Achtung Bubba
Refugee
Here's part of the latest rumor about the second Best Of release. From youtwo.net:
The exact title of the "Best Of" compilation is not know yet, but it is thought from various rumors that the album will cover the years 1990-2001.
And yet...
Early December 2002: New U2 "Best Of 1990 - 2000" DVD release. This DVD will include the video clips to all tracks from the CD as well as special features.
If the DVD is indeed titled "Best of 90-00," the new album will probably be titled likewise... which still leaves unanswered the question on everyone's mind:
Will the album consider releases from the year 2000 - the Million Dollar Hotel soundtrack and All That You Can't Leave Behind?
If the album covered 91-00, the answer would probably be yes; it would mean that each year from 1980 on would be covered by one album, and only one album. 2000 would be covered by 91-00, so the 2000 releases would have to be included. Likewise, if the album covered 90-01, the M$H soundtrack and ATYCLB would obviously be covered.
But if the 90-00 title is correct, we will have the "bookend" years covered by two albums. The only 1990 release, "Night and Day," could have been included on either 80-90 or 90-00. (I believe it's clear that N&D is a proper precursor the Zoo era, rather than an epilogue to Rattle & Hum; it's better suited for 90-00.)
The year 2000 is another "bookend" year. It could be reserved for the next Best Of - The Best Of 2000-2010.
(Wouldn't that be cool? Our Boys making great music until 2010....)
So, U2 could put on "Stateless" and "Walk On" on this upcoming compilation, or they could wait for the next decade.
What do you think should happen?
Personally, I think they should wait, for three reasons:
1. There are already plenty of songs for this Best Of. Many will point out that there were only three official studio releases in the 90's - Zooropa being a happy accident, Passengers becoming a bit too odd to be called a proper U2 relase. I grant the obvious, but that's still more than enough quality material.
"Night and Day"
"The Fly"
"Mysterious Ways"
"One"
"Even Better than the Real Thing"
"Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses"
"Until the End of the World"
(UTEOTW is the fan-favorite from Achtung Baby - like "Bad," it is a song that probably should have been a single.)
"Numb"
"Lemon"
"Stay"
"The First Time"
(Recall that "The First Time" found its way onto the M$H soundtrack.)
"Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me"
"Discotheque"
"Staring at the Sun"
"Last Night on Earth"
"Please"
"If God Will Send His Angels"
"Gone"
(Gone is POP's "should have been a single.")
Include the Passengers' "Miss Sarajevo" and "Your Blue Room," and you already have twenty prime candidates for fifteen tracks.
2. All That You Can't Leave Behind does not belong with Achtung Baby and POP. The difference between POP and ATYCLB is as palpable as the gulf between Rattle & Hum and Achtung Baby. Certainly, there are bridges between the two pairs of albums ("God Part II" and "The Fly"; "Wake Up Dead Man" and "Peace on Earth"), but the differences dominate.
It would be like including Achtung Baby on the first Best Of.
3. It would undercut ATYCLB's total sales. Even though the album has slipped out of the many charts, it still sells a few copies each week; a handful of people finally decide to try out the album on the strength of singles like "Beautiful Day" and "Stuck in a Moment." As Boy, The Joshua Tree, and Achtung Baby have already shown, those sales add up over time.
It's one thing to release a compilation ten years after the fact (1988's Rattle & Hum, 1998's The Best Of 80-90). It's one thing to release a compilation four years after the release of the lukewarmly received POP.
But All That You Can't Leave Behind was released less than two years ago. Each of its four singles won at least one Grammy, and the album is responsible for seven Grammys over the course of two years. Its tour was a phenomenal success, and U2 is once again considered by many to be biggest band in the world.
This album has legs.
What do you think?
The exact title of the "Best Of" compilation is not know yet, but it is thought from various rumors that the album will cover the years 1990-2001.
And yet...
Early December 2002: New U2 "Best Of 1990 - 2000" DVD release. This DVD will include the video clips to all tracks from the CD as well as special features.
If the DVD is indeed titled "Best of 90-00," the new album will probably be titled likewise... which still leaves unanswered the question on everyone's mind:
Will the album consider releases from the year 2000 - the Million Dollar Hotel soundtrack and All That You Can't Leave Behind?
If the album covered 91-00, the answer would probably be yes; it would mean that each year from 1980 on would be covered by one album, and only one album. 2000 would be covered by 91-00, so the 2000 releases would have to be included. Likewise, if the album covered 90-01, the M$H soundtrack and ATYCLB would obviously be covered.
But if the 90-00 title is correct, we will have the "bookend" years covered by two albums. The only 1990 release, "Night and Day," could have been included on either 80-90 or 90-00. (I believe it's clear that N&D is a proper precursor the Zoo era, rather than an epilogue to Rattle & Hum; it's better suited for 90-00.)
The year 2000 is another "bookend" year. It could be reserved for the next Best Of - The Best Of 2000-2010.
(Wouldn't that be cool? Our Boys making great music until 2010....)
So, U2 could put on "Stateless" and "Walk On" on this upcoming compilation, or they could wait for the next decade.
What do you think should happen?
Personally, I think they should wait, for three reasons:
1. There are already plenty of songs for this Best Of. Many will point out that there were only three official studio releases in the 90's - Zooropa being a happy accident, Passengers becoming a bit too odd to be called a proper U2 relase. I grant the obvious, but that's still more than enough quality material.
"Night and Day"
"The Fly"
"Mysterious Ways"
"One"
"Even Better than the Real Thing"
"Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses"
"Until the End of the World"
(UTEOTW is the fan-favorite from Achtung Baby - like "Bad," it is a song that probably should have been a single.)
"Numb"
"Lemon"
"Stay"
"The First Time"
(Recall that "The First Time" found its way onto the M$H soundtrack.)
"Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me"
"Discotheque"
"Staring at the Sun"
"Last Night on Earth"
"Please"
"If God Will Send His Angels"
"Gone"
(Gone is POP's "should have been a single.")
Include the Passengers' "Miss Sarajevo" and "Your Blue Room," and you already have twenty prime candidates for fifteen tracks.
2. All That You Can't Leave Behind does not belong with Achtung Baby and POP. The difference between POP and ATYCLB is as palpable as the gulf between Rattle & Hum and Achtung Baby. Certainly, there are bridges between the two pairs of albums ("God Part II" and "The Fly"; "Wake Up Dead Man" and "Peace on Earth"), but the differences dominate.
It would be like including Achtung Baby on the first Best Of.
3. It would undercut ATYCLB's total sales. Even though the album has slipped out of the many charts, it still sells a few copies each week; a handful of people finally decide to try out the album on the strength of singles like "Beautiful Day" and "Stuck in a Moment." As Boy, The Joshua Tree, and Achtung Baby have already shown, those sales add up over time.
It's one thing to release a compilation ten years after the fact (1988's Rattle & Hum, 1998's The Best Of 80-90). It's one thing to release a compilation four years after the release of the lukewarmly received POP.
But All That You Can't Leave Behind was released less than two years ago. Each of its four singles won at least one Grammy, and the album is responsible for seven Grammys over the course of two years. Its tour was a phenomenal success, and U2 is once again considered by many to be biggest band in the world.
This album has legs.
What do you think?