Vinyl Vault

In spite of the 1980’s, U2 was born. While the rest of the music scene was about to take a dramatic turn toward weightless, frothy pop that looked better than it sounded, Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton, and Larry Mullen Jr. exploded out of Dublin with a lot on their minds, even more on their hearts, and anthems to spare. So how does their debut effort, 1980’s Boy, sound today? Let’s allow the song-by-song album review to tell the tale.

Boy (1980, Island Records)

Side 1

  “I Will Follow”
It’s all right there at the beginning: The Edge’s ringing guitar, the thundercrack drums of Mullen, Adam Clayton’s thumping one-note bass lines, and Bono being, well, Bono. You can immediately distinguish the differences from any punk influence, in the way the music builds tension and releases it, the way the band leaves enough open spaces to let the song breathe, and the way Bono’s message is essentially positive. It still sounds brand new 30 years later.

  “Twilight”
The Edge and Clayton have some interesting interplay here, and Bono lets loose on the chorus. The band had a knack for song construction right from the get-go. The theme of childhood struggling to advance into adulthood is prevalent throughout the album.

  “An Cat Dubh”
The brooding music here has more than a little New Wave to it. Bono slinks through the lyrics like a feline, taking a clear-eyed look at a sexual encounter: “I know the truth about you.” You can tell by the way he sings it that it’s not a reassuring truth.

  “Into The Heart”
Essentially a continuation of “An Cat Dubh,” albeit a much softer song. The Edge dominates here with a more atmospheric style of playing, as Bono touches on the theme of lost innocence again. It does meander a bit too long at the end, though.

  “Out of Control”
Kicking off with Clayton’s tone-setting bass, this one hits the ground running and rarely lets up. Much has been made of Bono’s lyrics in the early days not being up to snuff with the group’s already-advanced sound, but you could make the case that he had the wherewithal to let the music do the talking, simply suggesting themes that the rest of the band could drive home.

Side 2

  “Stories For Boys”
Mullen takes center stage here with a varied drum-attack, even including some cowbell, that keeps this song afloat. It’s a bit forgettable, though.

  “The Ocean”
This brief slow-burner could have done without the cheesy bubbling sound effects or Bono’s name-dropping of Dorian Gray.

  “A Day Without Me”
It sounds like the band was trying something different here, but you end up with the cheeriest-sounding suicide song ever, which isn’t really a recommendation.

  “Another Time, Another Place”
You’re better off following the Edge’s serpentine guitar through this song than paying too close attention to Bono’s garbled poetic efforts. However, the chorus redeems it somewhat.

  “The Electric Co.”
Mullen’s rumbling drums and The Edge’s speed-demon playing set the table for the resplendent chorus. Once again you have an instrumental breakdown that builds back up into the main body of the song brilliantly, which shows that the band had road-tested a lot of these songs and knew exactly what would get a rise out of a listener. An extremely focused effort here.

  “Shadows And Tall Trees”
It’s interesting because the drums are the hook, and it’s clearly an early stab at the kind of slow-building ballad the band would eventually perfect. But the melody is trite and it’s a muted end to all the powerful stuff that came before.

The Bottom Line

If Side 2 was a bit of a letdown, there’s still no doubting the rush you get from listening to that opening bunch of songs. U2 might not have been the biggest band in the world at the start, but, on Boy, they had the nerve and the chops to play like they were.

Go to Page 2 for a review of OCTOBER >>

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