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Rating: "I invested money in a drum kit. Has anyone done the same with guitars?"
(Advertisement posted on September 20, 1976, on the bulletin board of Mount Temple Comprehensive High School attended by Lawrence Mullen Jr.).
For Ireland, although a country where culture was extraordinarily thriving, the 1970s saw a growing international interest in the so-called "disorders"; the same events that unfolded within that interminable conflict for Irish independence, ratified with the Treaty of London (December 1921) and the recognition of the Irish Free State the following year.
The fervent literary tradition is closely followed by the strong pull that music exerts on young Irish people, who find a personal universe in which to escape and identify. And while the home remains one of the few places for a teenager to enjoy music (considering that during those years, minors couldn't enter a pub where they might catch a daring musician), the corridors of Mount Temple Comprehensive High School in Dublin represented the first step in the meeting of four disciplined young people, making music something more than just an extracurricular outlet.
Following the now-historic announcement by Larry, the first meeting with Adam Clayton, Paul Hewson (who would become Bono Vox), and Dave Evans along with his brother Dik took place at the drummer's house, who lived in Dublin at 60 Rosemount Avenue. The only one able to perfectly perform "Blister on the Moon" by Taste, albeit with an unprofessional guitar, was Dave, for whom the support of his friend Ian McCormick would prove (almost) decisive as he was the only one with a Japanese copy of a Fender Stratocaster. Not long after their first meeting in the drummer's kitchen (who played from the garden), the music teacher Albert Bradshaw allowed them to use the school's premises as a rehearsal room, taking on the name Feedback. Their first performance took place in the fall of 1977 during a school contest and lasted no more than ten minutes, enough for "Bye Bye Baby" by Bay City Rollers and "Show Me the Way" the biggest hit that Peter Frampton showcased on his first self-titled work. In March 1978, after debuting on Radio Telefis Eireann with the name The Hype, Adam's organizational spirit brought the group to the attention of the famous DJ and photographer B.P. Fallon and Gerry Cott (guitarist of The Boomtown Rats) and unexpectedly of Phil Lynott from Thin Lizzy. A first semi-professional demo and the departure of Dick Evans (who left for Virgin Prunes with whom he played until 1984) prepared the group for a definitive stability that would come with another musical competition to be held in Limerick in honor of the patron saint of Ireland. The new baptism with the name U2 (inspired by the former The Radiator From The Space Steve Averill) was chosen more for its graphical impact and the multiplicity of meanings it could evoke, preferred even over the more intuitive connotations it might suggest. Adam's organizational skills began to no longer meet the band's needs, and they held a concert at the Project Arts Centre on May 25, 1978, performing in front of Paul McGuinness (already supervisor of Spud), who soon became the manager of the four young musicians. The collaboration agreement entailed 25 pounds a week plus expense reimbursement for the band, while McGuinness, reserving 20% of future earnings, wanted to implement a conquest strategy: 1) few concerts; 2) reinvest earnings in their own equipment (including a van for travel); 3) creation of another demo to be sent to record labels in the capital of England. In 1979, Bono was the one to travel to London to undertake a door-to-door service to record labels and music magazines to distribute the band's demo, reconsidering a previous CBS proposal the following March, with which agreements were made for the release of a single, albeit only in Ireland. The end of the decade brought about the release of the E.P. "Three" (for Columbia Records) with the entire thousand copies sold. The opportunity to fly to London at the end of the same year captured the attention of both the public and critics, soon leading to a four-album contract (...without the record label's interference with creativity...) in four years with Island, plus funding for tours that would span Great Britain, Europe, and the United States... and the dream begins to take shape.
The opening of the first full-length is entrusted to I Will Follow: a distant echo of the guitar heralds a truly visceral entry of all the instruments, unleashing a fundamental restlessness that characterizes the entire work. The depth of the lyrics (which references the premature death of Bono's mother) guides you through the hidden recesses of the human soul, emerging only after experiencing total disorientation (I was on the inside - When they pulled the four walls down - I was looking through the window - I was lost, I am found - Walk away, walk away - I walk away, walk away ... I will follow). "Twilight" (legend has it ... seems it was recorded in five minutes!) is punctuated by the simplicity of the introductory notes that fully unfold the gray phase, which for many summarizes adolescence. The next track will deepen the autobiographical nature of Bono, creating the impetuous atmosphere to put into music (... and words) a quarrel with his Allison, synthesizing the feelings of the moment through a Gaelic note that becomes the title. If "Into the Heart" (until then known as "The Heart of a Child") displays psychedelic features, it is certainly "Another Time, Another Place" that clarifies that there was a common spring source that even the Police drank from. The calm prelude of "The Ocean" spills over into the vigor of "A Day Without Me" (the first thing recorded with Lillywhite), where the crystalline sound allows The Edge to characterize the band's music without inventing a style.
