1976-1979.
Immaginate di trovarvi a Dublino, in piena epoca punk...la strada, la Mount Temple School, la religione cattolica imperante, le ragazze, la morte della propria madre, il grigiore del cielo, i pub pregni di fumo, gli attentati, l'IRA, i ritorni solitari a casa, il destino che vi porta a continuare la scuola e a suonare, non abbandonandola per il college, perchè non idonei a causa di un esame non svolto.
1980: Immaginatevi a soli vent'anni in uno studio di registrazione, con un produttore cinque anni più grande di voi, Steve Lillywhite (già produttore di Siouxie and the Banshees), e prendete tutto quello che avete vissuto e trasformatelo in un album, dal titolo emblematico "Boy". Avrete l'esordio più carismatico e drammatico di sempre. In primo piano la chitarra di The Edge: poche note, riverbero, delay ed uno stile già riconoscibilissimo. Un Bono ispiratissimo con una voce da sviluppare, sconvolto dalla morte della madre. La freschezza ritmica di Adam Clayton e Larry Mullen. Si parte con l'incipit di "I Will Follow", dedicata alla madre di Bono (Se tu te ne vai, io ti seguirò), "Twilight" ovvero la perdita dell'innocenza, "An cat dubh" ed "Into the heart", incedere del basso e trame chitarristiche darkeggiati. "Out Of Control" (primo singolo degli U2, già presente sull'introvabile U2 Three in versione demo) ovvero avere 18 anni e sentirsi soli e allo sbando. "Stories for boys", attacco al cuore di batteria. La delicatezza e la sintesi di "The Ocean", ci porta lontano fino all'omaggio ad Ian Curtis dei Joy Division, scomparso da pochi mesi di "A Day Without Me", con un riff memorabile. E poi "Another time, another place" e la potenza garage psichedelica di "The Electric Co.". Si conclude con la malinconia e la batteria marziale di "Shadows and tall trees" molto Cure, in cui Bono descrive visivamente un suo emblematico ritorno a casa.
Lasciate stare One, With or without you, e innamoratevi di questi U2. I più sinceri. I più ingenui. I più passionali. Nessun nichilismo dell'epoca, solo la voglia di raccontare la vita, la morte, colpendo al cuore.
Elenco tracce testi e video
01 I Will Follow (03:37)
(One two three four)
I was on the outside when you said
You needed me
I was looking at myself
I was blind, I could not see.
A boy tries hard to be a man
His mother takes him by his hand
If he stops to think, he starts to cry
Oh why?
If you walk away, walk away
I walk away, walk away
I will follow.
If you walk away, walk away
I walk away, walk away
I will follow.
I will follow.
I was on the inside
When they pulled the four walls down
I was looking through the window
I was lost, I am found.
If you walk away, walk away
I walk away, walk away
I will follow.
If you walk away, walk away
I walk away, walk away
I will follow.
I will follow.
Your eyes make a circle
I see you when I go in there
Your eyes, your eyes
Your eyes, your eyes.
If you walk away, walk away
I walk away, walk away
I will follow.
If you walk away, walk away
I walk away, walk away
I will follow.
I will follow.
02 Twilight (04:22)
I look into his eyes
They're closed but I see something.
A teacher told me why
I laugh when old men cry.
My body grows and grows
It frightens me, you know
The old man tried to walk me home
I thought he should have known.
Twilight, lost my way
Twilight, can't find my way.
In the shadow, boy meets man
In the shadow, boy meets man
In the shadow, boy meets man
In the shadow, boy meets man.
I'm running in the rain
I'm caught in a late night play.
It's all, it's everything
I'm soaking through the skin.
Twilight, darkened day
Twilight, lost my way
Twilight, night and day
Twilight, can't find my way.
Can't find your way
Can't find my way
Can't find your way.
Twilight, darkened day
Twilight, lost my way
Twilight, night and day
Twilight, can't find my way.
In the shadow, boy meets man
In the shadow, boy meets man
In the shadow, boy meets man
In the shadow, boy meets man.
03 An Cat Dubh (06:16)
Say goodnight
She waits for me to turn out the light
Really still
She waits to break my will
Yes, and I know the truth about you.
She cat
And in the daylight
A blackbird makes a violent sight
And when she is done
She sleeps beside the one
Yes, and I know the truth about you
She cat
Yes, and I know the truth about you
She cat
04 Into the Heart (01:58)
Into the heart...of a child
I stay a while...oh, I can go back
Into the heart...of a child
I can smile
I can go there
Into the heart
Into the heart of a child
I can go back
I can stay awhile
Into the heart
05 Out of Control (04:15)
Monday morning
Eighteen years dawning
I said how long.
Say how long.
It was one dull morning
I woke the world with bawling
I was so sad
They were so glad.
I had the feeling it was out of control
I was of the opinion it was out of control.
Boys and girls to school
And girls they make children
Not like this one.
I had the feeling it was out of control
I was of the opinion it was out of control.
I was of the feeling it was out of control
I had the opinion it was out of control.
