U2 Re-releasing Early Work, For Some Reason

Irish instigators U2 and Island Records are planning to reissue the band’s back catalogue beginning with their debut album, Boy, re-mastered and complete with a bonus disc, Music-News.com reported Monday. The deluxe package will hit shelves May 20 along with October and War, the band’s 2nd and 3rd albums, though nothing prominent has been reported about them.

Boy failed to chart when it was originally released in 1980, though it was introduced along with the band’s hit single, “I Will Follow.” On its release the album hung around the college radio playlists for a while, not gaining much commercial success. Its sexual overtones did win it a loyal audience with the gay club scene, though, along with the need for some skillful cover-art bullet dodging once the album went over to the U.S. – as the original cover art featured, appropriately, a boy. The cover for the U.S. release was changed to a black-and-white distorted band image.

The album was originally scheduled to be produced by Joy Division producer Martin Hannett, but after the suicide of Ian Curtis, Hannett was too distraught to do the job, so it went to new wave producer Steve Lillywhite. In 2003 the album ended up at number 417 on Rolling Stone’s top 500 albums of all time. In 2007, U2’s 5th and most successful album, The Joshua Tree, was similarly reissued to mark its 20-year anniversary.

As for the idea of reissuing an album that has been out for over two decades, the point mostly escapes me, since if you walk into a record store, there it is, right in the used section. The remastering factor might appeal to some people, but most people who are into ‘80s music enough to buy Boy own record players and passionately hate anything digital. Then again, the B-sides might be interesting, since they were made before The Unforgettable Fire when Bono discovered he was really a fallen angel. I always regretted selling my copy of War back to the store in high school, when I didn’t know it represented the classic, “cool” U2. Maybe this will remind people that at one time U2 made fun, raucous music you could play while driving and at parties.

Ok, I think I know why they’re doing it now.