U2

With this 1983 release -- the last "raw" album U2 would make -- the band created the concept of an alternative arena rock group. The word "anthemic" doesn't even come close to describing the grandiose post-punk that they play here: this is genuinely brilliant, flag-waving rock music. U2 never sounded so totally rocking, so passionate and, honestly, so good.

From the start, it was clear that U2 could create impressive music. The jagged guitar riff and
thundering drone that launched "I Will Follow" and the rest of their 1981 debut album, Boy,
was eloquent and visceral. It was also musically uncomplicated; these four young Dubliners
had an instinctive sense for making the most out of simple shifts in dynamics and
elementary voicings, and it gave their sound a rough, exhilarating grandiloquenc... More >

The deadly European virus that's always tainted this band turns out to be their characteristic melodic device, a medieval-sounding unresolved fifth frequently utilized by monks in Hollywood movies. In other respects, however, their hot album is rock and roll indeed. The Edge becomes a tuneful guitarist by the simple expedient of not soloing, and if Bono has too many Gregorian moments his conviction still carries the music. Anyway, I'll take his militant if pacifist Christianity ("The real battle has begun/To claim the victory Jesus won") over most of the secular humanism and Jah love rockers are going in for these days. (Grade - B+)