"Boy" is the exemplary mirror of a band of four twenty-year-olds who voluntarily threw themselves into the music world, proposing an embryonic musical idea matured in the punk era, but with the ability to synthesize a wide range of influences that manages to include Bowie, Television, and Joy Division among others. An example of casual writing (as Bono himself defined it) that easily spreads the irrepressible desire for contact with the listener, the essential recipient of the turmoil and unrest that the group can put into music.
For "Out of Control", an immediate and no-frills track that Bono wrote on his eighteenth birthday, it reveals how simplicity in writing can be the best tool to achieve an effective and quality ensemble result, as well as in "Stories for Boys", where rhythmic compactness and a desire for communication become the right means to convey human emotions in song format. The rage of "The Electric Co." bursts forth with full force tackling the uncomfortable and contemporary theme of electroshock therapy, leaving the calm notes of "Shadows and Tall Trees" (the title of which is taken from one of the chapters of Lord of the Flies by Nobel Prize-winner William Golding) to gently close the album, which in some pressings includes the barely perceptible presence of a sketch of "Fire" in the uncommon form of a ghost track.
The album, recorded in August 1980, is tangible proof that in music, nothing is ever taken for granted, demonstrating that there is still much to be explored. Steve Lillywhite's meticulous production allows the four's musical personality to emerge naturally, blending new wave and traditional folk in primis, allowing fragments of blues (undoubtedly that of the Cotton Belt) to blend with an uncommon sense of melody. A compelling quest for contact with the audience that leaks uncontrolled from every track, making this debut a sincere and respectable tribute to good music.
[The reissue of July 2008, besides the excellently remastered original album, includes a bonus CD highly recommended that allows listeners to enjoy another 54 minutes of music, including the first unmissable live testimonies of "Boy-Girl" and "11 O'Clock Tick Tock" (at the legendary Marquee in London on Wardour Street) or the unreleased "Cartoon World" performed at the National Stadium in Dublin. And if listening again to a cleaned-up version of "I Will Follow" or the lesser-known though not indispensable "Touch" is not reason enough to acquire this package, the presence of those three tracks that made the aforementioned "Three" (which saw the light in September 1979) a real historical document will help reconsider one's stance.]
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 I Will Follow (03:37)
(One two three four)
I was on the outside when you said
You needed me
I was looking at myself
I was blind, I could not see.
A boy tries hard to be a man
His mother takes him by his hand
If he stops to think, he starts to cry
Oh why?
If you walk away, walk away
I walk away, walk away
I will follow.
If you walk away, walk away
I walk away, walk away
I will follow.
I will follow.
I was on the inside
When they pulled the four walls down
I was looking through the window
I was lost, I am found.
If you walk away, walk away
I walk away, walk away
I will follow.
If you walk away, walk away
I walk away, walk away
I will follow.
I will follow.
Your eyes make a circle
I see you when I go in there
Your eyes, your eyes
Your eyes, your eyes.
If you walk away, walk away
I walk away, walk away
I will follow.
If you walk away, walk away
I walk away, walk away
I will follow.
I will follow.
02 Twilight (04:22)
I look into his eyes
They're closed but I see something.
A teacher told me why
I laugh when old men cry.
My body grows and grows
It frightens me, you know
The old man tried to walk me home
I thought he should have known.
Twilight, lost my way
Twilight, can't find my way.
In the shadow, boy meets man
In the shadow, boy meets man
In the shadow, boy meets man
In the shadow, boy meets man.
I'm running in the rain
I'm caught in a late night play.
It's all, it's everything
I'm soaking through the skin.
Twilight, darkened day
Twilight, lost my way
Twilight, night and day
Twilight, can't find my way.
Can't find your way
Can't find my way
Can't find your way.
Twilight, darkened day
Twilight, lost my way
Twilight, night and day
Twilight, can't find my way.
In the shadow, boy meets man
In the shadow, boy meets man
In the shadow, boy meets man
In the shadow, boy meets man.
03 An Cat Dubh (06:16)
Say goodnight
She waits for me to turn out the light
Really still
She waits to break my will
Yes, and I know the truth about you.
She cat
And in the daylight
A blackbird makes a violent sight
And when she is done
She sleeps beside the one
Yes, and I know the truth about you
She cat
Yes, and I know the truth about you
She cat
04 Into the Heart (01:58)
Into the heart...of a child
I stay a while...oh, I can go back
Into the heart...of a child
I can smile
I can go there
Into the heart
Into the heart of a child
I can go back
I can stay awhile
Into the heart
05 Out of Control (04:15)
Monday morning
Eighteen years dawning
I said how long.
