Like a clarion, a song leapt from American radio speakers in 1981. It would soon inspire basements of budding guitarists to detune a half-step and purchase delay pedals trying to replicate the riff just so.
The song was “I Will Follow”, and the band was U2. While they were soon embraced by both their native Dublin and college radio, it was clear the band wanted to be the biggest thing around. With their first full-length LP, they made a pretty good stab at accomplishing that.
Boy begins with that striking single, as it should, the riff pulsating over the thundering rhythm section and glockenspiel accents. The side continues with “Twilight”, a rerecording of an earlier single side and a continuation of the dark mood. The next three songs are listed as separate pieces, and while two are an acknowledged medley, they deserve to be heard as a single unit. “An Cat Dubh” sports another menacing riff, with a tease of a major key in the verse before winding down at the end of each back to that riff (over the omnipresent glockenspiel). Bono’s lyrics are already fairly obtuse, trying to say a lot more than he may mean, but a key component here is The Edge on backing vocals, mirroring Bono’s leads as well as the guitar fills the frame. That riff gets more insistent and builds before easing off into gentle harmonics, before a drone and a simple thudding bass line heralds the next movement. An absurdly simple yet beautiful two-note phrase repeats in variations and extensions before finding its way into the chord sequence of “Into The Heart”. This time the vocal section is more of a repeated chorus, and after its apex it steps aside for the band to gently take it out, with a few piano chords added to the mix. The end of the piece barely has room to breathe before—just as they might onstage—the band kicks into “Out Of Control”, another superior rerecording of an earlier single. After two powerful verses and choruses, and a guitar solo that betrays the influence of Tom Verlaine, there’s another patented hush before the final chorus and a repeat of the intro on the outro. And that is what you call a perfect album side.
Side two, while excellent, is simply not as strong as the first. Part of it comes from the over-reliance on the repeated harmonics Edge plays on too many harmonics (on the twelfth, seventh and fifth frets, as discovered by all those budding guitarists). Also, to these ears anyway, some of the songs just aren’t as strong. “Stories For Boys” was a lesser single, though “The Ocean” would make a nice stage entrance (as many times as they needed to replace songs in the early days before they’d written enough.) The “bwleahhhh” guitar sound all over “A Day Without Me” was as ill-advised an effect as the sped-up vocals at the end. Likewise, Bono’s gruff accent on the last verse of “Another Time, Another Place” still makes one uneasy. However, all is redeemed by “The Electric Co.”, which returns to the winning formula of “Out Of Control” without copying it completely. This time the end segues into a quieter ending with “Shadows And Tall Trees”, a successful experiment over odd meters and acoustic guitars.
In hindsight, Boy immediately put U2 in the running for “best band of the ‘80s”, a title for which their closest competitors—in Athens, Georgia, of all places—were still a few years off from attempting to claim. It’s still a favorite for any fan of the band no matter where they discovered it, and was a popular catalog title throughout the CD era.
The CD was finally upgraded in 2008, and was also issued in a deluxe edition with the by-now arbitrary expanded packaging and bonus disc. This is essential, as it’s packed with the early singles, including “Boy/Girl”, “11 O-Clock Tick Tock”, “Touch”, “Things To Make And Do”, “Another Day”, and alternate versions of songs that would be rerecorded for the album. Two outtakes from the album sessions (including an early version of “Fire” called “Saturday Night”) and three live recordings (including the otherwise unknown “Cartoon World”) round out the disc. The album essay doesn’t reveal much, but Edge’s notes on the extras are certainly worth the glance. Although American fans will miss seeing that old album cover they’d always known.
U2 Boy (1980)—4½
2008 Deluxe Edition: same as 1980, plus 14 extra tracks
Boy was great debut album. All the tracks rocked and on the cold winter of 1980, I will follow blasted like a megaphone in the 6 am morning. Bono is a good singer but he has got a long way of singing clearly before understanding a word he is saying before one hit the charts. The edge Inspired a lot of guitar plays but Brian may is the first to use a chorus pedal and delay effect for the liquid guitar sounds in keep yourself alive and years later pink floyd and run like hell has David Gilmour playing chorus effects and 5 months after that, Robert Smith plays a forest, the best goth/post punk songs of 1980.
ReplyDeleteThey came first before the edge just to let everybody know. His real name is Dave Evans and he plays a clean yet echoey guitar sound that I loved a lot more than compressed distortion on metal albums.
This ranks along the other 1980 post punk albums no one hears of, closer by joy division, the cure, seventeen seconds, the sound, jeopardy and talking heads, remain in light. Excellent review.