While eagerly anticipating the next full album project from their favorite Irish band, some U2 fans have complained that in 1995 and ’96 the group needlessly absorbed itself in a variety of soundtrack projects. While these outside efforts seemed laudable, they also were criticized for taking up too much of U2’s collective effort, siphoning the group’s studio time and diluting its creativity, not to mention delaying the release of the first band album since 93’s Zooropa.

This viewpoint, however, fails to take into account that the members of U2 have always been gifted with an inordinate amount of creativity and have easily accommodated outside projects in the past while a collective effort was underway. Even though U2’s contributions to the James Bond movie, "Goldeneye," "Batman Forever" and the theme to "Mission Impossible" were all high-profile creative forays, the actual effort only minimally slowed the band’s progress on Album #9. The discontentment by fans also doesn’t take into consideration that the members of U2 often "roadtest" their eventual group breakthroughs on more avante-garde and less-restrictive projects. Whereas a U2 album has to sound pretty much like a U2 album (whatever direction that goes), a solo or soundtrack project is an entity all unto itself, allowing for a completely open release of ideas. Later reshaped, these musical statements may emerge as important U2 breakthroughs on regular band albums.

The Edge’s used a soundtrack vehicle in 1986 to craft his first bold solo foray. If you don’t own or haven’t heard of "The Captive", that’s not unusual since the album was out of print for a number of years. Virgin has re-released the CD and it should be available, at least to order if not on the store shelves. Accompanying a fairly obscure movie, the album afforded U2’s guitarist the chance to write a selection of instrumentals showcasing his melodic ideas beyond popular song structure and the constraints of a four-man rock lineup. Joining him was Michael Brooke, inventor of "The Infinite Guitar" which Edge used to create the stunning angelic sounds in "With or Without You" (recorded shortly thereafter). Sonic leaps and delicate keyboard and guitar figures exist purely for their own sake, not as flourishes to support the instrumental section of a song. On the one "tune," a young and budding unknown named Sinead O’Connor made her stunning singing debut over the Edge’s and Brooke’s gorgeous shimmering backdrop. The musical progress on this album furthered the experiments begun on The Unforgettable Fire and isolated, for the listener, an enlightening look at the Edge’s considerable gifts.

While some outside projects like "The Captive" absorbed much time and effort writing and creating new music, other efforts have been as minimal as simply providing an existing track, as in U2’s first movie project. In 1982, after the band had released its second album, the title track was culled for the soundtrack to "They Call it An Accident", an uncelebrated French film. The soundtrack, produced by Island Records boss Chris Blackwell, featured contributions from the label’s roster including Steve Winwood, Marianne Faithful, and keyboardist Wally Badarou. All U2 had to do was say yes and Blackwell merely borrowed the existing version of "October." However, a collector’s item was created on the album with a second version of the U2 song, into which Badarou inserted a dreamy instrumental keyboard section to lengthen the original recording.

For the next few years, with the notable exception of "Rattle and Hum", that was the way it went: U2 providing a track, but not writing or recording anything new for any movie soundtrack. The brilliant "All I Want is You;" lifted from the Rattle and Hum album and virtually ignored in 1988 when the soundtrack came out (since radio and television concentrated on the first three singles "Desire," "When Love Comes to Town" and "Angel of Harlem") got a second lease on life when it was re-released on the "Reality Bites" soundtrack. Rock Radio and even Top 40 stations realized the potential of the song which became a hit five years after it first appeared. Again, no alterations were made, U2 just allowing the existing song to be used. The band also okayed a Joshua Tree B-side, "Walk to the Water," to be added to the soundtrack of "The Courier" in 1988. That project ended up being a showcase for Irish talent including Hothouse Flowers, Aslan and Something Happens as well as being engineered mostly in Dublin. U2 loaned "Dancing Barefoot," the B-side of "When Love Comes to Town," to the soundtrack for "Threesome", a 1994 movie about a bizarre love triangle (yes, New Order’s "Bizarre Love Triangle" appeared as well). Also that year, "Lemon (The Perfecto Mix)" went on the soundtrack to Robert Altman’s "Ready to Wear (Pret-A-Porter)". It was a suitably-slinky disco choice for the movie about a French fashion show and the racy scene surrounding it.

