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U218 Videos

By Jonathan on November 17, 2006 9:12 AM
U218 Videos Front Sleeve

U218 Videos
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Release Date: November 17, 2006

Duration: 149 Minutes

Liner Notes:

Artwork By (Consultant): Steve Averill, (Design): Shaughn McGrath. Compiled By: Paul Bussey. Dvd Producer: Ned O'Hanlon. Production Manager: Tara Mullen. Project Managers: Candida Bottaci, Steve Matthews. Photography (Booklet): Phil Sheehy. Photography (Front Cover): David Corio. Audio Restoration & Conform: Ted Hall, Jason Talton. Boss Of Audio: Cheryl Engels. Written by: U2 (tracks: 1 to 18, 20 to 28). A Solo Too Production for U2 Limited. Compiled at The Joint, London. DVD Authoring, Design and Compression: Abbey Road Interactive, London. Audio Restauration & Conform at Pop Sound. Designed at Four5One°Creative, Dublin. Aspect: 16:9 and 4:3. Sound: PCM Stereo. Duration: 2 hrs 29 mins. Language: English. DVD: 1xDVD-9. All tracks published by Universal Music Publishing B.V. except Blue Mountain Music (UK), Mother Music (IRL), except "The Saints Are Coming" published by EMI Virgin Music Ltd. This compilation (p)+(c) 2006 Universal Island Records Limited under exclusive licence to Mercury Records Limited in the UK.

Track List:

  1. Beautiful Day (Video Director: Jonas Ã…kerlund. Video Producer: Nicola Doring) (4:14)
  2. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For (Video Director: Barry Devlin. Video Producer: Anne-Louise Kelly) (4:42)
  3. Pride (In The Name Of Love) (Video Director: Donald Cammell. Video Producer: James Morris, Michael Hamlyn) (4:13)
  4. With Or Without You (Video Director: Meiert Avis. Video Producer: Michael Hamlyn, Paul Spencer) (5:02)
  5. Vertigo (Video Director: Alex And Martin. Video Producer: Grace Bodie) (3:20)
  6. New Year's Day (Video Director: Meiert Avis. Video Producer: James Morris) (4:26)
  7. Mysterious Ways (Video Director: Stéphane Sednaoui. Video Producer: Phillippe Dupuis-Mendel) (4:12)
  8. Stuck In Moment You Can't Get Out Of (US Version) (Video Director: Joseph Kahn. Video Producer: Greg Tharp) (4:36)
  9. Stuck In Moment You Can't Get Out Of (International Version) (Video Director: Kevin Godley. Video Producer: Richard Holling) (4:41)
  10. Where The Streets Have No Name (Video Director: Meiert Avis. Video Producer: Ben Dossett, Michael Hamlyn) (7:21)
  11. Sweetest Thing (Video Director: Kevin Godley. Video Producer: Ned O'Hanlon, Richard Holling) (3:25)
  12. Sunday Bloody Sunday (Live At Red Rocks, June 1983) (Video Director: Gavin Taylor. Video Producer: Malcom Gerrie, Paul McGuinness, Rick Wurpel) (6:00)
  13. One (Video Director: Anton Corbijn. Video Producer: Richard Bell) (4:50)
  14. Desire (Video Director: Richard Lowenstein. Video Producer: Juliet Naylor, Michael Hamlyn) (3:36)
  15. Walk On (International Version) (Video Director: Jonas Ã…kerlund. Video Producer: Nicola Doring) (4:55)
  16. Walk On (US Version) (Video Director: Liz Friedlander. Video Producer: Tim Kerrison) (4:35)
  17. Elevation (Video Director: Joseph Kahn. Video Producer: Greg Tharp) (4:00)
  18. Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own (Video Director: Phil Joanou. Video Producer: Ned O'Hanlon) (4:47)
  19. The Saints Are Coming (U2 and Green Day) (Live From New Orleans) (Video Director: Hamish Hamilton. Video Producer: Ken Ehrlich. Written by: Richard Jobson, Stuart Adamson) (3:32)

Bonus Track List:

