Looking Back on U2: 1980-1983

With U2 about to open up the vaults and re-issue the band’s first three albums this month (and then UABRS a couple months away), it’ll be interesting to watch music writers and critics return to these records and put a new spin on what they sound like. @U2 reader Steve W. already found one article that looks back at those early days — it’s from the music web site, The Quietus, where Andrew Mueller doesn’t have much good to say about Boy, aside from this about “I Will Follow”:

It’s telling that ‘I Will Follow’ is still, nearly 30 years later, a staple of U2’s live set – it’s their ‘High Voltage’, their ‘Satisfaction’, the template from which they wrought much of their subsequent catalogue. Everything that would ever inspire and infuriate millions is right there, right away: Edge’s screeching, effects-slathered guitar, Larry Mullen’s ferocious, propulsive drums, Adam Clayton’s (at this stage, anyway) Jah Wobble-ish bass, Bono’s frantic pleading for meaning, for redemption, for something to make sense.

He goes on to say that the rest of the album is a letdown, a sentiment with which I heartily disagree. Boy never ceases to amaze me as one of the best debut albums I’ve ever heard. And the “An Cat Dubh/Into The Heart” medley still makes me tingle now, 25+ years after I first heard it.

Disagreements or not, Mueller’s piece is a good read. I think he pretty well nails it on both October and War, and enjoyed some of the liner note spoilers he shared along the way. Here’s the full article: U2 Reappraised, by Andrew Mueller.

Last 4 posts by m2

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