Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Beautiful Day
2. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
3. Pride (In The Name Of Love)
4. With Or Without You
5. Vertigo
6. New Year�s Day
7. Mysterious Ways
8. Stuck In A Moment You Can�t Get Out Of
9. Where The Streets Have No Name
10. Sweetest Thing
11. Sunday Bloody Sunday
12. One
13. Desire
14. Walk On
15. Elevation
16. Sometimes You Can�t Make It On Your Own
17. The Saints Are Coming
18. Window In The Skies

Disc 2:

1. Vertigo
2. I Will Follow
3. Elevation
4. Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
5. All I Want Is You
6. City of Blinding Lights
7. Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own
8. Miss Sarajevo
9. Original of the Species
10. With or Without You

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #38159 in Music
• Released on: 2006-11-20
• Number of discs: 2
• Format: CD+DVD
• Running time: 183 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
The youthful faces that stare out from the cover of this latest collection of singles from Irish rockers U2 suggests that the focus of the album is, perhaps, their lauded yet under-represented early days. A quick glance through the tracklisting shows that not to be the case, however. There are examples of their rawer 80s sound - "Pride", "I Will Follow", "New Year's Day" - but where, older fans may well ask, are songs like "The Electric Co", "Gloria", "I Threw A Brick", "Fire" from Boy and October? Similarly, songs like "With Or Without You", "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" and "Where The Streets Have No Name" were on The Best Of 1980-1990, whilst "Beautiful Day", "One", "Mysterious Ways" and "Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of" were all on The Best Of 1990-2000. U218 does have the advantage of featuring more recent tracks, including their collaboration with Green Day, "The Saints Are Coming" and a new song, "Windows In The Skies". Whilst dedicated followers of the band may see this as a missed opportunity to offer fans some genuinely rare gems, it still remains a collection of mighty pop music masterpieces.--Danny McKenna

CD Description
Following the release of two decade-specific 'Best Of' compilations, U2 present a career-spanning singles collection. This anthology gives a superb overview of arguably the most popular Irish rock band of the last twenty years and includesearly tracks as well as the expected stadium rock classics,such as 'Vertigo' and 'Elevation'. The collection also features two previously unreleased tracks produced by Rick Rubin, including the single 'The Saints Are Coming' with Green Day. This special edition also includes a DVD featuring a liveperformance from the San Siro, Milan in 2005.

Customer Reviews

Pride (& Vertigo) recycled One more time
After having released the 1980-1990 & 1990-2000 Best Of Compilations, it seemed logical that the next U2 compilation would be a 2000-2010 compilation. With 2-3 leftovers from All...Behind, 4-5 contenders from How...Atomic Bomb, and the new single with Green Day (eh hem), not much would have been needed to fill that quota. Apparently, U2 no longer have such patience and have delivered this single disk career overview just in time for Christmas.

This is a pattern that has increasingly been developing by U2, i.e. releasing recycled material of sorts between each new release. We've had this decade alone 3 concert DVD's (plus Zoo TV re-released) and the 1990-2000 CD & DVD compilation.

On the plus side, at least for the very casual fan, all the biggies are included on this set. For those who have been Following U2 for ages, it is highly unlikely that such fans will have any Desire listening to Pride One more time (included on each concert DVD). Granted, there are 2 new tracks included but the average price for each new song for those who own U2's previous material, probably in many shapes, is steep.

The song selection is, as a set for casual listeners, as close to perfect as possible. U2 have e.g. skipped all the songs from the Pop flop; as are Zooropa and the first two albums (I Will Follow is hidden though). 2 UK #1's, The Fly and Discothéque are also nowhere to be found here, indicating that the songs are chosen by their world wide success. There are obvious misses, such as City of Blinding Lights, Numb and Angel of Harlem, but which songs to replace them with would be a difficult task.

This edition includes a "bonus" concert DVD including a staggering 10 songs. Many U2 fans already own, however, the Vertigo DVD filmed during that same tour, making this more of a purchase to satisfy those who need to own everything officially released by U2, which is becoming proportionally ever more difficult in a similar degree as their declining rate of new material.

U2 fans (me included) probably will, with a slight grumble, purchase this set en masse. With the entire catalogue yet to be re-released, however, patience with their recycling efforts may begin wearing thin if this process continues.

I would give this set 5 stars for the songs themselves, they do stand the test of time (having heard many of them so often, I hardly will listen often to this set). There are, however, only a couple of stars given to the 18 release itself (in light of the baffling few songs on the DVD, that may be generous) , due to U2's abnormal recycling efforts, which should be concentrated more on earth's resources, not their back catalogue.

Only worth buying for the DVD
Why, oh why, did this fantastic band think they needed to publish another "Best of" after the already brilliant "Best Of 1980-1990" and "Best Of 1990-2000"??? "U218 Singles" is a totally unnecessary compilation only aimed at those who do not own any U2 album and want a good collection of U2's "best" songs.
In my eyes, "U218 Singles" would be a complete rip-off if it wasn't for the excellent DVD of the Vertigo tour in Milan. Compared to the official DVD release of the Vertigo tour in Chicago, the band, the audience and even director Hamish Hamilton transmit an authentic feeling of a Vertigo open-air show on this 10-track bonus DVD.
The band should have spared us with the CD and published the whole Milan concert instead. That alone would have been worth 5 stars, now it's only 3: 1 for the CD, 5 for the DVD.

Excellent compilation with brilliant extras
U2 were one of my favourite bands when growing up in the 80s though, like many others of my generation, their appeal waned considerably as I reached my mid 20s in the early 90s. I very rarely find myself playing any of their old albums now and haven't bought any new product since 1993's Zooropa. Until now that is, with 18 Singles which has enabled me to own some of their best recordings in recent years as well as reminding me of why they were so good in the first place.

This is of course not the first U2 retrospective but, unlike 1998's 1980-1990 and 2002's 1990-2000 compilations, 18 Singles crucially covers the band's whole career and includes excellent recent tracks such as the thrilling Vertigo. Cramming the band's complete works onto one CD arguably also has its downside as many prominent singles are missing through overall I am happy with the choices made. It's interesting that number one hits such as The Fly and Discotheque are omitted in favour of lesser hits, but possibly more fondly remembered songs, such as Mysterious Ways, Sweetest Thing and Walk On. As with all selective singles compilations, each fan will of course have his or her own views as to what should have been included...

Other highlights which are included on 18 for me are the exciting Desire, stately Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of and New Years Day, the song that first got me into U2 all those years ago. The compilation also includes two new songs, a U2 / Green Day joint recorded-for-charity cover of The Skids' The Saints Are Coming and a new original song Window In the Skies. The Special Edition of 18 Singles also contains so much more including an excellent 10 song live DVD recorded at the San Siro Stadium, Milan in 2005. The highlight of this is a stunning piano-led version of Miss Sarajevo. Dedicated to the victims of the 7/7 London bombs which happened just a few days before the gig, Bono also sings Luciano Pavrotti's Italian opera part from the original recording - quite magnificently.

Housed with a deluxe booklet featuring lyrics and photos from throughout the band's career and bound to look like a luxury Ladybird book, 18 Singles is an excellent compilation with superb extras. A brilliant and very worthy package for welcoming U2 back into my listening and CD purchasing radar.