Daily Staff Writer

“The Best of 1980-1990/The B-Sides”

U2

One of the truly sweetest things about U2 is the group’s ability to take opposites — black and white — and mesh them together to engender a gorgeous gray.

“The Joshua Tree” embodied trite political calls while still reserving the perfect time and place for cries of love.

“Rattle and Hum” embraced genres U2 had only flirted with in the past, with B.B. King-tainted blues on “When Love Comes To Town” and southern gospel hymns on “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.”

Nineties albums “Achtung Baby,” “Zooropa” and “Pop” expanded into dance-floor electronica while maintaining the Bono song formula that carved the group into rock history a decade earlier.

“The Best of 1980-1990/The B-Sides” is as opposite-encompassing as anything U2 has ever released.

Disc one, “The Best,” is not only the best 14 U2 songs of the ’80s, but possibly the best collection of songs by one group ever assembled.

From the opening three chords of the rock anthem “Pride (In The Name Of Love)” to the closing strings of the Reality Biting tear-jerker “All I Want Is You,” the disc is incredible.

“Bad” never sounded so good book-ended by “Sunday Bloody Sunday” and “Where The Streets Have No Name.”

And hearing “With Or Without You,” which was never given as much credit as it deserves, conjures up memories of the great ’80s rock ballads in the realm of Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes.”

If “The Best” is U2’s pearly whites, “The B-Sides” is the group’s dark brown eyes.

More often than not, they are songs atypical of U2. They are intense musically, carried by The Edge’s guitar trickery, or Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen’s pulsating rhythms.

“Bass Trap” is a musical interlude a la “Chariots Of Fire,” while “Spanish Fly” is a “Pride-like” vintage U2 number.

“Sweetest Thing” is a raw version of the 1998 single but somehow manages to be more powerful than its update.

A cover of the Righteous Brothers classic, “Unchained Melody,” is one of the more beautiful moments of the collection, as Bono bellows “Godspeed your love.”

“Trash, Trampoline and the Party Girl” closes “The B-Sides” with a folk tale of young lovers who, as Bono echoes near the end of the song, “know what they want.”

The song serves as both a perfect opposite to “All I Want Is You” and the final chapter of U2 scrapbook.

But “The Best of 1980-1990/The B-Sides” is better than a scrapbook, it’s pride. It’s desire. It’s everlasting love. It’s silver and gold. It’s where the streets have no name.

5 stars out of five

— Corey Moss

“Beleza Tropical 2”

Various Artists

David Byrne of the Talking Heads once said, “Brazilians are the original masters of mixology, blend and hybridization. We’re just catching up to what they’ve been doing for years, decades even.

“Since the ’60s, Brazilian musicians have been mixing styles, sound, rhythms and textures from within their country and without, mixing sambas with funk, death metal with African drumming, and even sitars with bossa nova.”

When Byrne was approached 10 years ago to compile the first Beleza Tropical for Luaka Bop Records, he was not interested in the project. He felt that Brazilian music was like the pop music of most cultures: light, ineffectual and ultimately pointless.

But as he began looking into the culture of Brazil and the role its music played in that society, he soon saw that many artists would risk imprisonment to bring to the public this light, hopeful music which the authorities often suppressed.

It represented hope to millions of people in a land of stark contrasts and stunning diversity.

Eventually, Byrne was not only convinced of the artistic integrity of Brazilian music but he was influenced by its rhythms and textures.

“Beleza Tropical 2” is a compilation of popular Brazilian music and is an attempt to keep us all current with what Byrne considers to be the future of music, whether we realize it or not.

The tracks on this album are all in Portuguese, but the liner notes contain translations for those who must know what is going on.

If you have never heard of Gilberto Gil, Sergio Mendes, Lenine, Os Paralamas Do Sucesso or Caetano Veloso, don’t worry. You aren’t alone.

These are artists whose popularity in Brazil has not translated outside of that country yet, so now is your chance to look cool by jumping on this bandwagon before it even gets going.

