U2 - Box Set and Remastered Boy, War and October

[Guest Review - Dentist]

Long before Mr. MacPhisto donned his horns, before a mirrorball lemon graced the stage and before Paul Hewson took his now famous moniker, there were just four lads who wanted to form a band, make some music and perhaps put out a record. Nearly thirty years after the release of their first proper album, U2 have managed to write some timeless songs and create a pretty decent following of fans in the process.

With the release of the remastered editions of Boy, October and War U2 follow up their massively successful release of the remastered Joshua Tree in 2007. Click below for thoughtful reviews of each:

These three records were all great when originally released and with all due respect to the directorial efforts of The Edge, the remastered editions don’t bring much new to the table, at least to my unrefined ears. However, there are a few noticeable improvements (if nothing else in overall clarity) and it provided an opportunity to spin some discs that have not graced my CD player in quite awhile.

U2’s self-proclaimed post-punk musical stylings are readily apparent on Boy, as are the angst/coming of age lyrics that were heavily influenced by the then recent death of Bono’s mother, Iris (‘ A boy tries hard to be a man/His mother takes him by the hand/If he stops to think, he starts to cry/ Oh why?’—I Will Follow). “Out of Control”, which was the band’s first single and in this reviewer’s opinion still one of their best songs to date, and “The Electric Co.” are album standouts. But it’s the rare and unreleased tracks available in the deluxe edition that make this one worth having. “11 O’Clock Tick Tock” has long been a live set standard and it’s a travesty it was never included on a proper album. In addition, tracks like “Saturday Night”, a dark, brooding Cure-ish cut (which would later morph into “Fire”) and the three songs (Out of Control, Boy-Girl and Stories for Boys) that comprised the band’s first release in the form of an EP in September 1979 called “U2 3” all make the bonus CD a must have.

If Boy was U2 finding themselves, then October was U2 finding their way. A record full of religious imagery and introspection, it features the fist-pumping opening track “Gloria”, a song that is interestingly juxtaposed against “October”, a haunting track that would be nicely placed on a doomsday playlist. “Rejoice” is a nice track, as is “Fire”, which was recorded while the band was on hiatus in the Bahamas after recording Boy. The remainder of the record, unfortunately, suffers from little more than what sounds like unfinished thoughts and puffery. However, just like the bonus disc included with the deluxe edition of Boy, this one delivers in spades. To begin with, the five song offering recorded at the Hammersmith Palais in London is a fabulous recording and has been bootlegged from the original FM broadcast too many times to count. It’s nice to have the quality sourced from the original BBC transmit here. Also, the set from the Paradise Theatre in Boston (still one U2’s most legendary concerts and their first legitimate show in the US), although included in iTunes’ “The Complete U2” released in 2004, is a nice inclusion here (witness the infectious enthusiasm of the band as Bono shouts “Up off your feet, up on your feet!!” before launching into a blistering version of “I Will Follow”). The best gems by far, however, are “A Celebration”, a great song in which we first hear hints of the guitar style that The Edge would further develop and display on War, and “Trash, Trampoline and The Party Girl”, a song with an interesting Spanish /Moroccan feel that has long been one of U2’s favorite live numbers.

War is, by far, the best of these three albums. Aside from featuring U2’s best album cover, it is probably their most purely “rock-n-roll” record to date and it is here that The Edge had begun to master the echo effect that was to make him recognizable to any discerning ear. From the opening notes of “Sunday Bloody Sunday” you know that this is a special record. “Seconds”, a song that speaks of the threat of nuclear Armageddon, is all the more relevant given current geopolitics and “New Year’s Day” has stayed fresh as well. Probably the most underrated songs on the album are the brilliant “Like a Song” and poignant “Drowning Man”, both of which help anchor a record that holds up unbelievably well twenty five years later. Album closer “40”, the perfect dénouement for an uncompromising, politically charged record, is still, as far as I’m concerned, how every U2 concert should be concluded. However, as good as the album is, the bonus disc is an absolute waste. How many remixes can you put on one CD (six, to be exact)? There is absolutely nothing here that I can’t live without and it’s a shame that they couldn’t find anything more redeeming to include.

The liner notes on all deluxe versions of the remastered discs are very good with interesting commentary from The Edge and there are also some really nice photos, some of which I don’t ever remember seeing before. I highly recommend purchasing these together as a box set here. The packaging is pretty cool, it’s cheaper than buying the discs individually and there is room for a fourth disc to be released in the future, presumably Under a Blood Red Sky. All in all, an impressive release; just do yourself a favor and get the deluxe editions with all the extras.

Boy:
Album—B
Bonus disc—B+

October:
Album—C+
Bonus disc—A-

War:
Album—A-
Bonus disc--C