U2: The early years

CD CHOICE: ROCK U2 Boy/October/WarIsland/Universal ****/***/***

It's a long time since we've seen hair on the head of U2's guitarist Edge, but there it is, on the back cover of Boy, one of three remastered and reissued albums that look set to plug the gap between now and the release of the band's next studio album.

The reissuing of U2's first three records (1980's Boy, 1981's October, 1983's War - on vinyl and in CD deluxe editions) raises an interesting point: why, at this stage, delve into the past when the band's best work began with album number four (1984's The Unforgettable Fire)?

Part inevitable music industry commercialism, part nostalgic navel-gazing, part dusting off old postcards and placing them in sequence, there is the sense that U2's fan base is getting younger, rather than maintaining its increasingly cynical middle-aged spread. Hence the re-issuing of these records in the lead-up to the new one, in the (perhaps all too justifiable) hope that historical perspective and sonic threads will interconnect very nicely with the new material.

Whatever. The fact is that after 28 years, Boy remains a remarkable record, an amazing debut, and quite likely the best, most instructive link as to what makes U2 tick. The songs still stand up, too, and Paul Morley's typically meandering-stream sleeve notes notwithstanding, the re-issue of Boy claims its stake as an "Important Release".

Not so much with October (sleeve notes by Neil McCormick) and War (sleeve notes by Niall Stokes). The follow-up to Boy still sounds too fraught with its blend of naiveté, fragility and frustration to fully work its way into life as totally formed; Gloria and the title track are the standouts, a still wonderful juxtaposition of the wide-eyed wonder of embrace messing around with the questioning nature of belief and faith.

War, meanwhile - with a more commercial sound and an underlying concept of struggle and surrender - went straight into the UK charts at number one. Cue the beginning of global dominance, Edge's hair loss, album number four, and the start of something else altogether.  www.U2.com

Download tracks:A Day Without Me (Boy); Gloria (October); Sunday Bloody Sunday (War)