Rating: 
Summary: a DVD full of (BED) surprises
Review: I've just bought the 1990-2000 DVD and it is full of (BED) surprises:
I can't get the Dolby Digital sound on my DVD player, I can't play the DVD-Rom on my iMac G4 computer and there was a PAPER DVD inside the box. Isn't that something!!...
Rating: 
Summary: Where are the buffaloes?
Review: If they had just included the Pellington version of "One" on this dvd, I'd have given it five stars. But no -- somehow the decision was made to wrap this dvd in misleading packaging. I'm all the more bitter because that particular video is my favorite. Why anyone would think it was a good idea to include a documentary of the different videos for "One" and then not placing all three versions on the dvd is beyond me. An appalling decision.
Rating: 
Summary: Get it from Europe!
Review: If your equipment is capable of playing it then get this disc from amazon.co.uk. The UK version has a 5.1 mix on it!To the guy who complained about the cardboard disc: you need to get the special edition CD, which includes a bonus DVD to fit neatly into the space where the cardboard disk comes.
Rating:
Summary: One Of The Worst Sound Qualities on DVD I Have Heard
Review: Okay, it's U2, but the sound is PCM so it is only as good as a CD. The sampling is in fact slightly higher at 48 khz but compression is apparent on most of the tracks making some of the vocals and instruments clouded. These days when you have quality product (in sound that is) like Queens Greatest Video Hits 1, it is hard to stomach something this bad. I had to throw on some DVD-A and SACD discs to bring my ears back from the brink. I doubt whether I will ever play this disc again or ever buy another U2 DVD (I quit buying CD's long ago). Where's the higher bitrate DTS or Dolby 5.1 or even Dolby 2.0 tracks? There is a Dolby Stereo track but it is a commentary. Anyone buying this should not expect anything more than a CD with the videos included as that is what you get. I would have given it zero but the rating wouldn't allow it. Anyone with very good equipment beware, this disc will not make you happy unless you like mediocrity. I guess I shouldn't complain as U2 was never known for their production quality.
Rating: 
Summary: Great visuals to great songs
Review: One of the great things about music video DVD's is you can see literal pieces of art when you want without having to sit through MTV 24/7 hoping they'd play it(and honestly who can?) Songs like Stay, Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Hrses and The Ground Beneath Her Feet barely got video airplay which is a shame. Here's a list of some of the video highlights: Even Better Than the Real Thing: Visually great video with the infamous "rotating camera" move(think the Matrix but real-time movements going around the musician vertically) Mysterious Ways: Shot somewhere in the Middle East I believe with apparent shimmering lens to match the wah guitar of Edge Electrical Storm: confusing video but visually appealing video featuring Samantha Morton(from Minority Report) One: 2 of the 3 versions are featured(the "buffalo" version isn't included) but the bar and the crossdressing first version is included Discotheque: Be honest, you laughed at this. Whether it was actually funny or just plain silly, can't deny it's a very colorful and vibrant video Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me: It would work without all the Batman Forever scenes being a bit louder than the actual song but it's basically a showdown between The Fly(Bono's stereotypical persona) and Mephisto(the devil reincarnated as a lounge singer) Numb: One of the funniest videos. The Edge just basically gets assaulted by feet, hands, rope, women and belly dancers while he sings the droning mantra. Watch Edge's facial expressions: he doesn't laugh once Lemon: the debut of Mephisto and the video with the action captions at the bottom (e.g : Man walking(half speed) showing exactly that and so on The Ground Beneath Her Feet: Tie-in with the movie Million Dollar Hotel There's more but these are probably the coolest visually or just plain good songs
Rating:
Summary: Two Shots of Happy and One Drop of Sad
