U2 - U218 Singles

U218 Singles is a compilation album by Irish rock band U2, originally released in November 2006 via Island and Mercury Records.

U218 Singles, is at once ambitious and concise, offering an overview of their first 26 years in 18 tracks - and since two of those are new songs that leaves just 16 songs to tell their whole story. That's not much space for a band with a career as lengthy and ambitious as U2, so it's inevitable that some painful cuts have been made.

The compilation skews very heavily toward latter-day U2 - eight out of 18 tracks are from 2000 on, which means that U218 Singles presents the classicist version of the band, featuring the anthems from U2 at their peak, plus the highlights from when they were trying their best to sound like U2 at their peak.

U218 Singles serves up both U2 the arena rockers as well as their earlier moody side, along with two new entries that find the band continuing the assured, even-handed sound of Atomic Bomb: a cover of The Skids' "The Saints Are Coming”, recorded with Green Day and rewritten to vaguely address the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and "Window In The Skies", an anthemic pop number.

This double album 2LP record set is a 2019 reissue on black vinyl housed in a gatefold sleeve with printed inner sleeves and a 16 page printed booklet, pressed in Europe via Island Records.