U2’s 1980-1990 collection was darn near perfect, covering the band’s biggest hits from the decade and a couple of album tracks to boot. One would hope the sequel would follow suit...and boy, does it ever not.
To be fair, pulling it off would have been tricky no matter who compiled it. 1991 marked the debut of Achtung Baby and the new-look, electronic, ironic, gaudy U2, a trend that would increasingly continue on Zooropa and Pop before the band returned to its “roots,” if you will, on All That You Can’t Leave Behind. There were some hits during this period and some non-album singles, but not enough to fill up an entire disc.
So, the compilers choose two new songs and a selection of album tracks, seemingly chosen by throwing darts at a board listing U2 songs. There is no reason why “Numb,” “The First Time,” “Until The End of the World” the dull soundtrack-only “The Hands That Built America” and “Discotheque” get to be here. There is no reason why the remix of “Electrical Storm” is present as a new song instead of the superior original version, which is buried on the second disc (if you buy the deluxe edition...more on that later). And on the topic of remixes, what is the point of remixing “Gone,” “Numb,” “Discotheque” and “Staring At The Sun?” The new takes don’t add anything.
The hits that one expects are here, and front-loaded (like all U2 albums), from “One” and “Beautiful Day” to “Mysterious Ways” and “Stuck In A Moment You Can’t Get Out Of” to “Stay (Faraway, So Close)” and “Even Better Than The Real Thing” and the 
Batman Forever glam-rocker “Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me.” These all deserve to be here and they make this collection a solid find for a new fan who wants to dig a little deeper than 18 Singles but doesn’t want to buy four albums and a soundtrack to a bad movie.
But boy, those superfluous songs replace much better ones from the four albums in question. Why on Earth are “Elevation” and “Walk On” missing? What about the rampaging tour de force “Mofo,” or the fuzzy disco ”Lemon” (a minor alt-radio hit) or “The Fly” (which sparked the whole Macphisto persona on the Zoo TV tour)? Heck, even the Johnny Cash collaboration “The Wanderer” or the forgotten gem “Please” would be more useful. Taken with the hits, they would have truly told the story of this fascinating decade. Points added for including the Pavarotti collab “Miss Sarajevo” from the Passengers disc, released to little fanfare halfway through the decade.
Compilations can be subjective, though, and it seems the song selection and remixes tries to downplay the gaudier, more colorful elements of these records, trying to get them to fit alongside The Joshua Tree like the whole Popmart tour never happened. It’s not true, and anyone who knows U2 knows this, but casual fans won’t know and will be very surprised if they explore further.
What’s odd is that the second disc is completely at odds with the first one, but keeping in line with the actual spirit of these albums. The disc is all of the B-sides from the first disc’s singles, many of which are techno-inspired remixes or fun originals like “Lady With The Spinning Head,” the Beatles cover “Happiness Is A Warm Gun” and the fantastic “Salome.” The original B-side “Salome” is worth seeking out for all fans, but the remix takes the song in a more fun, albeit slightly cheesier, early techno direction.
Also on this bonus disc are two downbeat yet strong rarities in “North And South Of The River” and “Your Blue Room,” the latter of which sounds like a dry run for 2009’s amazing “Moment Of Surrender.” The 2000 B-side “Summer Rain” is a solid acoustic rocker too. Unfortunately, all of these songs occur in the first half of the disc, and the second is given over to remixes of songs that weren’t that great to begin with. But it keeps in line with the experimentation and flirtation with electronica during the decade, I suppose, and not all experiments work.
So here’s the line. If you only want the huge hits, 18 Singles has them, or you can get them individually on iTunes and make your own mix. If you want to really dig into this era of the band, it’s better to just check out each of the four albums, which each have their own personality and should be heard as such. If you want just a very basic, flawed overview of this decade of the band, then pick this one up, but just know that only tells part of the story and is nowhere near the success it should have been.