Boy (album)

Boy (Spanish: Chico) is the debut album by Irish band U2, released on October 20, 1980 on Island Records. and produced by Steve Lillywhite. The album contains themes of youth and adolescence, and is marked by Bono's passionate vocals and The Edge's brilliant guitar playing. Boy contains many songs from the band's 40-song catalog at the time, including two tracks that were re-recorded from their original versions on their debut release, the Three EP.

Boy was recorded from July to September 1980 at Dublin's Windmill Lane Studios, which became U2's recording venue of choice during the 1980s. unorthodox production such as recording Mullen's drums on a ladder and recording broken bottles and forks banged against a spinning bicycle wheel. The band found Lillywhite very encouraging and creative, and subsequently became a frequent producer of his recorded work.. Thematically, the album's lyrics reflect adolescence, innocence, and coming of age, themes represented on its cover through a photo of a child's face.

Boy received generally positive reviews and included U2's first single to receive US radio airplay, "I Will Follow". The release was followed by the band's first tour of continental Europe and the United States, the Boy Tour. The album peaked in the UK chart at number 52 in August 1981 and in the US at number 52. number 63. In 2003, Boy was ranked number 417 on Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". In 2008, a remastered edition of Boy was released.

History

The album was preceded by the single 'I Will Follow', which was a hit on college radio, and caused a stir around the group's debut. The song was interpreted as a religious theme, affirming the group's Christian faith; although that has never been confirmed or denied. The song, along with the album, focuses on Bono's childhood and the loss of his mother at the age of 14.

Boy was recorded at Windmill Lane Studios in Dublin, with Steve Lillywhite producing. Some of the songs, like "An Cat Dubh" and "The Ocean" They were written and recorded in the studio. The rest of the songs were normally performed at concerts at the time, such as "Stories for boys", "Out of Control", and "Twilight". The Edge recorded all the songs using a Gibson Explorer and a Fender Stratocaster.

Despite criticism of their concerts, and Bono using "too much echo"; these early performances helped demonstrate U2's potential, as the critics noted that Bono was a very passionate and charismatic showman, reminiscent of a young Rod Stewart. Boy is the only U2 album in which all the songs and all the B-sides, have been performed live at least once.

Boy reached #63 on the US Billboard 200. "I Will Follow" it reached number #20 on the Mainstream Rock charts. In the UK, however, it failed to chart.

In 2003, the album was ranked at number #417 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

Recording

Originally, Boy was scheduled to be produced by Martin Hannett, a producer in high demand at the time for his critically acclaimed work with Joy Division. Hannett had produced U2's second single '11 O'Clock Tick Tock'. However, the experience of working with him had not been a happy one for U2, and Island Records dropped the idea of him producing the album after the band's objections. Hannett was also badly affected by suicide in May 1980. from Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis, whose heartbreak temporarily affected his ability to continue working. Producer Steve Lillywhite was given a copy of the band's first release, U2-3, by Island to gauge his interest in working with the band. After seeing U2 perform live, Lillywhite agreed to produce their single "A Day Without Me". Although the song failed to chart, the band found they could work amicably with him and agreed. to produce his debut studio album.

Boy was recorded at Windmill Lane Studios in Dublin from July to September 1980. Lillywhite had attracted attention for her work on Siouxsie and the Banshees' debut single, "Hong Kong Garden" (1978), which contained a musical phrase played on a glockenspiel. Listening to Siouxsie and the Banshees, U2 used Lillywhite's skills to add the distinctive glockenspiel part on "I Will Follow". The drums were recorded on the stairs in the reception area of the studio due to Lillywhite's desire to achieve 'this wonderful thumping sound'. They had to wait until the receptionist went home in the evenings while the phone it rang during the day and even occasionally at night.

Some of the songs, including "An Cat Dubh" and "The Ocean", were written and recorded in the studio. Many of the songs were taken from the band's 40-song repertoire at the time, including "Stories for Boys", "Out of Control" and "Twilight".

