U2
Boy (Universal/Island)U2
October (Universal/Island)U2
War (Universal/Island)
By design, U2’s music meant to change the world. “It’s a uniting force,” Bono proclaimed to the Chronicle in 1982. “It sinks in and takes on different forms – it’s the trigger. It affects you.” The Irish icons’ unparalleled power of provocation is readily apparent even on the band’s first three Steve Lillywhite-produced albums, each of which has been meticulously repackaged as a 2-CD deluxe edition, with remastering directed by the Edge. U2’s 1980 debut, Boy, still sounds like white heat emerging from the shadows of post-punk, due largely to the Edge’s fractal, pristine guitar orchestras in “I Will Follow” and “Out of Control.” Early singles (“11 O’Clock Tick Tock,” “Another Day”), rough mixes (“Twilight”), and headstrong B-sides (“Touch,” “Boy-Girl”) provide much-needed context, but only previously unreleased instrumentals “Speed of Life” and “Things to Make and Do” will turn heads, the tandem rhythm section of bassist Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen Jr. locking in motion like torrents of quicksilver. Sophomore follow-up October (1981) lacks Boy‘s raw vitality but remains a revealing album of beautiful indecision, startlingly blind in both its ambition and Christianity. The thunderous “Rejoice,” “I Fall Down,” and devotional “Gloria” capture Bono at his most impressionistic, struggling to find his place in the band and world at large. While scant on studio outtakes, the accompanying BBC session and live sets bolster and beat the album’s stream-of-consciousness sketches (“With a Shout,” “Scarlet”) into shape. With 1983’s commercial breakthrough War, U2 finally pulls the trigger, balancing its unwavering optimism, stadium heroics, and geopolitical awareness into modern epics “Sunday Bloody Sunday” and “New Year’s Day.” Don’t let the dance remixes that dominate War‘s bonus disc fool you. This is revolutionary rock. Join in.
(Boy; War) 
(October)
This article appears in August 22 • 2008.