Published on Apr 10, 1997
Sometimes, after a band has hit the point of superstardom, it is
interesting to go back and look at their earliest works to hear
where they originally started.
So when reader “Bigdog Bireley” wrote to me suggesting we review
U2’s debut effort
Boy, I went deep into the Pierce Memorial Archives (Where
should we put the Theremin?) to retrieve it. I slapped it on the
turntable…
And… nothing. The first effort of Bono Vox, The Edge, Adam
Clayton and Larry Mullen, Jr., fails to set the ol’ turntable on
fire, though the album is hardly a disaster.
From the two minor hits “I Will Follow” and “Stories For Boys,”
U2 show they have the know-how to craft a solid pop tune. However,
the true surprise lies in the track “Twilight,” which features
solid vocals from Bono and guitar riffs.from The Edge (though I
never understood why he didn’t use his real name).
But
Boy quickly falls into a pattern of ordinary songwriting and
performance that, while not bad in and of itself, tends to bore the
listener. I tried five times to get through the first side, but by
the time “An Cat Dubh” – the third friggin’ track, for Crissake –
my mind had wandered. Though I had sat there listening to the
record, I coulnd’t remember listening to the last track. By the
time I made it to “Out Of Control” and the end of the side, I was
completely frustrated.
The second half of the album suffers from the same fate. If you
didn’t have the album jacket in front of you, it would be hard to
remember if you just listened to “A Day Without Me” or “Another
Time, Another Place,” “The Ocean” or “Shadows And Tall Trees.”
There is still a lot of room for growth that can be heard on
Boy – the jangled lead-rhythm guitar of The Edge is still
not there (though he proves himself to be a competent lead player
here). And Bono’s voice, though powerful with youth, also hasn’t
gained the bite that only experience – with a touch of political
righteousness – could add.
Maybe it’s just me, I don’t know. Maybe the problem is that, due
to U2’s rise to superstardom since this album came out in 1980, I
hold anything I listen to by them to those standards. In this case,
though, I don’t think that’s the problem with
Boy, though.
In this case, I think the problem is simply age. What passed for
cutting edge 17 years ago now sounds dated, if not pleasant enough.
And that is the difficulty with
Boy – it isn’t a bad enough album to condemn, but it’s not a
good enough album to recommend for addition to one’s
collection.