Guitarist The Edge recorded all songs using his naturally tinted Gibson Explorer. He was inspired by music he was listening to at the time, including Television and Siouxsie and the Banshees.

Composition

The album's theme is the psychological nature of adolescence's transition from childhood to adulthood, with atmospheric lyrics and music examining a dawn of sexuality ('An Cat Dubh'), the entrance to adolescence ("Twilight"), mortality ("Out de Control"), the exile from the past imposed by the passage of time ("Into the Heart&# 34;), mental disturbance ("The Electric Co."), and youthful ambition ("The Ocean"). "I Will Follow" it focused on the trauma of the early death of Bono's mother when he was a young teenager.

The album's lyrics contain several literary references, "Shadows and Tall Trees," which takes its name from a chapter in William Goldings dystopian novel Lord of the Flies, and " The Ocean", which mentions Oscar Wilde's novel The Picture of Dorian Gray.

Cover Page

The guy on the cover is Peter Rowen (Guggi's brother, a friend of Bono). He also appears on the cover of Three (1979), War (1983), The Best of 1980-1990 (1998) and Early Demos (2004). Photographer Hugo McGuiness and cover designer Steve Averill (a friend of bassist Adam Clayton), continued to work on some U2 album covers.

The cover was changed in Canada and the US to a distorted image of the group, due to the possibility that the band could be accused of pedophilia. Sandy Porter is credited as the cover photographer. The two were given a very limited budget, which prevented them from traveling to U2 and taking photos of them, leaving them with little choice but to use photos from the four band members' press releases. Tilley visited Porter in London to collaborate on the cover. Porter's initial idea was to distort the images in the press release and create a "more graphic and stylized work of art," which led to several experiments. These included: photocopying the images and extracting them during scanning; use a photographic enlarger while moving the baseboard; and photograph the image prints using long exposure as she moves them around. The result of these processes gave Porter the "raw material" to continue, although some areas of the images did not distort well and were subsequently marked with a black pen. Drawing inspiration from the reference to Lord of the Flies in the song "Shadows and Tall Trees," Porter selected four "rough, distorted images that had the sensation of how the sea washes and distorts the marks on the sand". She then cut out the images with a scalpel, spray-mounted them, and then "she copied, printed, retouched, re-copied, and printed"; on high contrast photographic paper.

Launch

Boy was released on October 20, 1980 in the United Kingdom, and on March 3, 1981 in the United States.

In 2008, a remastered edition of the album was released, featuring remastered tracks, along with B-sides and rarities. Three different formats of the remaster were made available. The artwork on the remastered editions of the album was standardized worldwide to that of the 1980 UK release.

Simple

"A Day Without Me" and "I Will Follow" they were released as singles on August 18 and October 24, 1980 respectively.

"I Will Follow" it peaked at number 20 on the Top Tracks rock chart, becoming a hit on college radio and creating a buzz around the group's debut. The album was preceded by Three, a three-song EP featuring different recordings of "Out of Control" and "Stories for Boys", as well as a song called "Boy/Girl".

Reception

The original releases by Boy sold almost 200,000 copies. The album peaked at number 63 on the Billboard 200, but after the success of U2's later material, it re-entered the US charts for a longer period. It reached number 52 in the UK. In his native Ireland, the album reached number 13 and charted higher in Canada at number 12.

