Birth of that rattle and hum

Like the Beatles, Garth Brooks and so many other mega-sellers before, the members of U2 flunked several auditions before a record company was willing to sign them. In fact, the band's potential was once viewed as so limited that CBS in England, the label that finally took a chance on the group, reconsidered and dropped it after releasing just two U2 singles.

Thanks to a new, deluxe edition of the quartet's debut album, "Boy," we can hear those early recordings and imagine what our vote would have been if we were on the CBS staff.

Though some of the band's strengths are obvious, several things about the recordings, especially "Out of Control," remind you so much of David Bowie that CBS execs must have wondered if U2 had any ideas of its own. Three of five songs the band recorded for CBS reappeared on "Boy," which was released by Island Records, but the Bowie-esque touches had been toned down.

In addition to the CBS tunes, the revealing two-disc package comes with a remastered version of the "Boy" album and inviting extras, including insightful reflections by the Edge.

About "11 O'Clock Tick Tock," the band's first single on Island, the U2 guitarist tells us how the band's drum sound changed dramatically after that record. "The trend of the day," the Edge writes, "was recording studios without any room reverb or ambience. The playing room at Windmill Lane [studios] was designed to be totally dead, and you can hear it on the drums. It wasn't until the 'Boy' sessions that we figured out that we had to pull the drum kit into the entrance hall, after the receptionist had gone home, to get a decent drum sound. With its three-story stairwell and stone and tiled surfaces, it was a great live room."

These added features make the deluxe editions of "Boy" and two other new U2 rereleases ("October" and "War") more valuable than simply the single-disc editions, which offer only the remastered versions of the original albums. Any band wanting to preserve its album history in smart, appealing fashion should use these collections as a model.

U2

"Boy"

Island/Interscope/Universal Music Enterprises

The back story: Powered by Bono's enchanting vocal and the Edge's radiant guitar lines, "I Will Follow" was such an immediately appealing calling card for U2 that the band played it twice during its local debut at the old Country Club in Reseda in March 1981.