Review: Quick Overview: This DVD is both an excellent survey of U2's music during the past decade and a fascinating anthology of music videos, both conceptual and performance. Musically, it contains all of the songs from the regular release of the CD "U2: The Best of 1990-2000", with the exception that "For the First Time" is replaced by "The Fly". In addition, it contains seven bonus tracks, songs lamented by many for not being included on the CD. Cinematically, it boasts both performance and conceptual videos of varying quality; with the inclusion of intriguing director commentaries, many of the videos merit multiple viewings. Alternate videos for "Even Better Than The Real Thing", "One", "Stuck in a Moment...", "Staring at the Sun", and "Numb" are provided to yield a total of 28 music videos for 23 songs. As a special treat, three documentaries are included. All in all, this is an amazing DVD. Details, Shot One ("Conceptual Videos"): The most successful conceptual videos are "Numb" (Godley version), "Please", and "If God Will Send His Angels". The "Numb" video bluntly demonstrates the cause of The Edge's numbness--it's also quite funny and disturbing. "Please" and "If God Will Send His Angels" are probably my favorites. Bono's performance in "Please" is poignant, and the gimic employed by Corbijn works well here. The use of split screen and altered film speed in "If God Will Send..." effectively communicates that awful out-of-sync feeling of being alone among people, even among friends. "One" deserves special mention. Three videos were made for this. Pellington's version, employed in concert, emphasized buffalos, images of which adorn both the CD and DVD; sadly, this video was NOT included on the DVD. The other two videos are here, and they are interesting. Corbijn's version is notable for having Bono's father playing a major role; in addition, you get to decide which member of U2 would make the most attractive woman--I don't think it's Bono. Details, Shot Two ("Performance Videos"): What would U2 be without footage of them on stage? Many of these videos, including conceptual ones, feature perforance footage. Some, like "Gone" and "Mofo", are essentially concert videos; I prefer watching these songs on the Zoo TV and PopMart videos. Others, like "Even Better Than the Real Thing", "Mysterious Ways", and "Staring at the Sun", utilize novel filming techniques to
bolster the song's mood or message. Some are more successful than others. For example, at first boring, the strange effects in "Staring at the Sun" (Scott version) become almost revelatory at the end. In "Please" and "One", expressions on The Edge's face at key points of the video are very telling and make the inclusion of performance footage mandatory. One Drop of Sad: These are minor quibbles. 1) Navigation is sometimes frustrating. You click on the director's name and you get either the video OR the video with commentary. If you click on the triangle beside his name, you definitely get commentary. If you have the same trouble, keep trying; eventually, you will get the straight video. 2) With "Mofo", I had to try accessing the video several times before I heard the soundtrack. "Mofo" was the only video with which I had this problem. 3) Although the box claims subtitles in five languages, I did not find Japanese subtitles actually provided for the songs I checked, and I checked most of them. 4) Some songs, like "Beautiful Day" and "One", had alternate videos. It would have been nice to have ALL versions. (This is a BEST OF anthology, so maybe they only included the best of the alternates?) Extra Tidbits: The DVD booklet provides interesting, albeit short, notes on each song. The DVD package provides storage space for the U2 The History Mix DVD, that came with the special edition of "The Best of 1990-2002" CD. In Summary: This is an outstanding DVD. It contains most, arguably the best, of the singles from 1990-2000 with their videos, all of which contain something of at least passing interest and some of which are very powerful. The director commentaries are fascinating and provide valuable behind-the-scenes information. The documentaries are a nice addition. I highly recommend "U2: The Best of 1990-2002"; it's one of the best DVDs I've bought this year.
Rating:
Summary: U2 THE MOON!
Review: Simply an amazing collection of videos! I love the graphic design. Props to the guys who but this one together. Gotta love being able to watch 2 videos on several songs... and the bonus videos!These guys know what they're doing!
Rating:
Summary: Surprisingly Well Packaged
Review: The extra features on this DVD is already worth the price. The packaging comes with an extra empty DVD slot for the other DVD you received if you brought the limited edition Best 1990-2000 Album CD. I thought that was very well thought out. The videos are some of my favorites from the era and it also has a playlists feature that lets you play all or random videos. I haven't tried the DVD-Rom feature but I believe it has a screensaver and some web links. The commentaries are nice too if you want to learn more about the video. Overall, I think this is a great DVD to add to your collection.
Rating:
Summary: I wish someone had warned me...
