BOY (1980)
Key Tracks: "I Will Follow," "A Day Without Me"
Quick Take: The 10 tunes on U2's debut are sturdily constructed and winningly melodic, but by far the most arresting thing is its sound, every part in its stripped-down arrangements played for maximum impact. The ringing ostinatos and colorful chording provided by the Edge's echo-laden guitar, the secondary melodic lines of bassist Adam Clayton, Larry Mullen's drums providing musical cues in "Stories for Boys" that underscore the song's inner drama — the band manages an almost greater eloquence than Bono's amiably heroic vocals.
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OCTOBER (1981)
Key Tracks: "Fire," "Gloria"
Quick Take: The band suffers from a bit of a sophomore slump as Bono makes an impressive noise but precious little sense in "With a Shout," and "I Threw a Brick Through a Window." The album is appealingly ambitious, and Bono loftily explores his relationship with spirituality on songs like "Gloria," which includes lines plucked straight from the Bible and a chorus sung in Latin.
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WAR (1983)
Key Tracks: "New Year's Day," "Sunday Bloody Sunday"
Quick Take: For U2's third album, the band steps out from its skeletal beginnings with an instrumental palette that's richer and more varied, finding room for everything from the martial funk of "Sunday Bloody Sunday" to the shimmering acoustic touches of "Drowning Man." The band leaps nimbly between the personal ("New Year's Day," "Two Hearts Beat as One") and the political ("Sunday Bloody Sunday") without a single misstep.
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UNDER A BLOOD RED SKY (1983) Key Tracks: "Sunday Bloody Sunday," "I Will Follow"
Quick Take: This live album documenting their War tour offers a hint of how U2 translated in concert, but the vivid, bristling sound courtesy of producer Jimmy Iovine is worlds away from the lush moods they would conjure on their next studio album. The image of Bono in the fiery footage of "Sunday, Bloody Sunday" waving a white flag through crimson mist became the defining snapshot of U2's warrior rock spirit.
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THE UNFORGETTABLE FIRE (1984)
Key Tracks: "Pride (In The Name Of Love)," "The Unforgettable Fire"
Quick Take: In their first of many collaborations with the band, producers Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois give The Unforgettable Fire a rich, atmospheric and occasionally abstract aura. The instruments are blurred, giving the band a warmer, more intimate sound, bringing out the emotional immediacy in "Bad," and adding soul to the insistent thrust of "Pride (In The Name Of Love)."
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THE JOSHUA TREE (1987)
Key Tracks: "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," "With Or Without You"
Quick Take: For their 10-times-platinum, Grammy-conquering move from MTV heroes to rock royalty, Bono gets intensely personal, treating his political concerns as secondary to the quest for love and identity in songs like "With or Without You" and "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For." Yet vivid as the album's wordplay may be, it's still the music that carries these songs, from the itchy throb of "Bullet the Blue Sky" to the racing pulse of "Where the Streets Have No Name."
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RATTLE AND HUM (1988)
Key Tracks: "Desire," "Angel Of Harlem"
Quick Take: After their monster hit, this semi-live soundtrack album caught fans offguard. The strongest performances are studio performances (like the Bo Diddley-styled "Desire" or the bluesy "When Love Comes to Town" with B.B. King), but concert versions of their hit singles and covers ("Helter Skelter," "All Along the Watchtower") shine as well.
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ACHTUNG BABY (1991)
Key Tracks: "One," "Mysterious Ways"
Quick Take: Perfectly working alongside the alternative rock explosion of the '90s, U2's sound is more intricate and articulate than ever, affording their seventh album a stylistic range that runs from the techno grunge of "Zoo Station" to the hip-hop-inflected groove of "Mysterious Ways." Just as his conspiratorial whisper inflames the desperate clangor of "The Fly," Bono's delivery often says more than the words themselves.
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ZOOROPA (1993)
Key Tracks: "Numb," "Lemon"
Quick Take: The quickly recorded Zooropa attempts to expand U2's new horizons even further via groove and texture experiments that touch on electronic and sample-based music. Obsessed with the information overload, the album features awesomely post-modern moments like the Edge drolly rapping over an industrial backbeat and special guest Johnny Cash singing over a synthesizer.
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POP (1997)
Key Tracks: "Discothèque," "Staring at the Sun"
Quick Take: U2 embraced electronica and club music for Pop, an album that plays like an ecstatic, sampledelic dance party. Although this album is U2 at their most experimental, Pop still puts emphasis on the songwriting — the best track is the one that sounds the most like classic, pre-Achtung U2: the sweeping "Staring At the Sun."
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ALL THAT YOU CAN'T LEAVE BEHIND (2000)
Key Tracks: "Beautiful Day," "Walk On"
Quick Take: After a bit of a critical drubbing for Pop, U2 emerged triumphantly with the traditional stadium rocker All That You Can't Leave Behind, having learned how to control their most excessive urges but having lost none of their dramatic heft. "Walk On," "Beautiful Day" and "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of" reveal a band that learned to draw inspiration from small personal victories, and to keep evolving.
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HOW TO DISMANTLE AN ATOMIC BOMB (2004)
Key Tracks: "Vertigo," "Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own"
Quick Take: After the success of Behind, U2 make their most guitar-oriented album in decades. No longer worried about tempering their earth-stopping hooks with their experimental tendencies, this is grandiose music from grandiose men, sweatlessly confident in the execution of their duties.
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NO LINE ON THE HORIZON (2009)
Key Tracks: "Magnificent," "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight"
Quick Take: U2's first album in nearly five years is their best in its textural exploration and tenacious melodic grip since 1991's Achtung Baby. Bono keeps coming back to the sheer power and pleasure of a long high note and the salvation you can feel in being heard.
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