Reviewing the album in 1980, Paul Morley of NME called it "honest, direct and distinctive," while Betty Page of Sounds dubbed U2 "the young poets of the year" 34;. Lyndyn Barber of Melody Maker hailed it as a "rich" record, writing that "Boy is more than just a collection of good tracks put together in arbitrary order", and that it had "youthful innocence and confusion'. Robin Denselow of The Guardian wrote that it was a "strong debut album", praising Lillywhite for helping U2 improve from live show to which the critic attended. Denselow said the group achieved its goal of striking a balance of "power and sensitivity" and said the record "just needs slightly stronger melodies to be really impressive". Time Out reviewer Ian Birch praised Boy as a "timely" and said: "Building from a tradition established by the likes of Magazine, [Siouxsie and] The Banshees and Joy Division, U2 have injected their own brand of grace and punchy space to create a romanticism perfect for those who sport chunky riffs and mackintoshes". Declan Lynch of Irish magazine Hot Press commented that he found Boy "almost impossible to react negatively". K.R. Walston of the Albuquerque Journal said that U2 "know how to nurture the listener, playing with tempo and chord structures just enough to sound original but not too avant-garde." The review concluded that "the future shines brightly for bands like this".

Terry Atkinson of the Los Angeles Times called Boy a "subtly arresting first album, at times pretty, propulsive, playful and irresistibly catchy," while describing it as "flexible and melodic, but hard and vital too". Atkinson believed that the lyrics had "occasionally trivial or vague passages" but that they were transcended by the "sincere and elevated voices" by Bono. Sean McAdam of The Boston Globe described it as "a hypnotic album with nuances" that he "recommended without reservation." He praised Lillywhite's production for creating a "haunting atmosphere"; and said of the band: "U2 have the musical chops, a compelling vocalist... and most importantly, 4-minute pop songs that sound both concise and infectious." Scot Anderson of Iowa City Press-Citizen called Boy "an album that, while flawed, shows the potential of the band". Anderson thought that certain songs were too long or too short, but believed that U2 distinguished themselves from their peers by their spirit and humanity, making "a very refreshing splash into the New Wave". Dave Marsh of Rolling Stone said the music on the record was "unpretentious and fascinating" and he called U2 "easily the best Irish rock band since Van Morrison's original company Them." She also praised Lillywhite for their "always headlining production". In a separate review for Rolling Stone, Debra Rae Cohen found the band slick and likeable while crediting Lillywhite for helping them "mix echoes of several of Britain's most adventurous bands in a rich, lively and comparatively commercial sound'. Overall, she believed the album did not live up to the high standard set by the opening track 'I Will Follow', finding most of it to be 'fuzzy and uneven'; More critical was Robert Christgau, who dismissed the album in his "Consumer Guide" for The Village Voice: "His youth, serious air and guitar sound are setting a small world on fire, and I fear the worst." The album finished at number 18 on the " Best Albums" from the 1981 Pazz & Jop from The Village Voice.

The album's sexual overtones led to its enthusiastic acceptance in American gay clubs shortly after its release. Bono commented on this phenomenon, saying: 'Import copies came in and, as you know, in America a lot of music is broken up in gay clubs, so we had a gay audience, a lot of people who were convinced that the music was specifically for them. So there was a mistake, if you like ".

Legacy

In 2003, Boy was listed at number 417 on Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". The magazine wrote: "Too witty for punk, too unironic for new wave, U2 came to Boy as big dreamers with ambitions to back it up". In 2006, Uncut it ranked the album at number 59 on its chart. of the "100 Greatest Debut Albums". #3. 4; and the "preaching or presumptions of saving the world" that would haunt them in the future. In The Austin Chronicle, Margaret Moser recalled the Boy's popularity in Austin amid the closures and decline of local music clubs: "The Club The newer, more modern Foot was a beacon, and we danced all summer long on its cement floor to U2. a ray of hope in the impending darkness of the Reagan years". In her opinion, the record was "a scream disguised as a whisper, the calm before a storm," its musical formula foreshadowing the band's later mega-success.According to Steven Hyden of The A.V. Club, "Boy proved that U2 had a strong enough musical identity to grab the world's attention from the start".

