best of 1990-2000 [Extra tracks]

Yes, it's hard to argue with many selections on this album, and indeed a lot of the material on this album is absolutely essential listening for any rock fan (i.e. "One", "Beautiful Day", "Stay", "Mysterious Ways"). But the Zooropa, and especially Pop, eras seems to have completely desiccated. Sure, new mixes of "Staring At the Sun", "Discotheque", and "Gone" are pleasant enough, but including them on the Best Of, in place of the original mixes, completely destroys the history associated with that era. Yes, we know the band were not happy with them. But for authenticity's sake, the original mixes should have been included, with a bonus disc featuring the new ones. Then fans could have decided what THEY wanted to listen to. It's also very strange to see "Numb" remixed, a track that stood up very well on its original mix. If anything, the classic dance mix of "Lemon" from Zooropa should have been included, a mix that WAS deserving to appear here.

And The Fly relegated to UK bonus track status?! Sorry to say, but that's a positive insult. It stands as one of the best tracks in the U2 calibre, and the track that mercifully dethroned Brian Adams horror "Everything I Do" from its never-ending grip on the chart. It certainly deserves a lot more than bonus track status, a decision that results in the rest of the world not hearing it.

On the plus side, its great to see the fantastic Passengers collaboration "Miss Sarajevo" on here, plus the excellent "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me" from the Batman Forever soundtrack. But whither other great tracks? "Dirty Day", "Elevation", "If God Will Send His Angels," "The Ground Beneath Her Feet," "Who's Gonna Wide Your Wild Horses": all should have had a place here. While The First Time is a fine track, it isn't as strong as any of the mentioned tracks here, so it's a bit mystifying as to why it was included.

The token new tracks "Electrical Storm" and "The Hands That Built America" are pleasant enough, and do shore up a basically good collection of songs. It's true, any casual fan that doesn't already own U2's 90s output will want to get a hold of this collection. And there's too much great material here to simply disregard. However, the way the "Pop" material, and other important tracks in the 90s, have simply been altered or abandoned altogether is infuriating. Any serious U2 fan could have put together a more consistent and better balanced compilation than the one Island has given to the world.

So, in short, yes it is a necessary compilation. Buy it. But sadly, it is one that could have been done so much better.

(Preferably, if you're buying, try to go for the 3-CD Special Edition, which features some great U2 B Sides and alternative mixes).

Unfortunately, this compilation is overrun with remixes that lack the immediacy, and often the quality, of the original tracks, which is a shame because most of the original tracks are great. It's especially nice to see Miss Sarajevo and Hold Me, Thrill me, Kiss Me, Kill Me here. I didn't particularly like U2's last album but the singles sound a lot better here than they did on that record. The excellent Zooropa is somewhat under-represented, though - where's Dirty Days or The Wanderer? It's disappointing to see Please from Pop missing too - but short of making this a double CD, it's hard to see how there could have been space to fit everything in.

Of the two new tracks, Electrical Storm is dreadful - another bit of bland filler like that on All That You Can't Leave Behind - but The Hands That Built America is the best thing they've done in ages.

I think what's worst about this is that it could have been a lot better - maybe more selectivity about the tracks, and avoidance of the remixes. Ironically, although I prefer U2's 90s output to their 80s, the 80s compilation CD from last year is better than this one - check that out first instead, and then maybe Achtung Baby (which makes up 1/3 of this CD anyway).