This album is representative of the sort of hybrids which are becoming more and more common in our culture. Alternative influencing country, country influencing punk, punk influencing pop music.

“Beleza Tropical 2” serves as a nice addition to any world music collection and creates a warm tropical atmosphere even in the coldest winter months.

4 stars out of five

— Greg Jerrett

“Anybody Out There”

Burlap to Cashmere

The energy of Burlap to Cashmere’s debut release, “Anybody Out There,” has the potential to turn the most bashful wallflower into the most expressive flamenco dancer within minutes.

And it’s not just the complicated rhythmic patterns that give the music its flare.

Lead singer Steven Delopoulos’ riveting Cat Stevens-sounding vocals fluctuate from ruthless to therapeutic throughout the album.

During “Basic Instructions,” the song that has instigated most of the band’s hype, Delopoulous puts an ethnic twist to gospel verse, John 3:16.

Under his piercing vocals, the rest of the band plays a fierce Spanish guitar-driven accompaniment, highlighted by a tight bongo duet in the middle of the song featuring drummer Theodore Pagano and percussionist Scott Barksdale.

Spanish guitar isn’t the only style Burlap can play though.

On cuts such as “Divorce” and the title track, the group’s musical style shifts nationalities, showcasing the group’s ability to adapt to the ethnic diversity of its wide following.

Though some tracks have a purely international beat, a few of the cuts are distinctly American pop. “Good Man,” as well as the final cut, “Mansions,” both have different melodies but with unmistakably American guitar and percussion beats.

The band’s ability to play unusual musical styles is one of the key elements that has given the group instant success among audiences in venues across America. That, coupled with the fact that everyone is always looking for a good reason to flamenco dance.

5 stars out of five

— Ashley Hasebroek

“Hempilation, Vol. 2: Free the Weed”

Various Artists

Keeping with the tradition of bad sequels, the second Hempilation soundtrack is yet another one to flood the list.

“Hempilation, Vol. 2,” like its predecessor, is a collection of songs promoting the legalization of marijuana, but it fails horribly in trying to capture the success of the first one.

Come on, how many bad songs can be put on one compilation? It’s full of diversity, containing everything from classic rock to twangy country; few selections on the album have much passion. What ever happened to classic songs like 311’s “Who’s Got the Herb” and Cypress Hill’s “I Wanna Get High?”

There are only a few tracks on the CD that are even worthy of listening to. A dance-type mix of “High” by Jimmie’s Chicken Shack is by far the best song on the disc.

Rap group Spearhead contributes an interesting remake of the old Steve Miller Band classic “The Joker” and the Fun Lovin’ Criminals put forth some lively music, telling the listener to “Smoke em if you got em.”

With these few exceptions, “Hempilation, Vol. 2: Free the Weed” leaves something to be desired. It needs to pack more punch to lift itself up to a higher level.

2 stars out of five

— Erin Pierson

“Super Cool Nothing”

16Volt

The latest release from Eric Powell and company’s power-charged band, 16Volt, delivers an unforgettable electronic assault directly into your brain stem.

From the opening power chords of “I Fail Truth,” the industrial/metal band dishes out 12 sensory-overloading songs that leave you reeling in awe.

Drilling guitars accompany growls of warped vocals and the speed-cycle of drum machines on songs like “Don’t Pray” and “Happy Pill.” “Machine Kit” taps out a pounding snare among driving high and low guitars, while Powell belts out in a rap-style “Stitching evil distorting the brain/Come to make you pay.”

The sheer energy and all-out ferocity that flows from the album is retrospective of Filter and Ministry, using similar bass licks under heavy influence of drum filters.

However, 16Volt also sharpens its writing skills with the high beat and low volume songs “Low,” which proclaims “A thousand times I live this day/I listen to words as they float away” and the heart-filled finale “At the End,” which has the artist regretting life choices.

The intensity of 16Volt’s lyrics and sound is a perfect match for the hardcore industrial strength of the music.

Power fused with emotion make “Super Cool Nothing” a worthwhile album.

5 stars out of five

— Ryan Rogness