I'm a huge U2 fan, but I must admit I'm a little disappointed by their latest greatest hits album. You'd think it would be hard to be let down by songs I've heard 1000 times before, but...
* "New remixes" of some of the tunes, mostly the ones from the Pop album. I know that U2 always wished they had more time to work on that album, but what's done is done: the fans, for the most part, loved the songs anyway, so what's the problem? The new versions of Gone and Numb are pretty much the same, but the new Staring At The Sun is too heavy and the new Discotheque is far inferior.
* New lyrics in Mysterious Ways. A couple of the lines have been inexplicably changed. Are you kidding me?? Do you think that when Pete Townshend was remastering Who tracks he thought to himself "Gee, I should have Tommy be a Pac-Man wizard instead."
* The exclusion of The Fly, which was a #1 hit single in Europe, in favour of The First Time, an unremarkable non-single from Zooropa that U2 have only played live a few times.
* The B-sides disc is terrible; mostly dance remixes that butcher great songs. Only a few of the tracks are actual B-sides, anyway.
I was born in a manger, like that other guy. You know, he wore a hat?
...dammit, now I'll actually have to BUY that one? I thought I downloaded all the B-sides and remixes, though... how many of the songs/remixes on the B-sides disc are new for this comp?
Sure I will play the first of the two disks, as there are great songs on there, but the 'b-sides' pretty much sucks.
It doesn't make sense btw..WHY throw different versions of songs on greatest hits albums? that version of disqoteque wasnt a hit..never heard it before.
And now you mention, it yeah..'the fly' where is it.. And is "Please" on there? I cannot remember even..it should be.
"The Fly" gets no love. When MTV2 had a U2 block of "all" of their videos about 6 months ago, "The Fly" was mysteriously omitted. I was glad to finally get a good copy of "All I want is You" and "Stay (Faraway so Close!)" but was very disappointed this awesome song was left out.
Originally posted by DrewDewce"The Fly" gets no love. When MTV2 had a U2 block of "all" of their videos about 6 months ago, "The Fly" was mysteriously omitted. I was glad to finally get a good copy of "All I want is You" and "Stay (Faraway so Close!)" but was very disappointed this awesome song was left out.
... they did? I know that when they did the "U2: A to Z" videography on MTV, when they premiered "Discotheque", they did show "The Fly". Wonder why there's no love nowadays.
SS: Wouldn't surprise me about "Electrical Storm"... they did the same for "The Sweetest Thing" on the 1980-1990 Best Of...
Yeah, but Sweetest Thing was a re-recorded old b-side (for good reason, the original has the *worst* Bono vocals ever!). Therefore it made sense for the b-side version to be on the b-side disk. Electrical Storm is brand new song, yet the "normal" version made it to the b-sides and the remix on the a-sides.
I just can't bring myself to buy it because I am so used to listening to Achtung Baby all the way through, I don't think I could stand owning a compilation that just contained snippets of this wonderful, wonderful recording. When I went to Europe in high school, I took ONLY that CD with me. There's no better feeling than listening to Achtung while riding through the Chunnel, driving through the French countryside, walking around in Heidelberg...you get the point. It holds a special place in my heart.
"That's how you become great, man: you hang your balls out there." - The dorky Kinko's clerk on Jerry Maguire
Big Bad (or anybody)- what lyrics got changed in Mysterious Ways?
"She sees the man inside the child" has been replaced with "Ask her how, she don't know why"
Makes no sense, but hey.
IMO, none of the newer songs should've made the greatest hits album. I would've made a disc of just stuff from Achtung Baby, Zooropa and Pop (plus Electrical Storm, Miss Sarajevo, Hands That Built America and Hold Me...)
I was born in a manger, like that other guy. You know, he wore a hat?
After listening to it in the car for some time, now, I think the two biggest disappointments on the CD are the exclusion of "The Fly" and the brutal remix of "Discotheque"-it just loses so much there. I don't understand the inclusion of "The First Time" at all. But at least they didn't mess with the amazing "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me."
I enjoyed the bonus DVD that came with the limited edition. The History Mix is fun to watch-great way they edited a lot of the videos together.