U2 album by album thread

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by GodShifter, Apr 6, 2020.

  1. GodShifter

    GodShifter Forum Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Dallas, TX, USA
    Ah, my curse: leaving out a word in a sentence. It happens often. No, we will start with Three tomorrow and work from there. Be there or be square.
     
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  2. erikdavid5000

    erikdavid5000 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    Boy is one of the greatest debuts ever!

    A friend of mine was an army brat and saw them by chance at some little club in Dublin sometime before Boy was released. Apparently it was a terrible show and he was at the urinal next to Bono afterward. My friend said, good show! I think you guys are gonna be huge. Bono said **** you and walked out lol
     
  3. Oliver

    Oliver Bourbon Infused

    Boy is my favorite U2 as well.
     
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  4. negative1

    negative1 80s retro fan

    Location:
    USA
    I am so in, up until the unforgettable fire. After that, I will probably
    comment on the occasional single or so. But I don't own any of the
    albums after that, except for some compilations.

    I grew up with War, then got October, and Boy to catch up. They were
    a huge influence on my musical tastes back then, and were one of my
    favorite bands at the time.

    I never got around to seeing them back then, and I have no interest in
    seeing them now, and they don't seem to care about their early material
    anyways, so no big loss.

    I also have the deluxe versions of the early albums. But gave the super deluxe
    boxset of the unforgettable fire to my brother, because he loves that album.

    I'm glad that U2 is still around for fans that have discovered them, and I
    occasionally here about them touring or some new album coming out,
    but at the most, I might listen to them once, and then forget about it.

    It's interesting to see how well they've kept up even to this day, and the
    vast and multiple changes they've gone through.

    I'm glad they've got a great legacy of music to go through, and I
    relish the music that they started out with, and still is relevant
    to this day.

    ---
    I don't know if you plan on giving ratings to albums or singles, or
    songs. But I always find those interesting to see what people think,
    and will definitely be rating those.

    later
    -1
     
  5. erikdavid5000

    erikdavid5000 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    I’m on board all the way through POP.
     
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  6. Melllvar

    Melllvar No Matter Where You Go, There You Are!

    Location:
    Anchorage, Alaska
    Count me in! Thanks to my older brother, who made me a fan since 'The Joshua Tree'
     
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  7. Doctor Worm

    Doctor Worm Romans 6:23

    Location:
    Missouri
    It’s been ages since I listened to Three. Can’t wait to revisit it.
     
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  8. Jimmy Mac

    Jimmy Mac Zooropa... better by design

    My favourite band of all time, but I’ll be most active from JT and on. I’m the only person in the world who would rather have the last four albums in the catalogue rather than the first four.
     
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  9. musictoad

    musictoad Forum Resident

    Location:
    Salt Lake City, UT
    I'm in. Never listened to Three before, and in fact didn't even know they had an EP before Boy. I'll have to change that.
     
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  10. Brian Lux

    Brian Lux One in the Crowd

    Location:
    Placerville, CA
    After pulling out Three earlier this evening, I gave it a spin. Oh man, fond memories of those early years. The Three version of "Out of Control" is great- a really nice demo and good a glimpse of things to come.
     
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  11. lonelysea

    lonelysea Ban Leaf Blowers

    Location:
    The Cascades
    This should be good. A bit contentious, but good.
     
  12. JeffMo

    JeffMo Format Agnostic

    Location:
    New England
    I still have a Peaches record crate!

    I didn't get into U2 until The Unforgettable Fire but worked my way backwards and really enjoyed Boy. Great debut album.

    Didn't get Three EP until the RSD reissue but now I wish it had the original sleeve art!
     
  13. Speedycat69

    Speedycat69 Springsteen nut

    Location:
    Aberdeen
    Seen em a few times lost interest in later stuff didnt do anything for me .
     
  14. GodShifter

    GodShifter Forum Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Dallas, TX, USA
    We're going to just jump into the fire here and start with U2's first release of any kind the EP Three. Normally, I would give some background on the band and how it came to be, but I think most that are in this thread know of U2's history and so forth, so we'll just skip all of that.

