Listening Post: U2 Boy

Like most people, I imagine, I am very well versed in the well known songs of U2. How could I not be? During the 80s they were ubiquitous. U2 and R.E.M. (possibly the subject of a later listening post) came out at the same time, have lasted the same amount of time and had roughly the same number of hits.
The difference is that, while Stipe and Co. soldiered on after a key member left (after saying that they wouldn’t ever do such a thing) U2 has been comprised of the same 4 Irish lads since 1980.
1980! If Rock and Roll began in 1955, which is the accepted norm, then u2 has been around for more than HALF of the history of Rock.
What really surprised me as I began to research this retrospective is just how young they all are. Three of the members were born in 1961 and the other is even younger. I was born in 1965 which makes Bono and the gang close to being contemporaries.
The thing is, I have never heard the entire albums. I own them, in various forms, but after the big hit songs it just all sounds the same to me, so I would turn the record, CD, mp3, off.
Who among us doesn’t own “The Joshua Tree”? And who has really listened beyond the first four tracks? (U2 notoriously front loads their albums with the hit singles starting off with a bang but giving us little reason to keep listening sometimes)
So, an end shall be put to that for me. I have begun the great U2 retrospective of 2008. And here’s what I think:

U2 – Boy – 1980 (buy it)

The debut was exactly what I had expected. Which is not to say it’s bad, it’s not. It’s quite good, and powerful, and, dare I say, redundant. “I WIll Follow” is a perfect example of what this band would be for the rest of their career: beholden to the producer. Lillywhite washes everything through his filters and layers sounds and guitars in a deft balance of cacophony leaving me not to wonder who the band is but, why is everyone so in love with Dave Evans (The Edge)’s guitars.
Edge is all over this album, and it’s not necessarily a good thing. It serves the songs well, but after a bit you really get it. He’s the sound. Bono’s wail (for he had not yet begun to really trust himself beyond eunuched wailer) is present but borders on hair metal.
In fact, I could hear this album playing next to everything from Joy Division to Echo and the Bunnymen. But after 1982 what would you do with it? I, for one, will never listen to it again in it’s entirety. Not because it’s bad, but because it doesn’t offer me much in the way of repeat listen songs.
Still, it’s a great debut. And it portends of things to come. Some bad. Some good. Some great.

Grade B+
A Side: I Will Follow
Blindside: The Electric Co. (Energy and power make me wonder why it is so deep into the album)
Downside: Twilight (It sounds like Ratt. I’m not kidding. And the lyrics are poor)

Ratings explained:
A Sides are the hit you should own.
Blindsides are the songs you probably never heard but would enjoy
Downsides are the worst track on the album.