U2 - The Best Of U2 - 1990-2000 (DVD)

...had been inspired by this U2 DVD so far, I was eager to start my review.



I won't tell you the story of the Irish band as I guess you already know it, or at least you've heard of it. As far as I am concerned, I've heard of the band for the first time when I was ten. I've been a great fan since, although I've never seen them live in concert. My favourite albums are "The Joshua Tree"; "Achtung baby" ...
...2000, U2 made 5 original albums ("Achtung Baby" [1991]; "Zooropa" [1993]; "Passengers" [1995]; "Pop" [1997]; "All that you can't leave behind" [2000]).There are two best of U2 divided into two periods : 1980-1990 & 1990-2000 and songs which do not appear on U2 albums but on films soundtrack.
If you compare the CD and the DVD, you'll note that there are more videos on this DVD, that's why I ... more

I know I haven't written for a long time. It's not that I don't want to or that I lack inspiration. I haven't given up the site either because I am regularly among you. But the thing is : when I want to write on a topic (health & beauty is my favourite one), I realize that another member has already done it, and in a great way so I have to think of something else.

Lately, when going through the catalogue of the site, I saw that nobody had been inspired by this U2 DVD so far, I was eager to start my review.

I won't tell you the story of the Irish band as I guess you already know it, or at least you've heard of it. As far as I am concerned, I've heard of the band for the first time when I was ten. I've been a great fan since, although I've never seen them live in concert. My favourite albums are "The Joshua Tree"; "Achtung baby" and "Zooropa".

From 1990 to 2000, U2 made 5 original albums ("Achtung Baby" [1991]; "Zooropa" [1993]; "Passengers" [1995]; "Pop" [1997]; "All that you can't leave behind" [2000]).There are two best of U2 divided into two periods : 1980-1990 & 1990-2000 and songs which do not appear on U2 albums but on films soundtrack.
If you compare the CD and the DVD, you'll note that there are more videos on this DVD, that's why I find it definitely more interesting. The main difference is that on the CD, you'll find the song "The first time" (which first appeared on "Zooropa") and as for the limited edition, a number of b-sides and remixes whereas they are not on the DVD.

To be honest, I don't remember exactly when I bought this DVD and how much it was. I remember that a friend had lent me hers but I definitely wanted mine. So, I found it easily in a supermarket on sales'time and since then, I have regularly watched it.

To spot this DVD in a shop, you've got a photo on the ciao page. Behind the front picture with two buffaloes facing each other, there are a photo of the band and the list of the videos (but they are not numbered) and the list of the bonuses.
Once you've inserted the DVD in your player, you'll see a blurred image of bulls running. This will soon be followed by the main menu. You'll see a list of options :

 Watching the videos in a row, from track 1 to track 16

 Track selection (in which you have access directly to the video you want to see : I use this when I don't have much time or when I want to watch only some of them. Unfortunately, it is impossible to program the order of the videos as you can do when listening to a CD. You must have constantly your remote control to go from one video to another)

 Bonus selection

 Credits

1. Even better than the real thing
This song is taken from the album "Achtung baby". In this video, Bono embodies 'the fly' thanks to his sunglasses and his leather clothes. It is a song full of energy, the camera turns around Bono; the picture moves all the time. Usually, I feel out of breath at the end of the video because there are dozens of images at the same time, it is nonsensical. I only remember "Watch more TV".

2. Mysterious ways

This video was filmed in Fez (Morocco) in 1991. It is full of bright colours and there is definitely an oriental touch in it. It is brought in by the belly dancer. I'm not particularly a fan of the video, but it's not too bad.

3. Beautiful day

We are now in 2000 with this video of the song from the album "All that you can't leave behind". I have the feeling that I watch the cover of the CD since the scene takes place in an airport. It is quite an energetic song, I wouldn't have imagined such a video for this song (it makes me think of suicide), but why not ? In the airport, there are the common situations of people saying 'good bye' or 'hello' to each other. The band is playing on the landing strip and planes fly over their heads. Bono has short hair, he's wearing black clothes and has sunglasses on.

4. Electrical storm

I think this video is the one I prefer. For once, Larry Mullen, jr is in the foreground. This is the story of a passion between a man and a mermaid, a kind of modern version of the tale by Andersen. The mermaid is played by Samantha Morton, a model and actress. Bono is present in the video, he's in a train, apart from the love-hate relationship of the two main characters. You'll know more about the filming of the video if you watch "U2 sur Mer".

5. One

As the previous video, this one was directed by Anton Corbijn (who is also a photographer) and filmed in Berlin. Bono's father appears in it. It is quite surprising at first : apart from Bono, the other members of the band are dressed in female clothes. This lead to a misinterpretation, and as a result two new versions of the video were made. The first one was not broadcast on TV. But you'll know more about the "One" videos watching " A story of One" in the bonus section.