    [​IMG]

    U2 - Three EP (1979)

    Three is the very first release for the band.

    The original demos were worked on in August of 1979 at Windmill Lane Studios, in Dublin, Ireland. It was produced by Chas de Walley and released in September of the same year. It was limited to 1,000 copies and released in Ireland only by CBS records on hand numbered vinyl 12". The EP sold out almost immediately. Other pressings are known to have existed through 1982 and Three is also available on a set called 4 U2 Play.

    Three
    contains early versions of "Out of Control" and "Stories for Boys" which would both appear on U2's debut full length album Boy (1982) as well as a single entitled "Boy/Girl" which can only be found on this EP.

    Musically, if were compare the two songs that appear on Boy to what's on Three it's pretty revealing. Both songs sound far more stark and basic than the Steve Lillywhite polished tunes that appear on the debut. Actually, both "Out of Control" and "Stories for Boys" sound like they could have been produced by Martin Hannett (who was slotted to produce Boy before Steve Lilywhite was chosen instead). There is very much a Joy Division vibe going on with these songs. Clayton's bass is very prominent albeit a bit dull sounding (ala Peter Hook) while Dave "The Edge" Evans is more subdued and adding textures (he's yet to develop his signature rhythmic delay which his distinctive sound). Evans, always a bit of a minimalist, is just that here and, in fact, he sounds like he can barely play his instrument.* Drumming wise, Larry Mullen Jr. is functional and Paul "Bono" Hewson is still trying to find his voice here as well. Yet, musicianship was secondary to attitude around this time so the members weren't exactly concerned with trying to woodshed into King Crimson (if you catch my drift).

    "Boy/Girl" is kind of an interesting tune as it moves along briskly and features more guitar work from Evans than either of the other songs. And, of course, the signature background vocals of the early U2 albums are very present as well (I believe that's Evans as well?). Apparently "Boy/Girl" deals with bisexuality and made U2 popular with the gay crowd early on. It was played often in U2's early sets and is one of their oldest originals.

    Overall, not a bad (if a bit rough) start from an upstart Irish band from Dublin that started out in Larry Mullen Jr.'s kitchen with none of them knowing to really how to play their instruments (see below). Of course better things would be on the horizon for the band, but something like Three is a revealing look at the early beginnings of the band.

    *This is something that is very well known about U2 in the beginnings: none of them were very good musicians (and it could argued two of them still aren't by most standards, but that's for another time).

    Versions available:
    • 7": CBS 7951 (Black, Orange, White or Yellow Vinyl / Brown Vinyl is Misspress)
    • 12": CBS 12-7951 (No PS / First 1000 were numbered with Sticker and re-released later without Sticker, in CBS Sleeve / 3e Release in Black Sleeve, different label
    • Cassette: CBS 40-7951 (Issued in 1985)
    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Apr 7, 2020
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  15. Jerrika

    Jerrika Mysterious Ways

    Location:
    Canada
    I have all their albums and I went to a stadium concert about 10 years ago. I saw their movie Rattle and Hum twice. My friend Cristina and I were obsessed with U2 in high school. I am just not good at detailed album by album discussions. I have a habit of saying random stuff and going off topic.
     
  16. GodShifter

    GodShifter Forum Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Dallas, TX, USA
    Eh, I don't care as long you don't jump ahead to any albums that have not been introduced yet. Otherwise, say what you want.

    Full disclosure: I've never seen U2 live. Not once.
     
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  17. GlassPepper

    GlassPepper I can't get no

    Location:
    UK
    I can't ****ing stand Bono but i do love those early U2 albums.

