There was a music industry report published around Christmas which explained the rapid decline of the box set, the ornately packaged collection that usually made such a great stocking stuffer.

Apparently, consumers were wary of paying $15 for one CD, never mind $60 for a bushel of them, fancy booklets and packaging be damned. Though the report was bleak for the music business, the analyst predicted that the new trend in back catalog marketing would be smaller "deluxe" re-issues that would include rarities, remixes and b-sides that sit alongside the tracks on the original album.

U2 may be accused of many things, but slow on the uptake was never one of them. In a savvy attempt to build brand awareness for a new album that is set to drop later this year, Bono and the boys have released "deluxe re-mastered" editions of Boy, War and October.

Their first album is Boy and it comes in three formats - the re-mastered single CD, a deluxe format including a bonus CD of b-sides, live tracks and rarities, and the vinyl format. A 16 page booklet features unseen photos, lyrics and liner notes from Paul Morley.

Edge, who oversaw the re-mastering of the album, contributed notes on the bonus material. Of course, iTunes and the other digital outlets are sufficiently stocked with their own deluxe versions as well. Being the cutting edge music reviewer that I am, I opted for these.

Like most bands with a similar long tenure of more than a quarter century, the songs of the older albums have been repackaged so many times in live collections and greatest hits CDs that you almost forget the body of work that they came from.

In this regard, revisiting the actual album and reviewing it as if it was a new release was a particularly fun exercise. The artists who created Boy are light years behind the artists that created How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, and listening to it proves the point that their evolution throughout the years is why they have remained at the top of their game.

The cranky staccato guitar work on tracks like "Into the Heart" have the "day-glow" fashion and flourishes of the Reagan area period in which they were made. The galloping majesty of "Out of Control" is the blue print of the open air rock that shakes the rafters on their stadium tours.

Speaking of tours, the band included the chestnut "An Cat Dubh" on their last go-round, and spinning this disc is a great reminder of that potent song.

Bono has long made peace with who he is and what his place is on the world stage, and that confidence makes him one of the most soulful white singers working today. Apart from "I Will Follow," most of the tracks on Boy are symptomatic of a band and a singer that has yet to find their voice and bravado.

They ingested British new wave and punk at a gluttonous pace, and Boy is clearly made with a heavily influenced singer fresh out of the garage at the front of the mike who is rubbing his eyes in the glare of the spotlight.

Even Bono seems to admit this in a blog he wrote on the Rolling Stone website in response to a review of Boy by writer David Fricke.

"You do want to give the singer a slap for lots of reasons, but let's start with the pretentiousness," he posts. "The singer has obviously been listening to Siouxie and the Banshees, Joy Division and a few others whose combined artfulness was just too much for the freckled face teenager from north side of Dublin; neither fully Protestant or Catholic, Ireland had left the boy with a face like a baked bean and in search of a non-regional identity...a theme that continues to the present."

Bono is a lot kinder on his band mates. "Adam Clayton's bass is a revelation to me on this listen, and up there with John Entwhistle and Peter Hook on in its inventiveness. Larry Mullen too is jumping through hoops to create a circus of tom tom parts and spectral specter like snaring . . . giddying up and clearing the fence every time . . . I agree with David Fricke that they are not yet a rhythm section in the traditional sense, but maybe something more interesting. It's big music in little hands."

The extra pieces of rare material aren't really worth the price of the packaging. Who needs a single version of "Stories for Boys" when you already have a longer rendition on the actual album?

The live version of "Boy/Girl" crackles with nave enthusiasm, but I would skip this disc without trading in your original.

"I'm proud of this little Polaroid of a life I can't fully recall," Bono reasons. "As well as the ability to make embarrassing mistakes, the demands of a great debut might be fresh ideas, fresh paint and sometimes for its canvas, a fresh face."

In the spirit of honesty in journalism, I was never a fan of the October album when I first bought it in 1981 (which is probably the last time I listened to it). It has the words "sophomore slump" written all over it. The deluxe and live versions of songs like "Gloria" did not change my opinion one bit.

The years have been much kinder to an album like War. The production and passion deliver all the urgency of breaking glass. U2 wasn't worshipping at the feet of contemporaries New Order and the Smiths at this stage; you can hear how younger bands like the Killers or Coldplay were influenced by War.

It's a sin that there are so many great songs like "Seconds" and the snarl of "Like a Song" from War that never make it onto the greatest hits packages. As far as the deluxe disc, I think we'd all agree that four versions of "New Year's Day" and three versions of "Two Hearts Beat as One" are a bit much!

The extended play/disco treatments are indicative of the age, and they are mediocre renditions when compared to the crisp delivery of the shorter versions. This disc has great renditions of "Fire" from a Belgium tour in 1982, which makes the extras worth the extra expense.

U2 got better and more experimental after these first three albums. I am dying to see what they sweep off the cutting room floor during the Achtung Baby and Zooropa sessions!

Well, the boys did it - they made me look backwards to make me look forward to what's ahead. Let's bring on the new album!