Track Listing

1. Even Better Than The Real Thing
2. Mysterious Ways
3. Beautiful Day
4. Electrical Storm (William Orbit Mix - NEW TRACK)
5. One
6. Miss Sarajevo (Single Radio Edit)
7. Stay (Faraway, So Close!)
8. Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of
9. Gone (Mike Hedges Mix - NEW MIX)
10. Until The End Of The World
11. The Hands That Built America (Theme From Gangs Of New York) (NEW TRACK)
12. Discotheque (Mike Hedges Mix - NEW MIX)
13. Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me
14. Staring At The Sun (Mike Hedges Mix - NEW MIX)
15. Numb (Mike Hedges Mix - NEW MIX)
16. The First Time
17. The Fly (UK BONUS TRACK)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1980 in Music
• Released on: 2007-10-01
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Extra tracks
• Running time: 76 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
The Best of 1990-2000 can be seen as an introduction to the reinvented U2 (Part One), the group who ruined irony for everyone. Gone were the mullets, canyon-scraping guitars and "locust winds", and out came the fly shades, leather and TV remote. Bono hid behind a mask, started enjoying himself, and the band began making the best, most interesting, diverse and rewarding music of their career. When grouped together, however, the material on The Best of 1990-2000 feels mix-matched. But that is hardly surprising considering the between-album sonic leaps (bordering on artistic self-indulgence and poncy-Enofications with Passengers) and only half finishing Pop.

Despite Pop's patchiness, the songs' zeitgeist experimentation and fundamental nonchalant attitude to their own position in the U2 scheme of things are both invigorating and satisfying. Notably though, they've been reworked (i.e., finished) here: "Staring at the Sun" apparently suffering from "mid-temp syndrome". The new versions are better, and the new songs "Electrical Storm" and "The Hands that Built America" are stronger still. However nothing comes close to the dark, bruised masterpieces from Achtung Baby, particularly "The Fly". The track order is odd, with some telling omissions ("Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses") and strange inclusions ("The First Time"), which just goes to show how hard the band have considered the songs as they see them today. Let's hope that after their current back to basics attitude they'll go all weird again soon. --Ben Johncock

CD Description
The second volume of U2's 'Best Of' series which features songs released by the band from 1990-2000. Includes tracks taken from 'Achtung Baby', 'Zooropa', 'Passengers', 'Pop' and 'All That You Can't Leave Behind'. In addition are two new tracks and selected songs which have been reworked by Mike Hedges.

Customer Reviews

U2 Best of 1990-2000
This collection is a perfect introduction to any new or casual U2 fan. It is a collection that demands to be heard in full, as there is not a weak song in the collection, although fans will dispute the inclusion and exclusion of certain songs.
Personal highlights include, Even Better than the real thing, One, Stay, Gone and The Fly.
It abtly demenstrates Bonos ability as a lyricist and singer, while also showing why Edge is one of the most revered guitarists around, and Larry Mullen Jr and Adam Clayton keep the musical pulse pumping. It also opens up listeners to delve further into U2 albums, definitley check out Pop(different) Atomic Bomb(guitar and more guitar) ATYCLB(melodic) and Acthung Baby(classic). This best of is a must for any music fan.

Essential, yes... but what's going on with the format???
U2's excellent Best of 1980-90 was followed up by this one, the best of their work from the 90s. First off, let it be said: this release was essential. It deserves just as much attention as the 80-90 collection, simply because U2 produced some stunning tracks during the 90s, many of which fans either didn't buy, or didn't hear. Why then, considering how important this compilation is, was it given such a trite formatting and sequencing job? Who was pulling the shots on this reissue?

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).

Not bad, but could have been better
I'd like to get something off my chest at the start of this review. I really detest the current trend to produce hits compilations that feature remixes, rare tracks and new tracks (often scrubbed up b-sides that weren't good enough in the first place) in an attempt to get committed fans to buy them as well as the general public who don't own an album by the artist in the first place. I don't see the point of it - completists will have most of the tracks in the first place and joe public just want to listen to the hits the way they sounded on the radio.

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).