After making an iTunes playlist of the U218: Singles tracklist, I have determined that it sounds "okay" but could (and should) be a lot better. Here is what I thought of each transition:
NB. I used Single Mixes of Walk On & Sweetest Thing, Tomb Raider Mix of Elevation, Edited versions of Streets & SYCMIOYO & NYD.
Start -> Beautiful Day Good, uplifting start to an album. Worked on ATYCLB, good choice here.
Beautiful Day -> ISHFWILF Good, despite the 13 year gap these two tracks mesh quite well!
ISHFWILF -> Pride Okay, not as bad I initially thought. Triumphant song after a thoughtful one.
Pride -> WOWY Poor, the two songs have different feelings. I don't like the change.
WOWY -> Vertigo Shocking! The subtle yearning at the end of WOWY gives way to hyperbolic spanish!
Vertigo -> NYD Not bad, though 21 year gap is quite noticeable! The volume and production differences are quite noticeable with NYD being so much older.
NYD -> Mysterious Ways Okay, I thought this would be worse, but in the end it was not horrible.
Mysterious Ways -> Stuck Poor! The change in tempo and feeling in the songs really frustrates me, but its not hideous.
Stuck -> Streets Okay, but I can think of better songs to precede *the* U2 song, ie NONE.
Streets -> Sweetest Thing What song can follow Streets? Not Sweetest Thing, despite it being the former's B-Side (?)
Sweetest Thing -> Sunday Bloody Sunday Nasty! What the hell were they thinking with this transition?
Sunday Bloody Sunday -> One Okay, but again it seems a poor choice.
One -> Desire Poor! Ballad to Uptempo americana???! What the.....
Desire -> Walk On Poor AGAIN! Walk On should be a closing song, I didn't like it at #4 on ATYCLB either.
Walk On -> Elevation Terrible...you feel like the album is ending then WHAM!
Elevation -> SYCMIOYO Appalling! Worst transition on the album. To go from throwaway pop to heartfelt ballad does NOT work in this context.
SYCMIOYO -> Saints Pretty good! This doesn't sound out of place, other than going from Bono to Billy Joe.
After listening, I have determined this would be a nicer order:
01 Streets
02 Beautiful Day
03 ISHFWILF
04 SYCMIOYO
05 Sweetest Thing
06 Desire
07 Elevation
08 Vertigo
09 New Year's Day
10 Stuck
11 Pride
12 SBS
13 Saints
14 Mysterious Ways
15 WOWY
16 One
17 Walk On
Slot in "Window in The Skies" depending on what it sounds like! If I Will Follow is at the end, it is allll dooooooomed!