  1. The Making Of Vertigo (Video Director: Ned O'Hanlon) (16:31)
  2. A Story Of One (Video Director: Maurice Linnane) (14:53)
  3. Beautiful Day (Eze Version) (Video Director: Joe Edwards) (4:13)
  4. Pride (In The Name Of Love) (Slane Castle Version) (Video Director: Barry Devlin) (3:51)
  5. Vertigo (Lisbon Version) (Video Director: Joe Edwards. Remix: Jacknife Lee) (4:19)
  6. Vertigo (HQ Version) (Video Director: Richie Smyth) (3:29)
  7. One (Buffalo Version) (Video Director: Mark Pellington) (4:48)
  8. One (Restaurant Version) (Video Director: Phil Joanou) (4:41)
  9. Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own (Single Take Version) (Video Director: Phil Joanou) (4:48)

Catalog:

  • Europe:
    • DVD: Mercury 0602517138704
  • USA:
    • DVD: Interscope 000808109

Media Review:

Review: U218 Videos [DVD]

4 stars (out of 5)

By Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide

U2's first two greatest-hits albums neatly divided themselves by decade, with the first covering the '80s and the second summing up the '90s. Their third hits comp, 2006's U218 Singles, is at once more ambitious and more concise, offering an overview of their first 26 years on a single disc comprised of 18 tracks -- and since two of those are new songs, that leaves just 16 songs to tell their whole story. That's not much space for a band with a career as lengthy and ambitious as U2, so it's inevitable that some painful cuts have been made. Nothing from October, Zooropa or Pop is here, and unless you're buying various import editions that have "I Will Follow" as a bonus track, there's nothing from Boy, either. There's only one cut each from The Unforgettable Fire and Rattle and Hum -- and bucking conventional wisdom, none of their three widely accepted masterpieces -- War, The Joshua Tree, or Achtung Baby -- provide the most songs here. No, out of all their albums the one that dominates U218 Singles is All That You Can't Leave Behind, their 2000 comeback from the depths of the misguided Pop, and one of two records that they've released since their last hits compilation, The Best of 1990-2000.

The other record they've released since then is How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, which provides two songs here -- or, as many as there are from War and Achtung Baby. What this means is that this compilation skews very heavily toward latter-day U2 -- eight out of 18 tracks, a full 44 percent of the collection, are from 2000 on, which means that U218 Singles presents the classicist version of the band, featuring the anthems from U2 at their peak, plus the highlights from when U2 were trying their best to sound like U2 at their peak. They did it quite well, of course, from both a commercial and artistic standpoint, sometimes writing songs that stood proudly alongside "Pride (In the Name of Love)" and "Sunday Bloody Sunday" (as in "Beautiful Day") and sometimes not ("Elevation"). When it's all mixed together, it paints a portrait of a band that's a little slicker and streamlined than it often was, and it's hard not to miss the big-hearted yet moody band that made "Bad," "Gloria," and "A Sort of Homecoming," not to mention the middle-aged Euro experimentalists responsible for "Numb" and "Stay! (Faraway, So Close)," two essential components of the band that has been forced aside by the arena rock pros on display here.

Then again, U2 always were the best arena rockers of their generation, and for those who love the spectacle and sound of the band in full flight, U218 Singles serves up that side of the band quite well, along with two new entries that find the band continuing the assured, even-handed sound of Atomic Bomb: a cover of the Skids' "The Saints Are Coming," recorded with Green Day and rewritten to vaguely address the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and "Window in the Skies," an anthemic pop number that relies too heavily on synth strings yet is saved by the band's sturdy songwriting and reliable performance. As such, it might not cover all the bases, but it covers enough of the major ones to be a good summary for fellow travelers who just know U2 from the radio, and it's also a good one-stop introduction to the basics for neophytes. [U218 Singles was also released as a deluxe edition that contained a live show from the Vertigo tour as a bonus CD. Also, Interscope released a companion video collection on DVD in 2006.]

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This page contains a single entry by Jonathan published on November 17, 2006 9:12 AM.

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