U2's second decade often seemed as preoccupied with the band's burgeoning superstardom--and how to confront/confound it--as it did with creating music. The band managed only four albums during the era (only half of its '80s output), projects whose gestations seemed perennially plagued by turmoil as much as mercurial creative instincts. But as this anthology chronicles, U2 ultimately managed a considerable feat: producing a memorable, lasting body of work in a decade where one of pop music's chief attributes was its disposability. The disc mixes hits like "Mysterious Ways" and "One" with seductive soundtrack cuts (the title track to Wim Wenders's Until the End of the World, Batman Forever's "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me"), new mixes of "Discotheque," "Staring at the Sun," and "Numb," and a pair of strong new tracks, the Orbit mix of "Electrical Storm" and "The Hands that Built America," the title track from Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York. --Jerry McCulley
T**S
Two Shots of Happy and One Drop of Sad
Quick Overview: This DVD is both an excellent survey of U2's music during the past decade and a fascinating anthology of music videos, both conceptual and performance. Musically, it contains all of the songs from the regular release of the CD "U2: The Best of 1990-2000", with the exception that "For the First Time" is replaced by "The Fly". In addition, it contains seven bonus tracks, songs lamented by many for not being included on the CD. Cinematically, it boasts both performance and conceptual videos of varying quality; with the inclusion of intriguing director commentaries, many of the videos merit multiple viewings. Alternate videos for "Even Better Than The Real Thing", "One", "Stuck in a Moment...", "Staring at the Sun", and "Numb" are provided to yield a total of 28 music videos for 23 songs. As a special treat, three documentaries are included. All in all, this is an amazing DVD.Details, Shot One ("Conceptual Videos"): The most successful conceptual videos are "Numb" (Godley version), "Please", and "If God Will Send His Angels". The "Numb" video bluntly demonstrates the cause of The Edge's numbness--it's also quite funny and disturbing. "Please" and "If God Will Send His Angels" are probably my favorites. Bono's performance in "Please" is poignant, and the gimic employed by Corbijn works well here. The use of split screen and altered film speed in "If God Will Send..." effectively communicates that awful out-of-sync feeling of being alone among people, even among friends."One" deserves special mention. Three videos were made for this. Pellington's version, employed in concert, emphasized buffalos, images of which adorn both the CD and DVD; sadly, this video was NOT included on the DVD. The other two videos are here, and they are interesting. Corbijn's version is notable for having Bono's father playing a major role; in addition, you get to decide which member of U2 would make the most attractive woman--I don't think it's Bono.Details, Shot Two ("Performance Videos"): What would U2 be without footage of them on stage? Many of these videos, including conceptual ones, feature perforance footage. Some, like "Gone" and "Mofo", are essentially concert videos; I prefer watching these songs on the Zoo TV and PopMart videos. Others, like "Even Better Than the Real Thing", "Mysterious Ways", and "Staring at the Sun", utilize novel filming techniques tobolster the song's mood or message. Some are more successful than others. For example, at first boring, the strange effects in "Staring at the Sun" (Scott version) become almost revelatory at the end. In "Please" and "One", expressions on The Edge's face at key points of the video are very telling and make the inclusion of performance footage mandatory.One Drop of Sad: These are minor quibbles. 1) Navigation is sometimes frustrating. You click on the director's name and you get either the video OR the video with commentary. If you click on the triangle beside his name, you definitely get commentary. If you have the same trouble, keep trying; eventually, you will get the straight video. 2) With "Mofo", I had to try accessing the video several times before I heard the soundtrack. "Mofo" was the only video with which I had this problem. 3) Although the box claims subtitles in five languages, I did not find Japanese subtitles actually provided for the songs I checked, and I checked most of them. 4) Some songs, like "Beautiful Day" and "One", had alternate videos. It would have been nice to have ALL versions. (This is a BEST OF anthology, so maybe they only included the best of the alternates?)Extra Tidbits: The DVD booklet provides interesting, albeit short, notes on each song. The DVD package provides storage space for the U2 The History Mix DVD, that came with the special edition of "The Best of 1990-2002" CD.In Summary: This is an outstanding DVD. It contains most, arguably the best, of the singles from 1990-2000 with their videos, all of which contain something of at least passing interest and some of which are very powerful. The director commentaries are fascinating and provide valuable behind-the-scenes information. The documentaries are a nice addition. I highly recommend "U2: The Best of 1990-2002"; it's one of the best DVDs I've bought this year.
