U2

Not since The Who defined itself with "I Can't

Explain" did a band map its career as early as U2 did with "I Will Follow," the

first track on its staggering 1980 debut, Boy. Incredibly, four Irish

lads barely out of their teens already had a distinctive, fully formed sound so

massive that it took over the world. That sound—by now an over-familiar

amalgam of Bono's messianic wailing, The Edge's epically echoing guitar, Adam

Clayton's insistently murmuring bass, and Larry Mullen's no-frills

drums—explodes out of Boy with the confidence of guileless prodigies relying

on instinct and verve to make up for youthful inexperience and shallowness.

The handsomely packaged "deluxe edition" two-disc

re-issues of Boy and

U2's second and third albums, 1981's October and 1983's War, trace the band's maturation

process as it grew into its outsized music, with B-sides, outtakes, remixes,

and live cuts providing context (and illuminating, though occasionally flat

rough drafts) for records that set the stage for U2's rapid ascent to the top

of the stadium-rock heap. Boy showed U2 had a strong enough musical identity to

command the world's attention from the very beginning, but the

flawed-yet-fascinating October is about the struggle to find something to say

once you have an audience. But for all their lyrical vagueness, songs like "I

Threw A Brick Through A Window" and "Tomorrow" are never less than riveting,

and—perhaps in ways he didn't intend, given how muddled his words

are—Bono captures the feeling of early twentysomething spiritual

confusion pretty much perfectly.

Fortunately, that confusion didn't carry over to

the stage, judging by October's bonus disc, which collects live tracks from

early tours where U2 learned how to make big emotions seem intimate. By War,

Bono

mastered the art of the grand symbolic gesture—his inspirational

iconography on anthems like "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "New Year's Day" is

still covering up for his lyrical shortcomings 25 years later. Greater triumphs

were on the horizon, but U2 had already found what it was looking for just three

years into its storied career.