6. Miss Sarajevo

The video begins with the arrival of Lady Diana at the War Child concert in Modena (Italy), the home town of Luciano Pavarotti. So from the start, it is a moving symbol for the video of the song. "Miss Sarajevo" was a song performed by the Passengers (Bono, The Edge, Brian Eno) on only one occasion (September15th 1995). So, there are extracts from the show, but also pictures of war, and some of young people trying to flee the bombings. This was a way to show that life was trying to get back to normal in spite of the war. Beside the song ("Is there a time ...?" repeated several times at the beginning of each sentence) the contestants'message "Don't let them kill us" brings tears in my eyes.

7. Stay

Once again, I really like this song and I think that the video is full of poetry, just as Wim Wenders's film "The wings of desire" is. Wim Wenders is a film director ("Paris, Texas" in 1984) but he also filmed this video. "Stay" is a song written for the film "Faraway, so close" soundtrack. "Faraway, so close" is the sequel of "The wings of desire". So, here again, there is a story of angels both in the movie and in the video. The members of U2 become guardian angels for a band. In colour, you just can see the band, but in black and white, you see U2 helping their counterparts. There are also images from the film in the video (Nastassja Kinski appears in it), they are in black and white too.

8. Stuck in a moment you can't get out of

When I watched this video for the first time, I was really puzzled because I couldn't see the link between U2's song and the story told in the video, that of an American football game. A player misses the final kick and keeps thinking about it, the shoot is shown again and again. He can't get over it. The U2 members are in the crowd and are either happy or sad. Then, I put the comments of the director Joseph Kahn on the screen (so that I can read the comments while watching the video) and it helped me to understand. In fact, there are many references to U2 throughout the video :
The scene takes place in the unforgettable Fire dome, on a Sunday, bloody Sunday.
Dave Evans and Paul Mc Guiness are the managers of the two teams : Did you remember that Dave Evans was the real name of The Edge and that Paul mc Guiness was the manager of the band ?
The player who misses his shoot is called Paul Hewson (Bono's real name) he is played by Brendan Fehr (you may have seen him in "Roswell")
The two teams are "the flys" versus "the lemons".
Here are some references but there are 14 in the whole video.
After a while, I quite like this video.

9. Gone

This was filmed in Mexico city, during the PopMart Tour, so it is another occasion to see the band on stage, no particular scenario here.

10. Until the end of the world

Here again, it is an extract from the ZooTV live, filmed by Kevin Godley in 1992.

11. The hands that built America

This song was written for the movie "Gangs of New York" by Martin Scorcese with Daniel Day Lewis, Leonardo di Caprio and Cameron Diaz. But there are no extracts from the film, the video is full of sobriety : it is in black and white, the band is playing the song in studio.

12. Discotheque

I'm sure you remember both the song and the video. "Discotheque" was the first single of "Pop", so many fans were waiting for that new album. It is so different from the previous ones. I can't say I like the song but this is only a personal opinion. The video was directed by Stéphane Sednaoui (who had already filmed the "Mysterious ways" video) and filmed in 24 hours, because of a shortage in budget. It shows the four members of the band in disco, dancing dressed like the village people. I think that's what stroke me most.

13. Hold me, thrill me, kiss me, kill me

This song is taken from the soudtrack of "Batman forever", the third in the series, directed by Joel Schumacher. The video was directed by Maurice Linnane and Kevin Godley because they both worked on the project. It includes bits of the film which was being filmed at the same time as the video. Batman was turned into a film and the contrary happens too since U2 are transformed into cartoon characters. Bono / Mc Phisto is presented as a villain, just like the Joker.What's more, the theme of duality is present in the video : Bono is both mc Phisto and the fly.

14. Staring at the Sun

This video was filmed in a dark room with a man holding a stick with a bulb at the end of it. A lot of work has been done on the visual effects of lights. It is well explained by Jake Scott (Ridley's son) who directed the video. "Staring at the Sun" was the second single of "Pop", it is my favourite tune on this album.

15. Numb

This time, the Edge is singing. In the video, he's sitting in front of a TV and nothing can disturb him. The camera doesn't move, but a lot of things happen around the Edge. He's being tortured by the drop of water which regularly falls on his head; people come and try to disturb him (he gets feet in his face, people take photographs of them and him) but he remains calm and keeps singing and watching TV.

16. The Fly

I like this song very much as I'm fond of the whole "Achtung Baby" album. For me, "The fly" is a symbol, it is the beginning of Bono playing with his own image. In the video, he just wanders in the streets of London and Dublin.

♪ ♪ ♪ Bonus selection : After each video, you will have to go back to the bonus selection page, you can't watch the videos of this section in one go.
You won't find any information on the following videos in the leaflet.