T**S
5 Stars cause it is GREAT & Cross-Generational
I was never a big U2 fan but strangely enough what made me a Fan was the Million Dollar Hotel CD (think it was just Bono on this). Long story short...that somewhat strange CD made me start rethinking my appreciation of Bono and the musical skills of the band which HAS proved over the years that they ARE very skilled musicians and artists. I think reason I wasn't a fan so much was because I got force fed a diet of whatever was on the radio and my favorite songs aren't usually what is played on radio (or TV).As years have gone by...I have looked for ways to not only entertain myself...but my granddaughter. BEST PART of this DVD collection is that I can SHARE it with her...I don't have to worry that there is going to be rude and crude comments between the videos. Videos are "sexy" but compared to what is on TV now...this is better than HM...if you know what I mean. WE love dancing around and singing together while this DVD is on. It's just plain good for all ages IMHO. Most of the videos on this DVD I NEVER saw before due to MTV/VH1 past playlists.I became aware of these videos about a year ago when Comcast Online put up ALOT of their videos in a pre-release for a CD coming out. IF I wasn't a big fan before...I became one upon seeing those videos.
G**N
Glad I took the chance
Although I have 99% of U2's music, I was never really exposed to their videos. This DVD gave me a great chance to "catch up"! My absolute favorites are "Electrical Storm" and "Discoteque" since they give us a chance to see another side of the band members personalities, especially Larry's! Kudos to him for having the courage to stand out a little bit more!I, too, was frustrated at the missing disc and blame Amazon for not explaining it in their buyer info (unless I of course missed it.) They could have used the opportunity to explain how to get the second disc and made an "upsell" with me. Oh well.The DVD was also a little cumbersome in its navigation, but once you figure out the quirks you've got it.I LOVED the commentaries and the small documentaries and the bonus tracks. I'm glad I made this purchase and am looking for more video material.
M**I
Complete picture of U2 in the '90s
This DVD is flawless. Its definately an improvement on the limited edition 2CD version which had adulterated versions and unnecessary techno remixes. This is really a complete collection. At first glance, I thought it only had the 16 music videos listed on the box. Not only does this DVD have bonus videos such as Whose Gonna Ride, Please and Lemon, it has 3 documentaries, director commentaries for almost every video and even alternate video versions for songs such as the fantastic One, Staring At The Sun, Stuck In A Moment among others. My favorite videos here are the Berlin version of One, Numb, Stay, Even Better Than The Real Thing and The Fly. The documentary, 'The Story Of One' is really well made too. I dont know if I'm ever going to get tired of this collection. Totally worth the price!
J**Z
A great DVD for the best band... Everยกยก
I am not a very big fan of DVD's containing Musical Videos, but since I am a big fan of U2, I decided to give it a chance.After watching it I can tell you that it was a very good decision buying it. You get the chance to see more than 20 videos of the group, and you may already know it, these videos really rockยกยก, Adding to the value of the videos you have a very good audio track and comentaries from the directors in almost every video. Have you ever wondered in what were they thinking when they made the video? Well in the comentaries you have the answer, and you get the chance to get some funny facts about the filming of the videos.A very good buy, don't hesitate in buying it
J**S
Great gift for a U2 fan
It was a great present for my wife for Christmas as she is a big U2 fan.It has all the best film clips, and has a supplementary disc with more info. Great for any U2 fan.
M**A
Looks great!
This looks a great dvd , U2 one of the best bands ever, i'll start to watch anytime soon! Well worth it! Thanks
M**Y
Even better than the real thing
After owning the cd and the video of best of 1980-1990 i was wondering when U2 would be realeasing the second part to their fantastic career, but i never expexted them to realease it so soon. Looking at the cover and the way the dvd is packaged, U2 in a commercial sence again make the product inviting with the cardboard cover and the exclusive videos listed on the back. When watching the dvd for the first time i thought my telly had broken when the screen just went off. Must it must have been those lemon people messing around with ZOO tv until the menu screen pops up. The video for, "Real Thing" kicks off their second decade introducing you to their 90's but the video is shabby and the screen seems to break up at times and all quality of the video seems lost. Look closely and you can see white lines and picture freezes. It gets much better though as U2 take the watcher through the ZOO tv and Popmart ride and it is a ride. There are a few suprises here. "Hands that built" is good as it is a different version to the cd version and, "The Ground Beneath" is the actually the 23rd video although the menu screen states there are 22 videos! The only disapointment of the dvd is where are the videos for, "Elevation" and "Walk On"? Surely they would have included them here. The documentaries are good. Showing you the story of their Popmart gig in Sarajevo is interesting and chilling as Bono and The Edge drive through the town with buildings destroyed and bullet hole marks in the walls all caused by the war. So is it worth buying? Well if you only like their anthems then no. Don't waste your time. If you believe in watching more tv then buy it. Just thank God Bono took off those horns and got on with the show!
I**A
very good quality
Very good album with good quality
"**"
FANTABULOUS!!!!
totally amazing! ive had this DVD since it came out, and i STILL cant put it down. whether its to see U2 dressed up as the Village People for Discotheque or to watch the whole thing from the start, this is the best item ive bought for years! plus ive only just found out about the hidden material- the trabbies in the fish tank- very cute! find them if u can.
D**
Good
Great
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