Salvation Through U2's Greatest Hits

You don't need this album.

If you're a music fan, it's likely that you have several U2 albums in your personal catalog. I own most (not all) U2 albums (never bought “Boy” or “October”, and my copies of “Zooropa” and “Pop” are missing). When a group's catalog is as important as U2's, greatest hits are usually only worth it if they contain extra material, which “Best Of 1980-90” doesn't, with the exception of a refurbished B-side. So why did I buy this album? I guess you could say I needed salvation in a pinch.

Most people who know me well, even those that read my reviews, know that I suffer from mood swings. This past week, my personal issues combined with the results of the election sort of plunged me into despair. Well, not despair, but a period of rather deep melancholy. Music has a way of allowing me to purge these feelings from my system, and there is no band that symbolizes hope and passion-two emotions that were missing from my life for a short while- more than U2. After a cathartic listen to my cassette copy of “The Joshua Tree”, I decided that I a) really needed to do some upgrading to CD, and B) needed a U2 best of album in a hurry because I was too lazy to burn my own U2 mix CD. 36 hours later, this baby was in my hands, and I was busy losing myself in Bono's impassioned wail and The Edge's churning guitar.

You can't fault a man for wearing his heart on his sleeve, and I don't think many people in rock wear their hearts on their sleeves more explicity than Bono. He wears not only his heart on his sleeve, but his sadnss, joy, love and faith on his sleeve. And what's more amazing is that he does so without ever coming across as someone who wants to pound a point home to you, like many artists who use their music to spout social, political or religious concerns. Not only does he explain the struggle, he explains his struggle. In a way his voice and his lyrics make you feel like he's fighting through it with you as opposed to standing a level above, looking down on you. It makes him human, and it's probably saved him from bearing the mark of the “pretentious *ss”, something that like-minded artists like Sting and Peter Gabriel have been unable to avoid. And, quite frankly, without that purity, that innocence, that sense of a man trying to make sense of the world, it would be pretty easy to lump him in with the aforementioned-his name is Bono Vox ("good voice"), for crying out loud!

Bono's also saved by the three men that surround him. It's a credit to U2 that they've stood in the trenches together for nearly thirty years, when Bono could've easily stepped out on his own 10, 15 or even 20 years ago. Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. are one of the most underrated rhythm sections in rock history, and The Edge is as legendary a guitarist as Bono is a songwriter/vocalist. One note of that chiming guitar and you can tell immediately that it's a U2 record. Edge's guitar often acts as a punctuation mark to Bobo's words, whether it's the thundering opening to "Where The Streets Have No Name” or the subtle accents that poke up throughout “Bad”.

It'd be stupid for me to go through each individual highlight on this album, because there are so many of them here. The truth is, they've managed to maintain such a high level of quality in their music that you might take some of the ear and brain candy for granted. The band's political/religious sensibilities rear their heads early on with songs like the punk-ish “I Will Follow” and the military cadence of “Sunday Bloody Sunday”. These songs sort of show U2 as a work-in-progress, but even in their formative stages, they could still kick the *ss of 95% of the bands that followed in it's wake.

“New Year's Day”, for me, is the first song where it all comes together. The rumbling guitar sounds like it's trying hard to run away from you, and Bono emotes at the top of his lungs. Later on, he'd learn to convey the same passion while being more subtle vocally, but here, the throat-shredding conveys sincerity. The song itself is equally love song/political rally, a trick the band would use to blur the meaning of many other songs down the road. Somewhat unfortunately, the mix included here wipes out the entire last verse, and replaces it with Bono singing "I will be with you again" over and over. I'm not sure why they did that. For what it's worth, both versions are great, the album version on "War" is better.

“Bad” is one of the first songs where the subtle button kicks in, at least for most of it. A friend told me years ago that this quiet ballad was about the drug addiction of a close friend of Bono's, and the tone of the song does seem a bit in line with an intimate conversation punctuated by gentle pleading. About 2/3 of the way into the song, though, Bono starts shrieking “I'm wide awake!”, throwing his whole voice, his whole being into those three words. It's bone-chilling, and if you don't have a reaction to it, you just might not have a pulse.

As everyone knows, 1987's “The Joshua Tree” catapulted the quartet into mega-stardom, and as opposed to the sellout move that it usually takes for a band to get to the “next level”, U2 hit the top just by streamlining and maturing their sound. “With Or Without You” is subtler and quieter than most of what came before, but is no less passionate. Again, this song could easily be about a lover, a family member, or God, but regardless of the subject, it made it's mark enough to be considered a modern classic. The song itself gradually builds in intensity until Bono unleashes a series of wordless screams that never hesitate to make my eyes well up. “I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For” may just be my personal theme song of the moment, and, again, what you get here is 4 minutes of perfection. From The Edge's percussive guitar on the song's fade-in to the beginning of the third voice, when the entire band jums into the vocal (“I believe in the Kingdom Come...”), it's damn near a prayer in the form of a pop song. Seventeen years later, it's hard not to be emotionally affected by these songs.

Strangely, “Rattle & Hum”, widely considered to be one of the less-essential albums of the band's, gets the most face time here. I'm not quite sure why 'Rattle” is given the toss-off, becaue even the cover versions on it rock my socks, but the four songs on here, while not reaching the heights of the “Joshua Tree” singles, are essential listening. B.B. King delivers some thunderous vocals and guitar on the rollicking “When Love Comes To Town”, and Bono testifies like a fire-and-brimstone preacher on “Desire” (which features some of the most blistering harmonica I've ever heard on record). He delivers a heartfelt tribute to Billie Holiday on “Angel Of Harlem”, and the band (joined by a horn section) swings like a Memphis soul band circa 1968. Someone was listening to those King Curtis and Otis Redding records back in Dublin. The experience is capped off by the brooding ballad “All I Want Is You”, one of the most sincere (if in a somewhat eerie way) love songs ever recorded.

There's not a single-song on this compilation that can be deemed skip-worthy. “The Sweetest Thing” is a bit airy compared to the rest of the album, but Bono writes throwaway pop songs better than just about anyone else, and if “The Unforgettable Fire” sounds a wee bit too much like most other songs that came out during that period from the likes of Duran Duran and INXS, at least U2 have the advantage of being able to play that sound better than anyone else.

So, let's go back to that first sentence. You shouldn't have this album. Why? Because these songs all appear on albums that are practically essential. Just about every other artist has good songs from not-so-good albums that are only worthwhile if you pick up a Greatest Hits album by them. Of the five U2 albums that these songs are culled from, “War”, “The Joshua Tree” and “Rattle & Hum” are certified must-haves. “The Unforgettable Fire” comes close, and I've never heard “Boy” to make that assessment. However, if you're in a pinch, and need some confirmation that at it's best, music not only has the power to entertain but to also be emotional, life-affirming and thoughtful, then everything you need to hear is in the grooves of this album.



"The Best Of U2: 1980-1990"

Rating : 5 out of 5 stars

Repeat: "New Year's Day", "Bad", "With Or Without You", "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For", "All I Want Is You"

Skip: Nothing

Great Music to Play While: Patietly waiting for the new U2 album to come out so I can get my socks knocked off again.