U2

This is a mostly tolerable compilation of Irish rock band U2’s ‘90s material, a period generally marred by the group’s tendency to savage otherwise perfectly serviceable tunes by filtering the recorded results through an obnoxious cloud of studio electronic effects. Still, the collection boasts five new mixes (the best of which is an effects-stripped version of “Staring at the Sun” … gee, what do you know? There’s a nice song here!) and two new songs (one of which, a somewhat lugubrious electric-piano- and synthesized-strings-driven dirge called “The Hands That Built America,” happens to be the theme tune to Martin Scorcese’s forthcoming film, Gangs of New York)—16 tracks, all told. And with such latter-day familiars as "Mysterious Ways," with its Celtic mystic moon imagery, "Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out of," with its warm melodic echo of the old soul classic "People Get Ready," "Even Better Than the Real Thing," with its dense pseudo-psychedelic drone, and a few other decent tracks, while not an indispensable collection, the CD still begs a listen or two.