Boy received generally favourable reviews.
Paul Morley of
NME called it "honest, direct and distinctive", adding that he found it "touching, precocious, full of archaic and modernist conviction". Betty Page of
Sounds said that they "achieved a rare mixture of innocence and aggression", and described the album as "an overall feeling of loving care and energy intertwined with simplistic and direct hooks and chords". Lyndyn Barber from
Melody Maker hailed it as a "rich" record, writing that "
Boy is more than just a collection of good tracks assembled in an arbitrary order", and that it had "youthful innocence and confusion".
Robin Denselow of
The Guardian wrote that it was a "strong debut album", praising Lillywhite for helping U2 improve since a live show that the reviewer attended. Denselow said the group succeeded at their goal of achieving a balance of "power and sensitivity" and said the record "only needs slightly stronger melodies to be very impressive indeed".
Time Outs critic Ian Birch hailed
Boy as a "timely" album and said, "Firing off a tradition laid down by the likes of Magazine, [Siouxsie and] the Banshees and Joy Division, U2 have injected their own brand of grace and sinewy spaciousness to create a romanticism exactly right for those who sport chunky riffs and
mackintoshes". Declan Lynch of Irish magazine
Hot Press remarked that he found
Boy "almost impossible to react negatively to". K.R. Walston of the
Albuquerque Journal said that U2 "knows how to nurse a listener along, toying with tempo and chord structures just enough to sound original but not overly avant garde". The review concluded, "the future shines brightly for bands like this". In
Musician, journalist
David Fricke called
Boy a "brilliant, exhilarating record: eleven intense, yet articulate outbursts of song that together stand as the '80s answer to
My Generation". Terry Atkinson of the
Los Angeles Times called
Boy a "subtly ravishing first album, by turns pretty, propulsive, playful and irresistably catchy", while further describing it as "supple and melodic, but tough and vital as well". Atkinson believed that the lyrics had "occasionally trite or vague passages" but were transcended by Bono's "heartfelt, soaring vocals". Sean McAdam of
The Boston Globe described it as "a hypnotic album with nuance" that he "recommended without a bit of reservation". He praised Lillywhite's production for creating an "eerie ambience" and said of the band, "U2 have the musical chops, a compelling vocalist... and most importantly 4-minute pop songs that sound at once concise and infectious". Scot Anderson of the
Iowa City Press-Citizen called
Boy "an album that, while flawed, shows the potential of the band". Anderson thought certain songs were too long or too short, but believed U2 distinguished themselves from their peers with their spirit and humanity, making "a most refreshing splash in the
New Wave".
Dave Marsh of
Rolling Stone said the record's music was "unpretentious and riveting" and called U2 "easily the best Irish rock band since
Van Morrison's original
Them troupe". He also lauded Lillywhite for his "always spearheaded production". In a separate review for
Rolling Stone, Debra Rae Cohen found the band skilled and likeable while crediting Lillywhite for helping them "blend echoes of several of Britain's more adventurous bands into a sound that's rich, lively and comparatively commercial." Overall, she believed the album did not live up to the high standard set by the opening track "I Will Follow", finding most of it "diffuse and uneven". More critical was
Robert Christgau, who dismissed the album in his "Consumer Guide" column for
The Village Voice: "Their youth, their serious air, and their guitar sound are setting a small world on fire, and I fear the worst." The album finished in 18th place on the "Best Albums" list from
The Village Voices 1981
Pazz & Jop critics' poll. ==Boy Tour==