Review: The quality of this DVD is HORRIBLE! Easily the worst-looking DVD in my collection so far. Not sure if you'd notice on a smaller TV set, but on any large screen with a decent picture, especially if you have a good eye, you won't be able to stand the lackluster encoding. In fact, "lackluster" is a compliment. This is dreadful DVD encoding. I would expect this quality from one of those '3 for 1' ... horror movie DVD's...but from U2!!?? I couldn't make it too far through this DVD once I saw the bad quality was consistent all the way through, but of the ones I saw, the digital muck was most evident on "One". Probably just the dark quality of the video makes the defects and artifacts all the more obvious. To make matters worse, the mix sounds terrible on my Sony DVD player. Through every video I watched, there was an ongoing echo quality, as if the background sound was overwhelming everything. It was especially annoying on "Electrical Storm." Now, I don't have a surround setup, so I'm playing through a 2 channel downmix, but I can't imagine it being very good on any setup(?). What pi**es me off, though, is how a band like U2 can pass off such a lazy effort on their fans, and show such disrespect to their own material. It just seems like they have no concern with the product. It's just easy $$$. My Depeche Mode video compilation blows this one away a hundred times over. Can't even compare the two. I watch it all the time, and love the incredible quality. But, this U2 one is going straight to the trading shop on Monday. What a rip.
Rating:
Summary: technicolor decadence and glorious foolishness
Review: There's a great story about U2 that appears in Bill Flanagan's book, "U2 at the end of the World": It's early 1992, and the band has just begun its ZooTV tour, to promote "Achtung Baby." The sprawling stage, the giant television screens, and the glowing trabants are set up and ready, the band is beginning to play, and bono, decked out in full Fly uniform of leather and shades, is about to mount the elevator that will take him to the top of the towers, and the beginning of his performance. Suddenly, the singer panics-- he hasn't fully figured out what he's going to do when he gets out there. As he hits the runway, he decides on a "drunken" set of stumbles and gestures, blowing smoke, and generally behaving like the most obnoxious stereotype of a pop star imaginable. The audience eats it up.
That story is '90s U2 in a nutshell. Throughout the 80s they built themselves into the world's biggest band through a combination of sixties-based musical anthems, outspoken advocacy, anton corbijin's black-and-white photos, and generally positive press. Following the debacle of Rattle and Hum, the band decided to throw out this time-tested, commercially successful game plan, but did so without knowing precisely what was going to replace it. As they would sing on their first song of the 90s, they were ready for what's next-- but what was next?
The answer was a gloriously contradictory, beautifully muddled mixture of industrial rhythms, multi-media barrages, and playfully ironic personas that traded in the earnestness of the previous decade for something far more complex. Recent revisionist history has painted this decade as the band's folly, and the recent All That You Can't Leave Behind as some sort of return to form (sadly, the band seems to have embraced this view, too), but that's not really the whole story. '90s U2 did not abandon the politics or passion of the previous decade (as even a cursory listen to their albums or a glance at their concert videos indicates), but recognized that the links between the private and the personal, and the manner in which media transmitted ideas, was far more complex than their prior work admitted. "Right in the middle of a contradiction, that's the place to be," the band (quoting sam shephard) noted at the time, and it was this willingness to be self-critical, and to admit and play with their contradictions (as opposed to the moralizing of the decades that preceded and followed) that allowed the band to create a body of gorgeous, deeply underrated work throughout this ten-year period. Aging punks can keep shaking their copies of october or the joshua tree at me, but this is u2's finest decade.
Far more so than the spotty greatest hits CD that was released a couple of months ago, this DVD collection captures that decade in its full technicolor glory. The 23 videos here are by turns sexy, moving, funny, and dowright bizarre and misguided, but never dull. See the glitter disco balls, the fly sunglasses, the cartoon superhero alter egos, and the television word jazz barrages! See funky concert footage, the "arrogant" interviews, the pop star kissing the camera lens! See not one, not two, but three videos for their finest single, "One," and realize that all three are interesting, worthwhile interpretations (and very different from one another). Watch three interesting, if somewhat truncated, documentaries on the band! Best of all, take the opportunity to see and hear the crucial songs ("The Fly," "Mofo," and "The Ground Beneath Her Feet," among others) from this period that the band foolishly left off their greatest hits CD.
When asked recently in Q magazine what he'd learned from the '90s, Bono replied that it was to "not spend too much time on the wrapping paper. No matter the occasion, your loved ones only care about what's inside." The problem is, this gets it completely backwards-- in pop music, the "song" and the "wrapping paper" (in terms of arrangements, production, videos, and general imagery) are inseperable (after all, the band's recent return to an earnest "realness" is just as much of a package as that giant lemon from the POP tour, even if advocates of this faux-authenticity don't care to admit it). '90s u2 seemed to understand this, and this DVD is a pleasant reminder of the pop glories they used this knowledge to achieve.
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