I'm in love with the Boy! (and the parallels with ATYCLB)

[Saracene]

Isn't it fun how you sometimes make a 180-degree turn on the music you previously thought unremarkable? I thought that Boy will always remain in my U2 collection just as a "snapshot" of my favourite band's early days rather than something I'd want to listen to repeatedly. Then I suddenly decided to give it another spin a day ago, and I'm amazed at my own reaction. Ok, so Bono's singing is not yet fully-realised and some songs tend to drag on for no good reason, but God, I suddenly realised what a hell of a fun, energetic debut album this really is. Edge's guitar playing in particular is yum-my!

I know that many people tend to claim that ATYCLB is the band's return to their "JT roots", but I'm actually wondering whether in some way they went even further back to their very first album. Of course the two records really have nothing in common in terms of lyrics, singing, music, mood and so on, but what they do have in common IMO is that the songs are not dominated by any kind of BIG IDEAS, whether it be religion, politics, irony, post-modernism or Making A Profound Comment on the Modern Society via the Means of Fuzzy Electronic Bleeps. I mean, even when Bono goes on about the woes of the world in "Peace on Earth", it sound more like a quietly simmering lament rather than a Big Bold Political Statement. I feel that the both album can essentially be described with that often-repeated phrase coined for ATYCLB, "a sound of four people playing together", whether it be boys on Boy or men on ATYCLB.

 

[Kieran McConville]

Originally posted by Saracene:
Isn't it fun how you sometimes make a 180-degree turn on the music you previously thought unremarkable? I thought that Boy will always remain in my U2 collection just as a "snapshot" of my favourite band's early days rather than something I'd want to listen to repeatedly. Then I suddenly decided to give it another spin a day ago, and I'm amazed at my own reaction. Ok, so Bono's singing is not yet fully-realised and some songs tend to drag on for no good reason, but God, I suddenly realised what a hell of a fun, energetic debut album this really is. Edge's guitar playing in particular is yum-my!

Can't totally agree re. ATYCLB (see, I like big ideas), but you're spot on about Boy. I used to think it was sooo dated, but these days it's in my top five, easily.

The transition from An Cat Dubh through Into the Heart and Out of Control owes a lot to the Edge. Such atmosphere.

And Twilight is easily my favourite from very early U2 (with Eleven O'clock Tick Tock a close second).

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"I could walk into this room
and the waves of conversation
are enough
to knock you down
with the undertow

soooo alone..."

 

[Slapnutz]

I adore Boy, more so than any other U2 album. To this day I can still remember the first time I heard that album. Heading home from 'the river' where my friends and I hung out until the early hours of the morning (it was a school break, mid-December '95), just talking, laughing, and probably drinking. Unlike them I had further to walk. There was this one particular back street that scared the shit out of me. It was badly lit, it had an unbearable smell I have never come across since, and there was always that little matter of junkies sprawled by the side of the road and hurling abuse in my direction. I had bought Boy during the day and decided I would play it on my new mini-disc on my night walk. Wow. What can I say. It might sound silly but for the first time I wasnt scared. For the first time in my life I felt invincible. Boy meets man. The eerie and restless nature of songs like Twilight and An Cat Dubh summed up how I felt not only on those walks home but as a 15 year old kid looking for direction; only now I wasnt alone. I still listen to Boy a lot - when I'm feeling uneasy or if I just want to rock out. But I never have gotten over that awful smell.

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'Closer than ever to everybody's wife'

[This message has been edited by Slapnutz (edited 01-06-2002).]

 

[Diamond The U2 Patriot]

I ABSOLUTELY LOVE -Into The Heart on Boy..

DB9

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"...The big guy is made of STEEL." - Bono as we stood together on stage at Boston #4, June 9th, 2001.

---
-curious? click
links for
Bono/Dimon-
Bos.4 Story
Pics..

http://www.arizonaautoweb.com/bono/

http://members.aol.com/diamondbruno9/

 

[spinninghead77]

I absolutely love "BOY", especially "Out of Control". Seeing it live on the third leg was such a treat

 

[Hallelujah Here She Comes]

Although I can't really agree that ATYCLB is a return to Boy (I don't think it's a return to anything) I can definitely relate to your newfound love of Boy. I've always loved Joshua Tree and War but the 90's have always been my favorite U2-era (I LOVE Achtung, Zooropa and Pop). But I recently felt the compulsion to expose myself more fully to U2's early albums. Like you, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I ended up liking Boy. Like you said, it's just got such great energy that you can't help but be carried along with it. Only problem: this makes it ever so much harder to rank my favorite U2 albums