I fought fate
There's blood at the garden gate
The man said childhood
It's in his childhood
One day I'll die
The choice will not be mine
Will it be too late?
You can't fight fate.
I had the feeling it was out of control
I was of the opinion it was out of control.
06 Stories for Boys (03:02)
There's a place I go
When I am far away.
There's a T.V. show
And I can play.
Sometimes when a hero takes me
Sometimes I don't let go
Oh, oh, oh.
There's a picture book
With colour photographs
There's a comic strip
That makes me laugh
Sometimes away he takes me
Sometimes I don't let go.
Stories for boys
Stories for boys
Stories for boys
Stories for boys
Stories for boys.
There's a place I go
And it's a part of me
There's a radio
And I will go
Sometimes a hero takes me
Sometimes I don't let go.
Stories for boys
Stories for boys
Stories for boys
Stories for boys
Stories for boys.
Stories for boys.
Stories for boys.
Stories for boys.
Stories for boys.
07 The Ocean (01:35)
A picture in grey
Dorian Gray
Just me by the sea.
And I felt like a star
I felt the world could go far
If they listened to what I said.
The sea
Washes my feet
Washes my feet
Splashes the sole of my shoes.
09 Another Time, Another Place (04:33)
Bright morning lights
Wipe the sleep from another day's eye
Turn away from the wall
And there's Nothing at all
Being naked and afraid
In the open space of my bed
I'll be with you now
I'll be with you now
I'll be with you now
We lie on a cloud
We lie...
Just as I am
I awoke with a tear on my tongue
I awoke with a feeling of never before
In my sleep I discover the one
But she ran with the morning sun
I'll be with you now
I'll be with you now
I'll be with you now
We lie on a cloud
We lie...
Another time, another place
We lie...
Another child has lost the race
We lie...
Another time, another place
We lie...
Your time, your price
We lie...
Another time, another place
We lie...
Another child has lost...
[Gaelic words...]
We lie...
Another time, another place
We lie...
Your time, your place
10 The Electric Co. (04:47)
Boy, stupid boy
Don't sit at the table
Until you're able to
Toy, broken toy
Shout and shout
You're inside out
If you don't know... Electric co.
If you don't know... Electric co.
Red, running red
Play for real
The toy could feel
A hole in your head
You go in shock
You're spoon-fed
If you don't know
Electric co.
If you don't know
Electric co.
One three four
I can't stop
You stay still in the song
You stay still in the song
Say reach out
If you don't know... Electric co.
If you don't know... Electric co.
If you don't know... Electric co.
If you don't know... Electric co.
If you don't know... Electric co.
If you don't know... Electric co.
See someone breaks the willow
To say the sound go
To the top of casandro
Covering me
Just to hear me
Two hours...
Two hours and two hours
Listen I can't find my way home
So alone...
(Can't you, can't you get it)
You know
And you know
And you know
And you know
And you know
11 Shadows and Tall Trees (04:35)
Back to the cold restless streets at night
Talk to myself about tomorrow night.
Walls of white protest
A gravestone in name
Who is it now?
It's always the same.
Who is it now? Who calls me inside?
Are the leaves on the trees just a living disguise?
I walk the street rain tragicomedy
I'll walk home again to the street melody.
But I know, oh no
But I know, oh no
But I know.
Shadows and tall trees
Shadows and tall trees
Shadows and tall trees
Shadows and tall trees.
Life through a window
Discoloured pain
Mrs Brown's washing is always the same
I walk the street rain tragicomedy
I'll walk home again to the street melody.
But I know, oh no
But I know, oh no
But I know.
Do you feel in me
Anything redeeming
Any worthwhile feeling?
Is love like a tightrope
Hanging on my ceiling?
But I know, oh no
But I know, oh no
But I know.
Shadows and tall trees
Shadows and tall trees
Shadows and tall trees
Shadows and tall trees.
Shadows, shadows, shadows.
Shadows, shadows, shadows.
Shadows and tall trees.
Shadows, shadows, shadows.
Shadows, shadows, shadows.
Shadows and tall trees.
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Altre recensioni
Di stargazer
L’album mostra tutta l’ingenuità del gruppo, che rende quest’album fresco e veramente godibile.
Se conoscete solo gli ultimi imborghesiti U2, vi consiglio vivamente di recuperare i loro primi album.
Di Ocean
Un sorprendente album d’esordio che unisce la lezione punk con una dolce melodia all’italiana creando una sorta di soft-punk.
Molta gente sottovaluta questo disco, ma Boy è globalmente superiore a War quanto a cura musicale.
Di claudio carpentieri
"'Boy' è l'esemplare specchio di una band di quattro ventenni catapultatisi volontariamente nel mondo musicale"
"La produzione di Steve Lillywhite permette alla personalità musicale dei quattro di fuoriuscire con naturalezza"
Di abc
Boy è un disco immaturo, sporco, disturbante... Profuma di quel dolce e disperato Post-Punk di fine anni 70’ che non dispiace mai ascoltare.
Questo è Boy, un album potente, energico, riflessivo e genuino che mette in mostra la complessa semplicità del gruppo.
