With as long and successful a career that U2 has had as a band, it is difficult to compile their best songs into a single CD compilation.  This compilation, alas, is not their best or most representative, but it was the only one I could find easily in a vinyl package.  Fortunately it touches on some of my favorite U2 tracks (“Desire,” “The Sweetest Thing,” the three hits from Joshua Tree, the early hits “New Year’s Day” and “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” and the much more recent “Vertigo”).  It also features two new Rick Rubin-produced tracks: “Window On The Sky” and “The Saints Are Coming,” the latter being a joint effort with Green Day.

This LP set is yet another I’ve picked up recently that has very nice packaging.  The gatefold and both paperboard innersleeves feature numerous photos of the band in various stages of their career, along with a deluxe 12″ booklet with more photographs.  The set is sturdy and feels nice in hand.

I wish I could say the same for the 180-gram vinyl.  The records are somewhat quiet (a bit noisy in places, although I have yet to run them through the record vacuum), but the sound is a bit “smashed,” as many modern albums are.  It does not serve the more delicate sound of the Joshua Tree tracks very well, but the track “Vertigo” was so completely smashed sonically on the original CD that this doesn’t sound any worse.  While this LP set is probably not as smashed (or “brickwalled”) as the CD may be, it does not really sound all that bad compared to other recent releases I’ve heard.

This is a good set for U2 completists and others who can live with the somewhat “in your face” dynamics of the compilation.  The packaging is gorgeous.  Recommended…with reservations.  Now let’s see some good 180-gram reissues of the original albums, from the beginning.  I’ve read nothing but negative reviews of the botched reissue of The Joshua Tree; I’m hoping one of the audiophile labels will start working on the vast U2 catalog for vinyl.  It sorely needs it!