As hard as it may be to imagine now, there's was a time -- back when the land was awash in legwarmers, and portable music players used cassette tapes -- when U2 was not the monolothic presence in popular culture that they are today. In those halcyon days of the early '80s, they were just a scrappy young bunch of Irish lads with a singer who sounded like a less poncey version of the guy from Simple Minds and a guitarist who'd discovered the secret formula for sucking the reggae out of the Police's guitar sound. They played small clubs, got played on college radio, hell, they were hip, albeit in a messianic sort of way.

Whether you're nostalgic for those times or never got to experience them first hand, now you can journey back to those long-lost days with the expanded reissues of the band's first three albums, Boy, October, and War. Set for a July 22 release, each one features the original album in all it's unblemished, Reagan-era  glory on one disc, and a second disc chock full of alternate versions, previously unreleased cuts, live tracks, and other ephemera from the period. Full track lists below:

Boy:

Original album:

01 I Will Follow
02 Twilight
03 An Cat Dubh
04 Into the Heart
05 Out of Control
06 Stories for Boys
07 The Ocean
08 A Day Without Me
09 Another Time, Another Place
10 The Electric Co.
11 Shadows and Tall Trees

Bonus disc:

01 I Will Follow [previously unreleased mix]
02 11 O'Clock Tick Tock
03 Touch
04 Speed of Life [previously unreleased]
05 Saturday Night [previously unreleased]
06 Things to Make and Do
07 Out of Control
08 Boy-Girl
09 Stories for Boys
10 Another Day
11 Twilight
12 Boy-Girl (Live at the Marquee, London)
13 11 O'Clock Tick Tock (Live at the Marquee, London) [previously unreleased version]
14 Cartoon World (Live at the National Stadium, Dublin) [previously unreleased]

October:

Original album:

01 Gloria
02 I Fall Down
03 I Threw a Brick Through a Window
04 Rejoice
05 Fire
06 Tomorrow
07 October
08 With a Shout
09 Stranger in a Strange Land
10 Scarlet
11 Is That All

Bonus disc:

01 Gloria (Live at Hammersmith Palais, London)
02 I Fall Down (Live at Hammersmith Palais, London)
03 I Threw a Brick Through a Window (Live at Hammersmith Palais, London)
04 Fire (Live at Hammersmith Palais, London)
05 October (Live at Hammersmith Palais, London)
06 With a Shout (Richard Skinner BBC Session)
07 Scarlet (Richard Skinner BBC Session)
08 I Threw a Brick Through a Window (Richard Skinner BBC Session)
09 A Celebration
10 J. Swallo
11 Trash, Trampoline and the Party Girl
12 I Will Follow (Live at Paradise Theatre, Boston)
13 The Ocean (Live at Paradise Theatre, Boston)
14 The Cry/Electric Co. (Live at Paradise Theatre, Boston)
15 11 O'Clock Tick Tock (Live at Paradise Theatre, Boston)
16 I Will Follow (Live From Hattem, Netherlands)
17 Tomorrow (Bono & Adam Clayton, Common Ground Remix)

War:

Original album:

01 Sunday Bloody Sunday
02 Seconds
03 New Year's Day
04 Like A Song 
05 Drowning Man
06 The Refugee
07 Two Hearts Beat as One
08 Red Light
09 Surrender 1
10 "40"

Bonus disc:

01 Endless Deep
02 Angels Too Tied to the Ground [previously unreleased]
03 New Year's Day (7" Single Edit)
04 New Year's Day (USA Remix)
05 New Year's Day (Ferry Corsten Extended Vocal Mix)
06 New Year's Day (Ferry Corsten Vocal Radio Mix)
07 Two Hearts Beat as One (Long Mix)
08 Two Hearts Beat as One (USA Remix)
09 Two Hearts Beat as One (Club Version)
10 Treasure (Whatever Happened to Pete the Chop)