Say how long.
It was one dull morning
I woke the world with bawling
I was so sad
They were so glad.
I had the feeling it was out of control
I was of the opinion it was out of control.
Boys and girls to school
And girls they make children
Not like this one.
I had the feeling it was out of control
I was of the opinion it was out of control.
I was of the feeling it was out of control
I had the opinion it was out of control.
I fought fate
There's blood at the garden gate
The man said childhood
It's in his childhood
One day I'll die
The choice will not be mine
Will it be too late?
You can't fight fate.
I had the feeling it was out of control
I was of the opinion it was out of control.
06 Stories for Boys (03:02)
There's a place I go
When I am far away.
There's a T.V. show
And I can play.
Sometimes when a hero takes me
Sometimes I don't let go
Oh, oh, oh.
There's a picture book
With colour photographs
There's a comic strip
That makes me laugh
Sometimes away he takes me
Sometimes I don't let go.
Stories for boys
Stories for boys
Stories for boys
Stories for boys
Stories for boys.
There's a place I go
And it's a part of me
There's a radio
And I will go
Sometimes a hero takes me
Sometimes I don't let go.
Stories for boys
Stories for boys
Stories for boys
Stories for boys
Stories for boys.
Stories for boys.
Stories for boys.
Stories for boys.
Stories for boys.
07 The Ocean (01:35)
A picture in grey
Dorian Gray
Just me by the sea.
And I felt like a star
I felt the world could go far
If they listened to what I said.
The sea
Washes my feet
Washes my feet
Splashes the sole of my shoes.
09 Another Time, Another Place (04:33)
Bright morning lights
Wipe the sleep from another day's eye
Turn away from the wall
And there's Nothing at all
Being naked and afraid
In the open space of my bed
I'll be with you now
I'll be with you now
I'll be with you now
We lie on a cloud
We lie...
Just as I am
I awoke with a tear on my tongue
I awoke with a feeling of never before
In my sleep I discover the one
But she ran with the morning sun
I'll be with you now
I'll be with you now
I'll be with you now
We lie on a cloud
We lie...
Another time, another place
We lie...
Another child has lost the race
We lie...
Another time, another place
We lie...
Your time, your price
We lie...
Another time, another place
We lie...
Another child has lost...
[Gaelic words...]
We lie...
Another time, another place
We lie...
Your time, your place
10 The Electric Co. (04:47)
Boy, stupid boy
Don't sit at the table
Until you're able to
Toy, broken toy
Shout and shout
You're inside out
If you don't know... Electric co.
If you don't know... Electric co.
Red, running red
Play for real
The toy could feel
A hole in your head
You go in shock
You're spoon-fed
If you don't know
Electric co.
If you don't know
Electric co.
One three four
I can't stop
You stay still in the song
You stay still in the song
Say reach out
If you don't know... Electric co.
If you don't know... Electric co.
If you don't know... Electric co.
If you don't know... Electric co.
If you don't know... Electric co.
If you don't know... Electric co.
See someone breaks the willow
To say the sound go
To the top of casandro
Covering me
Just to hear me
Two hours...
Two hours and two hours
Listen I can't find my way home
So alone...
(Can't you, can't you get it)
You know
And you know
And you know
And you know
And you know
11 Shadows and Tall Trees (04:35)
Back to the cold restless streets at night
Talk to myself about tomorrow night.
Walls of white protest
A gravestone in name
Who is it now?
It's always the same.
Who is it now? Who calls me inside?
Are the leaves on the trees just a living disguise?
I walk the street rain tragicomedy
I'll walk home again to the street melody.
But I know, oh no
But I know, oh no
But I know.
Shadows and tall trees
Shadows and tall trees
Shadows and tall trees
Shadows and tall trees.
Life through a window
Discoloured pain
Mrs Brown's washing is always the same
I walk the street rain tragicomedy
I'll walk home again to the street melody.
But I know, oh no
But I know, oh no
But I know.
Do you feel in me
Anything redeeming
Any worthwhile feeling?
Is love like a tightrope
Hanging on my ceiling?
But I know, oh no
But I know, oh no
But I know.
Shadows and tall trees
Shadows and tall trees
Shadows and tall trees
Shadows and tall trees.
Shadows, shadows, shadows.
Shadows, shadows, shadows.
Shadows and tall trees.
Shadows, shadows, shadows.
Shadows, shadows, shadows.
Shadows and tall trees.
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