But lately, U2 has been taking its soundtrack projects a lot more seriously, taking time off to concentrate on penning and recording new songs for these extracurricular activities. In 1992, Bono recorded "Can’t Help Falling In Love" for the soundtrack of "Honeymoon in Vegas", a Nicolas Cage/James Caan flick. Although the song didn’t make it in the actual movie, it appeared on the illustrious soundtrack album that included Elvis Presley hits redone by artists like John Mellencamp, Bryan Ferry, Billy Joel, Jeff Beck and Willie Nelson. Obviously, this cover by Bono wasn’t a big stretch of the imagination because he had become quite accustomed to performing it live in concert during the various Zoo tours, but it was a welcome solo statement. The two minute track included actual voice recordings of Elvis in the background and was remixed and more than doubled in length for a European version of the "Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses?" single. Two years later, Bono teamed up with fellow Dublin music-mate Gavin Friday to write and record two songs for the soundtrack of "In the Name of the Father". Both the title song and "Billy Boola" are crafted in the same industrial landscapes introduced on U2’s own Achtung, Baby three years earlier. Sonically there is so much going on in the songs that it is impossible for either to be considered a mere knock off; their gestation representing a maximum commitment (pun intended) by Bono, Friday and the assemblage of top-notch musicians. In addition, U2’s singer and the former Virgin Prune pen a third song "You Made Me The Thief of Your Heart" which is beautifully delivered on the album by Sinead O’Connor.

Finally we come to U2’s burst of cinematically-oriented creativity these past two years. "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me," the Led Zeppelin-derived rocker deemed unsuitable for the streamlined, dancey Zooropa album when it was finished in 1993 finally found a home in the "Batman Forever" movie and on its soundtrack album. Since it was the first bona-fide U2 track in some time, and since it rocked(!), radio stations embraced and made the song a major hit single. If one didn’t want to shell out the extra expense of a soundtrack album for just one song, U2 placed the track on a CD single. The much anticipated release of the latest James Bond thriller "Goldeneye" was accompanied by a brand-new Bono/Edge-composed title track. The sultry-voiced Tina Turner smoothly delivered the slow-burning introduction, created in the grand 22-year old tradition of female-sung Bond title themes begun by Shirley Bassey in "Goldfinger." Okay, there was Paul McCartney’s "Live & Let Die," and Tom Jones doing "Thunderball," but the opening credits for most Bond’s adventures rolled behind orchestral music or a diva’s voice: Bassey’s "Diamonds Are Forever," Nancy Sinatra’s "You Only Live Twice" and Carly Simon’s "Nobody Does it Better" for "The Spy Who Loved Me." Commissioning Bono and the Edge to come up with a melody for Tina Turner to pour sexy warmth into was a well calculated move for the producers of "Goldeneye." The pair had already proved itself time and time again on U2 hits, plus, after penning new songs for Willie Nelson and Roy Orbison, they’d earned a reputation as an eager writing team on outside projects. On "Goldeneye," Bono and Edge craft a suitably sexy melody laced with intrigue and menace in the surrounding accompaniment - everything a Bond theme has to have.

Finally, Adam and Larry surprised and delighted us by revamping Lalo Schifrin’s famous sixties TV theme on the big screen version of "Mission Impossible". The producers of the movie wanted U2 to create the remake, but with the members scattered around the globe on various projects it became evident that they’d never get together in the allotted time. So, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. cobbled together a fascinating arrangement of synthesized and sampled variations on the theme over a relentless 90’s beat. Several remixes were also added to a CD and 12" vinyl single and a successful video was created as well. In a project that needed no vocals, U2’s rhythm pair were able to bring their greatest musical assets to the table, isolating their talents and proving to any skeptics that U2 is a success because all the members provide a vital contribution.

Now that these extracurricular activities have enriched their artistic lives; Bono, Edge, Adam and Larry have settled down to create the next U2 record. Undoubtably, although we may not easily see the evidence, knowledge gained on these other musical journeys will be brought back to the collective effort and incorporated into new directions. With U2 constantly searching for new things to say and other worlds to explore, diversions such as these soundtracks are more valuable than you might have ever suspected. And, of course, the more projects U2’s members become involved in, the more items for us U2 collectors to go out and find!