Search - U2 :: Boy

Mrs. Brown's Washing - The Same But Different

Pax | Greensboro, North Carolina United States | 07/28/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The remastered version of Boy is really incredible and very worthy of the purchase. The old cd versions that have represented the U2 catalog for so many years have really done a disservice to their early material. These new remastered versions really bring back the potency of the music and give the music a vibrancy it hasn't had for way too many years. So many lesser bands have remastered their entire catalog years ago. I wonder what has kept U2 from doing so? It kind of reminds me of the Beatles, where they really seem to want to control what happens to their music. Who knows?



One decision I do applaud is keeping the extra material on separate cd's (Deluxe Version). I have always felt that when bands tag on singles, rarities etc. on the back of the original LP when they re-release an album that it muddies the waters and dilutes the orginal work. I think U2 did the right thing by keeping the original work intact by offering different versions of the remastering, each with the original work intact.



Either way, I have waited a long time to see U2 finally remaster their early albums and I am very satisfied with the results. While its hard to describe, the remaster is so much more immediate, with full bass, and Bono's voice is really much more complex & three dimensional on this version. It adds so much to the music and makes one realize all over again why this album is so great. The remaster is so good(yet unobtrusive)that it has brought back memories for me from when I first listened to it back in 80-81, similar to a specific smell that jars a memory.



I believe that Boy is so good for such a variety of reasons that it has never really been as appreciated as it should be. The sheer audacity of it's sonic & thematic scope from such "youngsters" is sort of hard to comprehend. An album about coming of age that doesn't involve cars, drugs, & women but actual serious internal reflection and darker moments? The sound this album creates was (and is) so different that it creates a whole mood and "world" for its theme, providing the extra ingredient to make this something more than just a great rock n' roll album. No matter how great the Beatles were, or the Rolling Stones for example, they were always working from a known palette, reworking the colors and the arrangements into interesting & pleasing arrangemnts. On Boy, U2 seems to be doing nothing less then creating whole new sounds, evoking new landscapes for the expression of emotion and feelings as of yet unheard in "Rock n Roll". While AC/DC were singing about Dirty Deeds and even the Ramones singing about Beating on the Brat, U2 were singing about the grey edges between boyhood and manhood, the uncertainty of experience, the tension in adolescence, reflections on ego, even the simple joys of late childhood, in a unique manner that actually gave musical expression to these very same concepts.



While U2 ultimately "conquered" the music world, I would say one would be hard pressed to listen to Boy and truthfully say that from that listening they could tell that U2 would go on to sell millions of records. Boy is not really very "commercial" in any way, not like the Police or really any other band that made it big, or has since (Even newer, "hip" bands like the Arctic Monkeys have a more commercial edge to their sound). Just one more reason to see U2 as an exception....and exceptional."

U2's Debut

Thomas Magnum | NJ, USA | 01/02/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Boy is the album that introduced the Irish band to the world. The band were basically still teenagers at the time of the release and the album has that sense of urgency and earnestness that one feels at that age. This is the band's chance at the big time and they don't want to let it slip through their hands. "I Will Follow" is a powerful blast of rock and roll that percolates and pounds. "Into The Heart" is almost mystical in its delivery and "Another Time, Another Place" is a ripper. The album has an airy sound in places such as on "The Ocean", "Twilight" and "The Electric Co." while songs like "Stories For Boys" and "Shadows & Tall Trees" have an endearing naivete to them. Boy is chock full of promise and potential and the band proved they were up to the task of reaching and fulfilling that promise and potential over the course of their career."

Welcome reissue of near-classic debut . . .

Barrettbowie | Oakland, CA | 07/26/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Before he became a globe-trotting messiah of egotistical goodwill in gigantically fashionable wrap-around shades, Bono was just a wide-eyed Irish kid with an expressive voice and a mullet more impressive than Billy Ray Cyrus. I mean, he had a LOT of hair--but so did Adam, Larry, and the Edge. Collectively, they all were just another of many contenders: not for the mantle of arena rock superstars, but, more modestly, for the title of greatest post-punk/early college rock export from the British Isles.



As their opening statement, Boy is a pretty straightforward guitar rock album; angular and melodic in many parts, a bit dull and same-sounding in others. An easy comparison to make is that this is to U2 as Pablo Honey would be to Radiohead over a decade later. But if Radiohead boasted a downer anthem for slackers in "Creep", U2 offered pretty much the opposite: an upbeat anthem of hope to future do-gooders in the evergreen "I Will Follow". This is still one of their greatest songs and, really, one of the greatest singles ever. As the opening track, it casts a long shadow but one that is absolutely crucial as a statement of purpose, correctly announcing U2 as a band that is just a bit more ambitious, just a bit more socially conscious, just a bit bigger than their superficially similar left-of-the dial peers. Put another way, the DNA for The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby is here, in small doses, ready to be transcribed, then translated in successive years.



The remastering on this disc might upset some audiophiles complaining that it is merely louder and with a reduced dynamic range compared to the original CD. I have not done a side-by-side comparison, but to these ears the sound is full and clear and ultimately quite satisfying. The deluxe 2-CD edition of this album is for rich collectors or obsessive completists only--these are the only early songs you really need. The reasonably expansive booklet is a nice souvenir, but I sort of wish they would have went for the abstract, Rorschach style cover used on the original domestic CD release instead of the vaguely pedophilic photograph resurrected from the original LP. (In fact, I have a theory that the boy looks so angry on the War cover because he's still mad at his depiction on this album!)"