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Rating: It's been 4 years since Larry Mullen posted a small note on the school bulletin board that said: “Looking for people to start a band”. A few unassuming words from which one of the most important and influential bands of the 80s was born. Between 1976 and 1980, the four young Irishmen had worked like crazy, between concerts and recording studios, to produce something worthwhile, writing dozens of letters to record companies. Among the initial singles, they brought out several interesting things like “Trevor” and “Street Mission” which, if properly developed, could have become beautiful songs.
With the experience gained in 4 years and thrilled by the enthusiasm for the contract with Island Records, U2 composed a surprising debut album in just a few months.
Learning chords with Ramones songs (“the reason for our existence” as Bono said), the four absorbed the lesson of punk, but sweetened it with a touch of Italian melody, creating a sort of soft-punk that neutralizes the excesses of the late 70s.
The result is excellent, and what's sad is that many people underestimate this album and celebrate an album like “War”, which is globally inferior to “Boy” in terms of musical quality – even though here you won't find “Sunday Bloody Sunday” or “New Year's Day”.
On the other hand, U2 didn't do much to make “Boy” known – as seen in Best 1980-1990, where only “I Will Follow” (unjustly) appears from “Boy”, which isn't even the best track on the album. “I Will Follow” is striking for its riff (with a punk flavor) placed at the beginning and in the chorus, which Edge fills with his delicate touches during the verses and clearly shows the ideological gap between U2 and the punk movement, for which raw instrumentality was its strong point.
Right after “I Will Follow” comes “Twilight”. The beautiful 33-second crescendo begins with Edge's two guitars (one on one side and one on the other), joined first by the bass (after 6 seconds), then the kick drum (after 20 seconds), then hi-hat and snare, before Bono's voice enchants us with its melody perfectly supported by the two guitars, culminating in a memorable chorus repeating the title introduced by Mullen's martial drumming. Edge's solo deserves special praise, even if the technique isn't perfect yet. Listening to it, you realize that if the Irish guitarist, instead of dedicating his life to studying guitar delay effects, had concentrated on technique, he would have become a great guitarist.
Then we move to the dark part of the album with the somber and depressed arpeggios of the long suite “An Cat Dubh” - “Into the Heart”, followed by the sonic whip of “Out of Control” (the first single from the album) with Bono in top form. Verse-chorus, verse-chorus followed by Edge's solo that first repeats the melody and then becomes almost wild; then, at 2:30, there is a slow, almost psychedelic interlude with Bono's voice repeating the title four times in a slight crescendo before the final furious verse. A perfect arena rock song, along with “The Electric Co.” (a song much loved by early fans, which has exactly the same structure as “Out of Control”) with two verses followed by the solo and slow-psychedelic interlude.
There is room for the energetic and very fast “Stories for Boys”, where Mullen with his work steals the scene from the guitar, before the beautiful “Another Time, Another Place” arrives with its fading intro. Edge, with his 7 three-note arpeggios, takes us to the sad-yet-manly melody invented by Bono (truly magnificent), which after a melodic change brings us back to Edge's 7 arpeggios and the second verse leading to the chorus that repeats the title and almost shows us a despondent Bono. A great solo by Edge readies us for a classic finale with an angry Bono supported by Mullen's drumming.
After another dark interlude of just over a minute (“The Ocean”) where the gleaming guitar blends with the sound of water, we come to the first of Edge's delay masterpieces, “A Day Without Me”. The guitarist remembers it as one of his highest effectistic achievements, as he tells us in the documentary “It Might Get Loud” (2009) (which you can find on YouTube with Italian subtitles).
It closes with the acoustic “Shadows and Tall Trees”, a melodic gem, which compared to the rest appears little more than filler.
It's a real pity not to find the splendid “11 O’Clock Tick-Tock” here, released as a single in May 1980 and which would become their most beloved song by their audience before the release of “War”. The song boasts – in my opinion – Edge's most beautiful riff, perfectly supported by Mullen's hefty drumming. The work on the verses is perfect, and then the harsh solo completes it all. To be fair, the single version (which I strongly recommend you listen to) is somewhat slow and with a slightly muddy sound. The live version of “Under a Blood Red Sky” is faster, and extended by an additional verse after the solo, with more prominent drums. If they had believed more in the song and rearranged it in the studio, today we would find it in “Boy”, and perhaps “Boy” would be a more well-known album.
A word on the lyrics is a must. Except for a few episodes (“Stories for Boys”), the lyrics of this album show undeniable lyricism and surprising maturity – considering Bono had just turned 20. It talks about everything: a mother's eternal love for a child, love similar to that of God for His creatures (“I Will Follow”); the desire to remain a child at heart despite growing older (“Into the Heart”); the twilight of adolescence and the onset of adulthood (“Twilight”, which means precisely twilight, and includes a splendid line: “In the shadow of the twilight (of adolescence) the boy becomes a man”); thoughts of death and fate beyond our control (“Out of Control”); suicide seen from the perspective of the suicidal (“A Day Without Me”, dedicated to Ian Curtis, leader of Joy Division, who had just taken his life); the manipulative woman (“An Cat Dubh”, an Irish expression meaning black cat, which Bono describes as one who wants to impose her will on her partner, like a cat preventing the bird from flying free); the feeling after making love (for the first time) with a woman who is no longer in bed with you the next morning (“Another Time, Another Place”); the beauty of the ocean as a place to share your thoughts, forgetting the rest of the world (“The Ocean”); and even electroshock therapy, very in vogue in the 70s (“The Electric Co.”).
A surprising start – to witness the miraculous strength of a collaboration that has given us truly splendid results over more than thirty years.
The cover you can see is not the European one, which depicts a child, but the American one. In America, the photo of the child was seen as an encouragement of pedophilia.
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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Other reviews
By SouthMan
"Front and center is The Edge’s guitar: few notes, reverb, delay, and a style already unmistakable."
"Forget about One, With or Without You, and fall in love with these U2. The most sincere. The most naive. The most passionate."
By stargazer
The album shows all the group’s innocence, which makes this album fresh and truly enjoyable, far from the overproduction that characterized their last mediocre albums.
If you only know the more bourgeois U2, I strongly recommend catching up on their early albums (all those from the ’80s are beautiful).
By claudio carpentieri
'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.
Steve Lillywhite’s meticulous production allows the four’s musical personality to emerge naturally, blending new wave and traditional folk in primis.
By abc
Boy is an immature, dirty, disturbing album... It has the scent of that sweet and desperate late 70s Post-Punk that is always a pleasure to listen to.
This is Boy, a powerful, energetic, reflective, and genuine album that showcases the complex simplicity of the group.