    The Edge seems like a cool fella. ;)
     
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  18. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product

    I only discovered Out Of Control after Gloria and I Will follow.
    I think i liked it even more.
    I had heard Gloria and I Will Follow around the place and I liked the songs, but was still pretty wet behind the ears musically, so I wasn't just running out and buying albums.
    I used to love a radio show on a Perth station 96fm called the live concert hour (it wasn't strictly always an hour though) and one week they had this U2 concert from Boston, perhaps from the War tour... it's been a long time. I had gotten in the habit of recording the concerts, and although I didn't know what to expect I recorded this one, and I loved it.
    This singer was just full of passion and could sing really well, the band was raw with a rock sound but a little different to what generally was played on the radio those days. Not too long after I started getting their albums, but that tape got flogged ... nobody else seemed to like it, but they all came around a few years later.
    One of the highlights of the show was Out Of Control which opened the show? ... i think, like I say it is a long while ago.

    Anyway, I never had this 3 track EP, but obviously a very important release for the band.
     
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  19. Wildest cat from montana

    Wildest cat from montana Humble Reader

    Location:
    ontario canada
    Was just watching a couple of old U2 clips on YouTube...
    The first one was an early video where they are very glam looking. You would never guess that in a few short years this bunch would be arguably the biggest group of the world.
    The second clip showed them being interviewed in Toronto in a Mr Submarine outlet. The other customers aren't paying them the slightest attention.
     
  20. sparkmeister

    sparkmeister Forum Resident

    Location:
    Abergavenny UK
    I’ve got this single as part of the ‘4 U2 Play’ pack, which was given to me as a Christmas present along with ‘U2 Pac II’ when I was 13. These were my first U2 records, so knew these versions before I got to know the far superior Boy versions. I hadn’t heard them for years until the deluxe version of Boy was released.

    I still have the original vinyls, so now sounds like a good time to dig them out. I’ve never particularly rated Boy/Girl although there’s a better live version on the b-side of I Will Follow. Then again, it’s not as bad as their follow up single, Another Day. For me, that’s arguably the worst song in their catalogue.

    I remember reading or hearing once, before Three was released, they held a vote on Irish radio to decide what would be the lead track. Not sure if there’s any truth in that?

    Anyway, these versions do have their charm and make for an interesting listen but would normally choose the Boy versions over these.
     
  21. negative1

    negative1 80s retro fan

    Location:
    USA
    It would be nice to post the clips here for others to view also.

    later
    -1
     
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  22. GodShifter

    GodShifter Forum Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Dallas, TX, USA


    My bad. I should have included the EP for those that don't have it to listen to (I don't own it, either). Here it is.

    A bit more from me on U2: I think I first heard them driving around on my summer job with my father's lawn service (he's a history professor but started a lawn service so my brother and I could be around him and work with him during the summers after my parents got divorced). Anyway, I'm in my truck a lot and the radio keeps playing "New Year's Day" a lot. I liked it immediately. I liked the insistent bass line that carries the melody and the ringing guitar that kept interjecting itself over it. What also struck me was how good Paul "Bono" Hewson's voice was (he was actually nicknamed "Bonovox" as a young kid which roughly translated means "good voice"). So, yeah, that was my introduction and I went out and bought War on cassette and vinyl. Oddly, their first album, Boy, is something I bought much later than many of their other releases. In some ways, I am less familiar with it than almost any album outside of the last two releases Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience.
     
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  23. negative1

    negative1 80s retro fan

    Location:
    USA
    here's boy/girl remastered:


    i love the energy, and passion in these early songs.
    i think if it was polished up, it could have fit on the album also.

    a decent effort, and an interesting song in its own right.
    i like the harmonizing, and of course the guitar work on it.
    i like bono's vocalizing on it, the lyrics are kind of punk,
    and pretty basic.

    the drumming is pretty basic, but adequate, and the bass
    is great though.

    a good enough song to put on a EP, and worth a few
    listens
    ======================================
    u2 - boy girl 3.5 /5

    later
    -1
     
  24. Ron2112

    Ron2112 Forum Resident


    Ahhhhh…..you're missing some great stuff, particularly the live material. But OK -- you're the boss....

    How do you intend to handle the load of singles and unreleased stuff that came out with the most recent remasters? When we hit the '85-'00 period, that's a LOT of material, some of which have become concert staples.
     
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  25. Wildest cat from montana

    Wildest cat from montana Humble Reader

    Location:
    ontario canada
    No can do. Regrets.
     

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