Captive is the first full soundtrack album created by a member of
U2. Released over a decade before Million Dollar Hotel and a few months before The Joshua Tree was recorded, Captive is music written and performed by the Edge for a somewhat obscure European thriller. The album's only single is the track "Heroine," which featured vocals by Sinead O'Connor and was included in her greatest-hits album, So Far: The Best of Sinead O'Connor, as well as the compilation Celtic Moods. The only other member of
U2 to appear on the soundtrack is Larry Mullen, who drums on "Heroine." Those expecting a
U2 album (or an Edge solo effort) will be disappointed. "Heroine" is the only pop song here, with the other tracks being instrumentals. However, this collaboration with Canadian Michael Brook (who has worked with Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Brian Eno and contributed to Peter Gabriel's score to Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ) has some value, for it shows the Edge evolving in different directions than the supergroup. An interesting bit of trivia here: Brook invented the "infinite guitar," which Edge would use to atmospheric heights on "With or Without You" shortly after Captive was completed. Worth checking out, but for diehards only. ~ JT Griffith