Some critics have been less impressed with the album in retrospect. Writing for Entertainment Weekly, Bill Wyman found it "heady" but "erratic," while Chicago Tribune critic Greg Kot described the album as "unexperienced post-punk that owes much to Joy Division and early Public Image Ltd". According to Spin Alternative Record Guide (1995), the album "established what might be called [U2's] revelatory reputation, hints at the drive towards faith (later of all, its hit was 'I Will Follow'), but mostly it communicates confusion of the 'adolescent variety'. David Quantick was more critical in his reassessment of Uncut. He had enjoyed the album in 1980 as a rockier contemporary of Joy Division and Echo & the Bunnymen, despite Bono's vocal performance, but later expressed surprise at "how bad it is". In his opinion, "Lilywhite's production is astonishingly fine, Bono's voice is horrible, the lyrics are lousy, and only the singles, the 'I Will Follow', are so bad." obsessed with Ian Curtis and the great 'Out Of Control' - they get up. The rest is appalling prog noodling ".

Boy is one of only two U2 albums on which every song has been performed live at least once. Boy held this distinction individually until 2017, when all of The Joshua Tree's songs were performed live on the album's 30th anniversary tour.

Boy Tour

The release of Boy was followed by the Boy Tour, U2's first tour of continental Europe and the United States. Though unpolished, these early live performances demonstrated the potential of the band, as critics complimented their ambition and Bono's exuberance. In an otherwise successful US leg of the tour, Bono's briefcase containing lyrics in progress and musical ideas (which were earmarked for the group's second album, October), was lost backstage during a performance in March 1981 at a nightclub in Portland, Oregon.

Song List

All songs written by U2.

1. "I Will Follow" - 3:36
2. "Twilight" - 4:22
3. "An Cat Dubh" - 6:21
4. "Into the Heart" - 1:53
5. "Out of Control" – 4:13
6. "Stories for Boys" - 3:02
7. "The Ocean" - 1:34
8. "A Day Without Me" - 3:14
9. "Another Time, Another Place" – 4:34
10. "The Electric Co." - 4:48
11. "Shadows and Tall Trees" - 4:36

• "A Day Without Me" and "I Will Follow" were published as singles.

Curiosities

• In "I Will Follow", shortly before Bono sings "Your eyes make a circle..."We can hear two effects, which were achieved in the following way: throwing glass bottles to the ground and passing a knife through the wheels of a bike placed upside down, while it was turning.

• For much of the recording BoyBono was cold. This can be noted in some fragments of the album: "Another Time, Another Place" (0:07) and "Shadows and Tall Trees", (0:02).

• The album was preceded by Three. (1979), an EP with different versions of "Out of Control" and "Stories for Boys", as well as a song called "Boy/Girl".

• The album's first vinyls contain an instrumental version after the song "Shadows and Tall Trees". It is a 30-second instrumental cut that would then become "Fire" on your next album, October (1981).

• In some prints of the album, in "An Cat Dubh" and "Into the Heart" the duration is 4:47 and 3:28 respectively. This was common in the UK and Japan.

• The latest album song, "Shadows and Tall Trees", refers to William Golding's novel, The master of flies.

2008 Remastered Edition

On April 9, 2008, U2.com confirmed that the band's first three albums (Boy, October and War) would be re-released as newly remastered versions. Boy remastered was released on July 21, 2008 in the UK. Kingdom, and the US version followed the next day. As with The Joshua Tree, the cover art has been standardized to the original UK release. The Boy remaster was released in three different formats:

1. Standard format: A single CD with remastered audio and restored packaging. It includes a 16-page brochure with unpublished photos, full letters and new notes by Paul Morley. The 11 tracks match the previous album release.
2. Luxury format: a standard CD (like the previous one) and an extra CD that includes B faces, live tracks and rarities. It also includes a 32-page brochure with photos never seen before, full letters, new notes by Paul Morley and explanatory notes on Edge's additional material.
3. Vinyl format: Remastered version of a single album in vinyl of 180 grams with restored packaging.

Lists

Album

Singles

Certifications