U2 – not so best of 1990 – 2000 – subtitled: what were they thinking?
picked up the limited edition best of, b-sides, dvd at target (14.88 on sale). i’d been hearing how much they were screwing up with the remixes, but didn’t go listen to them for myself at u2.com. to begin with i was wondering why on earth they’d be remixing songs for a best of cd…when i bought the first best of, when i wasn’t a u2 fan, if i had gotten remixed songs i would have been very, very upset. remixes are for fans, not for casual listeners, but i digress…they remixed, gone, discotheque, and staring at the sun from Pop, and numb from Zooropa…as well as a sorta new version of mysterious ways…i fast forwarded through some of the songs i hadn’t heard were remixes, and went to the new versions.
1. “mysterious ways” – it’s normal, it’s achtung baby version, and suddenly you’re like WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!?!? suddenly bono starts slurring and badly sings a high note. ok what?! why change an amazingly brilliant genius song, for 3 seconds, to make it retarded…specifically, it’s the “she sees the man inside the child” part. i don’t know what the hell he’s saying now, but it can’t possibly be that, and it sounds stupid. and if i was not a big u2 fan i’d hate it, and be really irritated it wasn’t the album version everyone knows and loves.
2. “gone” – this is one of their best songs ever. the live version is incredible. and that’s what i think they were trying to do with this one. they rerecorded the vocals, or dug a different vocal track out of the dust bin, and changed some of the music around it…it doesn’t work. it doesn’t touch the original or the live version. i was actually cringing when i had it on in the car. during the first chorus i was thinking, if they were trying to make it more like the live version they needed to add Edge’s background vocals…which they did in the 2nd chorus, but not nearly loud enough to be any good. and you can tell they used some of the vocal tracks from the original album version, and then some new ones. at least it seems that way to me. no doubt the end high notes are the old track, no way can bono hit that now. *sigh* then the cd goes onto “until the end of the world” which is one of their greatest songs ever as well… non remixed THANK GOD
3. “discotheque” – new beginning, not as hyper, more ethereal…it’s OK so far, since it’s a remix and not supposed to sound like the original…it’s totally devoid of its hyperactivity tho, which made the original so fun. ok the chorus, wtf. so not good. ok no this is not good at all. it’s so choppy now, no flow…no bono moans…no boomchas…without the boomchas, just them saying “discotheque” is really dumb for some reason. well that sucked.
4. “staring at the sun” – another of the greatest u2 songs ever…ok it just started and it’s like wtf is this crap. this sucks for no particular reason. it just sounds awful. it’s hurting my ears. an acoustic version would have been better. this is really not good. who approved this?
5. “numb” – so far not all that different. ok wtf is with the very out of place background “i feel numb”? i think it’s larry. it doesn’t need to be enhanced, leave it inaudible in the background please. bono’s falsetto is way cool, so it’s ok that it’s been brought up. but the other part. no…ok yeah nice bono falsetto. 🙂 if it wasn’t for the bad “i feel numb” part, this would be the best remix…but it really ruins it for me.

and the new songs
1. electrical storm – i like this song. alot. and the video. hehe. larry shirtless, can’t go wrong.
2. the hands that built america – cheesy…it’s ok, it’s strange, bono sings opera. definitely soundtrack material (it’s from a new movie “the gangs of new york”)

thank god for no remixes of “hold me thrill me kiss me kill me” and “until the end of the world” or i’d really have to bitch. and i still do not get why “the first time” is on this cd…if you wanted another song from zooropa.. hello?!?! “lemon”!!! or even “daddy’s gonna pay for your crashed car”…but “the first time”??? stupid.

i think they felt it was safe to remix all these songs from Pop since it was their “failure” album…hardly. i don’t care if they say it was unfinished etc…the first half sounds very good and very finished, it’s the 2nd half that needs help. and all the songs on the best of are from the first half. and just because casual fans won’t know the Pop songs, doesn’t mean they needed to be remixed into crap, cuz that’s not gonna make casual fans go out and discover Pop for themselves…and i guess the “numb” remix…no one really knew that song either.

you know what. i don’t like this cd at all. the first best of was so good…and this one, i don’t get it. i dunno why. i just think it’s really bad. it was probably hard to pick out tracks to include, since you have to include songs from “achtung baby” which might as well be a best of in its own right…to me, this cd is not representative of the best of u2…especially with all the fucking remixes. WHAT WERE THEY THINKING omg it’s pissing me off so much lol. if the songs were left non remixed, this would be much better, but i’m already thinking of how i’m going to have to fast forward half this cd…if i even bother to listen to it.

ok bsides. actually they’re mostly remixes…i hate remixes. lol. i never listen to the best of 80-90 bsides disc. i’m a bad fan. oh man i can’t take this. the “dirty day” remix is pretty cool. er well most of it is. “north and south of the river” never heard this song before…eh sorta boring. i hate dance remixes. haha this song is called “salome” and it sounds like bono is saying salami. shake it, shake it, shake it salami hahah. the “numb” remix on the bsides disc is bizarre haha… it’s all hip hop-ified.

well the bonus little dvd thing redeemed the rest. it’s so funny.

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