Track Listing

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

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4007 in Music
• Released on: 2006-11-20
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 79 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.

Customer Reviews

Pride 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. 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 all of the concert DVD's). 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 (one hidden track though Follows). 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.

U2 fans 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 a whole lot to this set). There are, however, only a couple of stars given to the 18 release itself, due to U2's abnormal recycling efforts, which should be concentrated more on earth's resources, not their back catalogue.

Yet another missed oportunity
It should have been so simple - U2 put out a collection of all their singles on one compilation. But as with the previous 2 collections (covering the 80s and 90s) there's some significant ommisions. I know it's impossible to put all their singles on one CD, but this compilation is being mis-sold as having "all the hits on one album". If that's the case then where are hits such as The Fly, Unforgettable Fire, Wild Horses, Discotheque, Fire... I could go on.

And when are they going to put genuine hard to find singles like A Celebration on an anthology?!

Great songs - shoddy compilation.

U2 cash in.
As a big U2 fan, i was disappointed that they released this album - they are simply cashing in and being lazy. For me they have lost a lot of they rock and roll appeal. The track listing is weak to say the least as we've already had two greatest hits albums - so why the hell have they rehashed a third one? I cannot comprehend how songs such as Elevation and Stuck in a Moment even made it on here and Electrical Storm was left out! They should have released an an album containing lesser known greats such as Running to Stand Still, Who Gonna Run your Wild Horses, Kite etc.. My advice, if your looking for a U2 greatest hits, go to their two previous best of albums.