♫ Please

An old man is begging, people are kneeling and move this way, there is quite a strange atmosphere in this video. There are parts in black and white and some others in colour. In the parts in colour, people are walking and do not pay attention to the old man. He's got a sign around his neck saying "Please". At a moment, he starts flying and a pretty little blond-haired girl takes the sign.
Throughout the video, Bono is apart from the scene and it's only towards the end that you can see the other members of the band.

♫ If God will send his angels

This video was made by Phil Joanou. He's also a film director and had already worked with U2 on "Rattle and hum". The scene takes place in a café and the screen is divided horizontally. On top, Bono is singing and there are sometimes someone next to him. Below, we can see what Bono can see while he's singing. People come and go and the rhythm is fast. They don't seem to realize that Bono is here : they keep chatting, laughing and smiling.

♫ Who's gonna ride your wild horses

This other video by Phil Joanou mixes images of the band on stage during the ZooTV tour and Bono in a photo session (there are close-ups of him). The stadium is crowded with the audience. If you pay attention to the comment of the director, you'll know that it was filmed with Super8 cameras. According to him, it gives "a cinematic power" to the video.

♫ Lemon

The concept of this video is to show the members of the band (who are reknown all over the world) doing common activities, as if they were anonymous : "man reading newspaper"; "man holding out microphone to companion"). Bono had doubts about it but Larry was enthusiastic, so "he saved the day". This video is the first appearance of Mc Phisto.

♫ Last night on Earth

There's no particular story in the video (or I may not have understood it). It has definitely an American touch, I get the feeling of watching a bad quality 70s road movie. To be honest, I don't like it, I don't like the song either.

♫ Mofo

The video was filmed during the Pop Mart tour in 1997.

♫ The ground beneath her feet

The lyrics of the song were written by Salman Rushdie and he appears in the video. The song is not on a U2 album because it is taken from "The million dollar hotel" soundtrack. It is a film by Wim Wenders with Mel Gibson, but you only get a glimpse of him in the video. You mostly see Milla Jovovich & Jeremy Davies, the other two main actors of the film.The band is performing the song in a room of the hotel; but there are mostly bits of the film in the video.

♥ Mini-documentaries

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(¸.•´ : (¸.•´ : (´¸.•*´¯`*• U2 sur Mer

It lasts 7 minutes 20 seconds and there are subtitles in French, German, Spanish and Brazilian/Portuguese.
This short documentary could be subtitled 'Filming "Electric Storm"'. Anton Corbijn is the main speaker. We see the team filming in the South of France. The band and the crew are watching the rushes and suggest waht couls de changed in the video. It's quite interesting but I really appreciated to have French subtitles!

*´¨ )
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(¸.•´ : (¸.•´ : (´¸.•*´¯`*• A story of « One » (15 minutes)

Basically, it is the story of one band, one song and three videos. "One" is seen a turning-point, a new beginning in the band's career.
Once again, Anton Corbijn filmed the first video for this song (the one which is in the DVD). It was in Berlin and except Bono, the men of the band are dressed into women. The second release of the "Achtung Baby" album was aimed at raising funds for AIDS charities. But there was a fear of misinterpretation (AIDS/men in drags).
The second version was an anti-video : the band (who was on tour) does not appear in it. There are just pictures of buffaloes, flower and words on the screen. The focus was on the emotion contained in the song rather than on the performance of the band.
The final version was filmed by Phil Joanou in a bar in Atlanta in one week's time.

*´¨ )
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(¸.•´ : (¸.•´ : (´¸.•*´¯`*• Missing Sarajevo (12 minutes)

On September, 23rd 1997, the 56th concert of the PopMart Tour was in Sarajevo. The show which had inspired the song "Miss Sarajevo" had taken place four years before when it was organised. During ZooTV, there had been testimonies of young people living in Sarajevo. Ivana Sirovic, who appears in the video and was elected Miss Sarajevo came with the band. It was the same concert as there had been before in the the tour, as a symbol that things werre getting back to normal. That night, there were 45,000 people coming from Sarajevo, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia but they were all inhabitants of Sarajevo.

DVD rom section : Weblinks & screensavers

To finish with, there are the credits.

As a fan, I wish I had bought this DVD earlier, what I like most is the comments of the director [available in French, German, Japanese, Spanish and Brazilian / Portuguese because it helps me understand the story behind the video. I also realized that the directors were usually the same, it shows that the band is faithful.
The thing that disturbs me is the order in which the videos are presented, I can't see any logic or chronological order. I can't watch the videos I want in a definite order either. There are no lyrics of the song (but you can find them in the leaflets of the CDs).
To me, it is much more than a DVD, more than ten years of the history of the band, it is definitely an item you must possess if you're a U2 fan.

I hope you liked my review.

Thanks for reading, rating and commenting.

Don't hesitate to check my spelling as I am not a native speaker
 

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