Details: U2: Boy. Island, 1980. Total time: 42:15.
Four working-class high school boys answer a bulletin board notice seeking bandmates and meet after school in the kitchen of the notewriter. Sounds like a dime-a-dozen clichéd story but that's how U2 came to be.
Boy is their debut album and was recorded in 1980 and released later that year when the guys were about 19 or 20 years old. All of the material is their own.
By the time the album was recorded they had already put out a couple singles, got some radio airplay and press attention for live shows, and gained a fan following in their hometown of Dublin, Ireland and beyond.
Brash, self-assured and full of passion, most of the album sounds outstanding today all these years later. It is a thematically and musically consistent album almost from start to finish, with maybe 1 or 2 clunkers while the rest is enjoyable to listen to. The album has a natural flow and has the foundation of their trademark sound which they developed throughout the rest of the 1980s.
Real standout songs are "I Will Follow," "Out of Control," "Stories for Boys" and a superb "Electric Co." "Another Time, Another Place" sounds really good too. The clunkers are probably "Shadows and Tall Trees" and "The Ocean."
35 years later and my favorite band is still active having put out in fall 2014 what is their best album in a long time and set to embark on a huge concert tour later in 2015.
A bit dated in spots but still it is fun to listen again to their debut album and even with all that was to come they sound good from the outset, raring to go out into the world.
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