U2
Boy (1980)
2008 Deluxe Edition
MP3 LOSSY CBR 320 KBPS
Contains Album Art & ID Tags
allmusic
U2 catapulted over its post-punk peers to become the biggest rock & roll band in the world, a title they earned after the release of The Joshua Tree in 1987 and maintained well into the 21st century. Alone among all the groups to emerge from the post-punk era, U2 channeled their yen for moody, experimental aural textures into clearly defined rock anthems and ballads -- songs that sounded majestic yet felt personal. Much of that sense of intimacy can be attributed to Bono, a lead singer who gravitates toward grand gestures yet remains grounded by his belief in humanity and the revolutionary power of rock & roll. This sense of righteousness never left U2, not even after the group sold millions of albums all over the globe, but it burned brightest on their earliest records such as 1983's galvanizing War, when the cavernous guitar of the Edge still seemed flinty and the rhythm section of Larry Mullen, Jr. and Adam Clayton conveyed the grit of the group's punk beginnings. This phase of U2 crested around the time they stole the show at Live Aid in 1985, an event that laid the groundwork for The Joshua Tree. Powered by the twin Billboard chart-toppers "With or Without You" and "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," The Joshua Tree contained the group's most direct music to date, yet that immediacy was countered by evocative, noir-ish production, setting a precedent U2 would follow for the rest of their career; whenever they got too close to the middle of the road, they darted in another direction. Their first -- and most radical -- reinvention arrived in 1991, with the dense, electronics-drenched Achtung Baby, a left turn that set the pace for a decade of risk-taking that culminated with 1997's Pop, a rare commercial misfire from the band. U2 righted themselves with 2000's All That You Can't Leave Behind, a streamlined back-to-basics album that brought them to a cruising altitude they maintained through the 2000s, as they released albums like How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb and No Line on the Horizon that kept them at the forefront of mainstream rock. U2's desire to play to every imaginable audience backfired when their 2014 album Songs of Innocence was downloaded to the library of every iTunes user, generating bad publicity that pushed them toward the reflective territory of 2017's Songs of Experience and Songs of Surrender, a 2023 album that found them reinterpreting 40 songs from their catalog.
The band's sound was undeniably indebted to post-punk, so it's mildly ironic that U2 formed in 1976, before punk had even reached their hometown of Dublin, Ireland. Larry Mullen, Jr. posted a notice on a high school bulletin board asking for fellow musicians to form a band. Bono, the Edge, Adam Clayton, and Dick Evans responded to the ad, and the teenagers got together as a Beatles and Stones cover band called the Feedback. They then changed their name to the Hype in 1977. Shortly afterward, Dick Evans left the band to form the Virgin Prunes, and they changed names once again, this time adopting the moniker of U2.
Tracklist:
CD 1
01. I Will Follow
02. Twilight
03. An Cat Dubh
04. Into The Heart
05. Out Of Control
06. Stories For Boys
07. The Ocean
08. A Day Without Me
09. Another Time, Another Place
10. The Electric Co.
11. Shadows And Tall Trees
12. Fire [Short Instrumental Hidden Track]
CD 2
01. I Will Follow [Previously Unreleased Mix]
02. 11 O'Clock Tick Tock
03. Touch
04. Speed Of Life [Previously Unreleased Track]
05. Saturday Night [Previously Unreleased Track]
06. Things To Make And Do
07. Out Of Control
08. Boy-Girl
09. Stories For Boys
10. Another Day
11. Twilight
12. Boy-Girl [Live At The Marquee, London]
13. 11 O' Clock Tick Tock [Live At The Marquee, London]
14. Cartoon World [Live At The National Stadium, Dublin]
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