U218 Singles (Deluxe Version)

iTunes Review

Narrowing down a career this vast and expansive is asking for trouble — or at least for some painful omissions. 26 years are condensed into 16 tracks with additional previously unreleased tracks produced by Rick Rubin — “The Saints Are Coming,” a cover of the 1970s Scottish punk band the Skids performed with Green Day, and a very arena rock U2-sounding “Window in the Skies” — several special edits (“Vertigo,” “Where the Streets Have No Name,” “Sweetest Thing”), and a bonus live disc from Milan in 2005 summing up the group to date. The live recordings prove the band haven’t lost any of their technological firepower, sounding as nuanced and committed as when they initially sprang from the gate at the onset of the 1980s. However, the emphasis here is on later U2, as All That You Can’t Leave Behind and How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb are represented while October. Zooropa and Pop are not. But there’s no denying the anthemic, overwhelming majesty of “Pride (In the Name of Love),” “With or Without You,” and “New Year’s Day,” the brashy punk attitude of “Vertigo,” or the masterful tension of “One,” “Walk On” or “Mysterious Ways,’ which define an era as well as any.