I haven't noticed any coughing or anything on Boy, and I wouldn't say that it's bad editing. What I DO wonder about every time I listen to that album is if the tempo is constantly changing in songs. I swear to god that Larry doesn't keep tempo in any of the songs...or maybe I just hear that because I once read an interview with them where they talked about not being able to keep time when they first started out lol!
Personally, I like any "extraneous" stuff that makes into the songs...background talk, funny instrument sounds, bum notes, missed beats, the whole lot. One of the things I didn't like about ATYCLB was that it sounded to "clean". While I liked the songs, it felt sterile somehow, like they were overly concious to make each and every recording perfect. I don't know why it feels more that way than other albums. On the Joshua Tree, in Red Hill Mining Town, I used to HATE the guitar sqeaks from Edge's acoustic. But they really do add something. When you listen to it, you feel closer to the music, to the experiance because of those sounds. I know that many producers now-a-days would have told Edge to put some stuff on this strings, or do some fancy editing to make the string sqeak less evident. I'm glad U2 didn't do that.
The soul of a song is not in the recording, but it the power of the performance. I've always believed that.