•
Rating: It's at the end of 1980 that "Boy", the first album by a little-known emerging Irish band, U2, is released. The group had formed 4 years earlier: the oldest of the 4 was 16. In a short time, the 4 managed to make a name for themselves by playing in pubs and venues.
Looking at the photos inside the booklet, one is surprised to see a "long-haired" Bono, a The Edge without that horrible hat he uses to hide his balding, an Adam Clayton with the most gaudy glasses ever... They are not yet the U2 that denounce the condition of the Irish people or the pacifist/globalization protesters. The U2 photographed in this album are just twenty-year-olds who didn't even think about the success they would achieve within a few years. 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. Musically, we can talk about a rock heavily indebted to certain post-punk/new wave sounds: The Edge's riffs are already in his typical style—direct, no frills, with plenty of reverb and delay; Larry Mullen is an excellent drummer, the most skilled among the 3 musicians; Adam Clayton is a technically quite poor bassist without particular creativity, but his way of playing is very "velvety" and enveloping, and it perfectly matches his 2 comrades; Bono does not yet have perfect command of his voice, but his performance is very unique and expressive.
Already from the album's title, one can understand the common thread that ties each track together: the adolescence experienced by the 4, marked by family tragedies, IRA bombings, and religion, the only glimmer of hope. The cover photo, depicting the brother of a friend of Bono (and the same one from the "War" cover), was even replaced in the United States due to some absurd accusations of pedophilia.
The riff that opens "I Will Follow" is iconic: in the background, aside from bass and drums, there is what seems like a xylophone (but I'm not sure), a sound that will often recur throughout the album. The lyrics are dedicated by Bono to his mother, who died when he was still a child. It is followed by the more melancholic "Twilight," which explodes in a powerful chorus dominated by Bono's voice, speaking of the doubts concerning growing up "My body grows and grows/It frightens me you know" and, at the twilight of the title "Boy meets man." An eerie guitar line opens "An Cat Dubh" (A black cat, in Gaelic), full of dark atmospheres to which the beautiful and evocative "Into the Heart" is linked, also using the piano to create an ethereal and dreamlike atmosphere. Immediately afterward comes Clayton's pulsating bass to introduce "Out of Control", a quick and direct track that raises the tone. The rhythmic section and chorus of the refrain are thrilling; yet again, lyrics focused on young people, described as "Out of Control," meaning adrift, without a guide to lead them on the right path. "Stories for Boys" continues down the path taken, this time it's Clayton's bass that adds more value to the song.
Semi-psychedelic atmospheres characterize the very brief "The Ocean" with its cryptic lyrics in which Bono expresses his desire to change the world "I felt the world could go far/If they listened/To what I said." A homage to Ian Curtis of Joy Division, who had recently passed away, in "A Day Without Me", with guitar riffs made epic by the special effects used and a great drum performance. A dramatic and painful track is "Another Time Another Place" which contains one of the few solos on the album, but it's somewhat overshadowed by the following "The Electric Co.", the band's first classic along with the opener—a truly powerful track (almost garage) that will become one of the memorable moments of their live performances (just listen to the excellent version on "Under a Blood Red Sky"). It closes with "Shadows and Tall Trees" with its obsessive syncopated drum groove, where for the first time in the album you hear the acoustic guitar; the lyrics speak of an imaginary return home by Bono, characterized by a dark pessimism "Is life like a tightrope/Hanging from the ceiling."
If you only know the more bourgeois U2, I strongly recommend catching up on their early albums (all those from the '80s are beautiful). This "Boy" is certainly not the best, but it is the one that shows U2 at their freshest, most genuine, and above all sincere.
Rating = 8
Tracklist Lyrics 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.
Loading comments slowly
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 Ocean
‘Boy’ is globally superior to ‘War’ in musical quality, even without its famous hits.
If Edge had focused more on technique than delay effects, he could have become a great guitarist.
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.
