U2 - Boy
#420
by Paul Zickler
U2
Boy
Genre: U2
Allen’s Rating 4.5 out of 5
Paul’s Rating: 5
Highlighted Songs:
I Will Follow
An Cat Dubh/Into the Heart
Out of Control
Stories for Boys
A Day Without Me
Electric Co
Shadows and Tall Trees
Dublin. 1980. Close your eyes and feel it. Forget everything that’s happened since this album came out. Forget dark shades Bono with the world savior ego. Forget Edge looking ridiculously underskilled playing guitar next to his heroes. Forget the glorious (Achtung Baby, The Joshua Tree) and the awkward (Rattle and Hum, Songs of Experience). Forget it all, put on this album, close your eyes, and picture four kids from Dublin in 1980.
“I Will Follow” was the first single, the introduction. That signature guitar, those massive drums, the thumping bass, and what sounds like somebody hitting empty beer bottles with a drumstick. Just when the three note melody starts to grate, in comes the bridge, the sound expands, the bass bubbles up. “Your eyes make a circle / I see you when I go in there.” What does it mean? Does it matter? Bono Vox invests it with exactly the kind of full-on emotion of a kid who nicknamed himself “good voice” in Latin. Somehow it works.
“In Cat Dubh/Into the Heart” is 8 minutes of mood. More xylophone, more reverb, stereo panned guitar figures, a moaning, half-chanted wordless chorus. “Yes and I know the truth about yoooouuuuuu,” the last word a ringing falsetto. The groove digs in, then about halfway through, just stops, leaving a repeating bass note with aching guitar on top. A minute later the xylophone returns, then cymbals, finally drums and voice. “Into the heart of a child, I stay awhile, but I can go back.” The album’s main theme emerges.
“Out of Control” takes things up a notch. This is the first fully formed U2 song on the album. It’s basic new wave rock, but with genuine, unironic longing. A brief, echo-laden chant gives way to even more driving bass and drums, and the song ends on an infectious guitar riff. If you weren’t paying attention before, you are now.
“Stories for Boys” continues the trip through childhood. Innocent lyrics paired with intense, dark rock and roll. Clearly the “Stories” of the title were a diversion from the harsh reality of growing up in Ireland during “the troubles.” Knowing this is their first album, it’s truly stunning how locked in the rhythm section of Adam and Larry is. Every moment of this song feels solid and weighty.
“A Day Without Me” is another solid piece with martial drums and ringing guitars. It’s not just three chords for three minutes, either. Multiple shifts in tempo and what sounds like a major to minor key change. “Starting a landslide in my ego. Look from the outside to the world I left behind.”
The second single, “The Electric Co,” once again has all the elements of what became the U2 sound, fully formed and seemingly effortless. Guitar overdubs all over the place. An expansive bridge building and building until the rhythm kicks back in. Maybe the chorus repeats one too many times, but the final minute just smashes the doors down. “I can’t find my way home…”
Suddenly, an acoustic guitar takes us to the coda, which for me puts the whole thing over the top. I remember lying in my 11th floor dorm room in the dark, listening to a dubbed cassette I got from a guy who lived on the 2nd floor, completely entranced by “Shadows and Tall Trees.” What was it like to be a boy in Dublin? I have no idea. But I know what it was like to be a young man in Eastern Washington, and even now, if I close my eyes, I can still feel it.
What a fucking incredible album this is.
https://open.spotify.com/album/2XHksgb0SsUL4NBaqTXHDX?si=-h4a7RI7QwCkql3uwkgAGQ
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