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intereact!U2
Retail Price (not our price): $13.98
Release Date: 1998-11-10
Manufacturer: Island
Format: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Track List
Now here, for your listening pleasure, the tracks...
| Disc 1 |
Editorial Reviews (supplied by Amazon.com):
1) Amazon.com
One need hear only the first notes of this collection--the Edge's ringing guitar notes ushering in "Pride (In the Name of Love)"-to be taken back to 1984: Ronald Reagan and Maggie Thatcher rule the Western world, the L.A. Olympics is the top sports story, and Ms. Pac-Man reigns at arcades. In rock & roll, there's U2 growing in stature with each new title. Even doubters of the Irish lads have to concede that together they formed the one '80s band with the skill and sense of scale to take over the airwaves and concert stages in a decade of diminished expectations. This 15-song '80s best-of assortment (stick around for the hidden track) spans the decade, reaching back to 1980's "I Will Follow," when Bono and company were peach-fuzzy and earnest as choirboys, and tracking their path through their most glaring misstep, 1988's overblown Rattle and Hum. --Steven Stolder
Customer Reviews (supplied by Amazon.com):
Average Customer Rating: 4.0 out of 5
1) Touches the hits quite nicely, which is all a compilation is supposed to do in the first place [Rating: 4 out of 5]
Part of me can understand why some people hate U2 as passionately as they do. They were (and, if the success of the recent U23D is any indicator, remain) huge. I'll admit even I got burned out on hearing all of their hits a million times a day. And Bono does come off as a bit pompous (especially on Rattle and Hum, the first true failure of their career), though unlike (for example) Mick Jagger, who bought his seventh or eighth house a couple years ago, he does good stuff with his money. Unlike Mick, he puts it where his mouth is. Wait a sec... Mick does. Okay, this has the potential to come out really, really wrong. Never mind. Forget I said that. Back to square one.But anyway, despite all that I still think U2 is a great band, even though I don't listen to their studio albums all that often, fantastic as War and The Unforgettable Fire and Boy and the Joshua Tree and All That You Can't Leave Behind are. I mean, if I feel like listening to U2 I can just turn on the radio and I'll hear ten of their songs in an hour. This is probably the U2 album I listen to most, because my cousin (cool guy, by the way) is a pretty big U2 fan, and whenever I see him (which is quite often, considering he now only lives twenty minutes away, as opposed to two hours as he used to, even though he had a sweet house back then), we ALWAYS play this and usually spin War or The Joshua Tree (my two favorites) as well. Good times. But here's the point: If you just want a place to start your U2 collection, it doesn't really get much better than this. I would've liked "Gloria" (from their second album, October, which is decidedly hit-or-miss), but other than that it's got all their significant hits from the '80s, which were great. Oh yeah, I could complain about how "Anh Cat Dubh", "Shadows and Tall Trees", "I Fall Down", "With a Shout", "Seconds", "Two Hearts Beat as One", "Wire", "A Sort of Homecoming", "Running to Stand Still", "One Tree Hill", "Exit", "Hawkmoon 269" and so forth were left off, and there are too many edits. But it does contain the basics - "Where the Streets Have No Names", "Pride (In the Name of Love)", "Sunday Bloody Sunday", "Desire", "I Will Follow", "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For", "Bad" and all the others that have made them one of the most imitated bands in recent history. I think my favorite U2 track, contained here, is "New Year's Day", though I also really like "With or Without You".U2 were great in the '80s, a time when nobody else really was (except for Prince, R.E.M. and Stevie Ray Vaughan, no other new artists really had much going for them). They've got a distinct sound, a solid rhythm section, and the Edge playing some fine guitar. And Bono. Love him or hate him, you have to admit he's been influential. Good band!2) A good, maybe great, but not perfect compilation [Rating: 4 out of 5]
I bought this CD right when it came out, and I was very glad to, as at the time, U2 hadn't released a compilation and I wasn't sure if I wanted to buy four or five albums to get all the songs I liked by them.First of all, a few provisos: people can argue over whether or not it was a good idea to restrict this compilation to a single decade, particularly when U2 continued to thrive, and possibly even improve, in the time following the period this album represents.Also, compilations with titles like "The Best of..." are arguably more subjective than ones with titles like "Greatest Hits" or "Singles", as people can quibble about what an artist's best songs are, but there is less disputing whether or not a song was a hit, and even less about whether or not one was a single. Nevertheless, assuming that they meant something like "Hits" or "Singles" instead of "The Best of", this album fits the bill well, but not perfect.First of all, not every song you might hear on the radio from this era is represented here - some more important than others, but still - "Bullet the Blue Sky", "In God's Country", "Two Hearts Beat As One", "Surrender", "God, Part 2", and several others are missing. At just over an hour, this compilation contains a good amount of music, but 4 or 5 more songs could have been included on a single CD.Further, not all of them are as you might expect. "Bad", for example, is present in the studio version from The Unforgettable Fire and not the live version from Wide Awake in America that I was accustomed to hearing. Also, "New Year's Day" and "Where the Streets Have No Name" are in edited versions, which may be more familiar to some (again with the radio vs. album versions), but others will miss the full-length versions.In hindsight, I'm glad I bought this CD - there are a lot of excellent songs on here I don't have elsewhere, like "Pride", "Desire", and "I Will Follow", but I now own The Joshua Tree and War and several of their other albums, though. In summary, I'd say that if you really like what you've heard from U2 thus far, you might consider their individual albums - you won't be disappointed with most of them. That said, this is a good introduction to U2's early work, and I recommend it for casual fans.3) I love this CD [Rating: 5 out of 5]
U2 one of the greatest bands ever! I love my CD! it has one of my favorite songs "With or With out you"4) U2 SUCKS!!! [Rating: 1 out of 5]
U2 is one of the very worst bands of all time along with the Doors, Queen, Rolling Stones and Black Sabbath. All their albums and songs are pure rubbish!! Bono has got to be some of the worst singers ever!! Don't buy this CD as you will be wasting your money. U2 SHOULD BE DISHONORED FOR MAKING SUCH AWFUL MUSIC.5) Great U2 Intro [Rating: 5 out of 5]
This is an excellent introduction to and overview of teh first decade of U2's career. A slew of hits is on here, great music from start to finish. My only little disappointment is the absence of "In God's Country" from the Joshua Tree. The people who downgrade this CD appear to be people ticked off that their personal fav wasn't put on here; I don't see much quarrels with the music. Because there shouldn't be any; this is great stuff on here. Suffcient stuff from Rattle and Hum is on here that I was able to give up that CD; this CD has all the core hits from that album. Worth having for sure.