18 Singles is just that; it's not a best-of, or a representation of all singles, but a collection of the band's most popular 16 songs and two new recordings (which record companies do just to piss fans off and separate them from money. See my recent Aerosmith hits review for more). The disc is aimed at new fans of the band, the millions who came on board with All That You Can't Leave Behind in 2000.
The reliance on latter-day songs -- eight of them are from 2000 on -- means many of the band's classic albums are given short shrift. However, no important songs seem to be left out, making this disc seem like any radio station's U2 playlist, and indeed most of these songs have been played to death on radio. But there are a lot of casual U2 fans who will scan the track listing and recognize more than half the songs, and they will love this disc.
As they should, since many of these songs are among the finest of the last 20 years. The collection reaches back to 1983 with the post-punk political anthems "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "New Year's Day," then touches on 1984's Martin Luther King Jr. anthem "Pride (In The Name Of Love)," the first song to truly establish The Edge's ringing guitar as an integral part of the band, just as much as Bono's voice.
The Joshua Tree is represented by its first three songs and the band's defining songs: "With Or Without You" remains beautiful, "Where The Streets Have No Name" has a sweeping undercurrent of hope under its somewhat dark surface and "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" is a solid rock/gospel pairing. The power pop of "Desire" and the cute, inconsequential "The Sweetest Thing" close out the '80s songs.
In keeping with this collection's theme, very little from the '90s is included, as it was during this decade the band flirted with electronica and moved away from its zealous anthems. Only two songs from the entire decade are here and both are from Achtung Baby, and you'd be right if you guessed they were "Mysterious Ways" and "One." Again, two of the best-loved songs from the band, and two of their finer singles.
The latter-day singles find the band reclaiming their original stance, and those who loved "Beautiful Day," "Elevation," "Walk On" and "Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of" will be delighted to find them here. Recent singles "Vertigo" (the original iPod anthem) and "Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own" round out the disc; of the new songs, "The Saints Are Coming" is a cool collaboration with Green Day and "Window In The Skies" is just a U2 ballad by the numbers.
So it's hard to fault this collection, because it doesn't feel like anything important is missing and all of these songs are great. But anyone who knows U2 a little bit knows they were more than these sweeping hits, and that experimental side is forgotten here (Boy, October, Zooropa and Pop are not represented by any songs at all). This means 18 Singles is not a true representation of this popular and influential band, but it is a great introduction to the band and the only music casual fans will need. But it is not the only U2 music they need to hear, as the individual albums have many more rewards than would fit on one disc.
Login to post a comment.