The Boo Radleys, Classic or Dud?

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xpost- me too (about buying it) only "I didn't think it was great initially, thought it was great for a period, stopped listening to it after that period and still haven't really recoveredsold it"... also me too.

I remember a LOT of filler but it is/was a strong record. I suspect it's that I didn't find most of the songs/vocals very much to shout about in the end that led me to not caring...

fandango, Wednesday, 6 June 2007 10:33 (seventeen years ago) link

It looks nicer than that 2cd collection.

Which started off being "Wake up boo: The Best of" but M.Carr stopped it, so the record company said "OK, you pick. but it has to have "Wake Up Boo, Lazarus, etc, etc, etc," until there was only about four tracks to pick from.

Anf the 'unreleased' tracks, ah hey I had the "Kingsize" single promo with them on anyway.

4am conversation? That's an odd choice.

Mark G, Wednesday, 6 June 2007 10:34 (seventeen years ago) link

I think I might marginally prefer 'C'mon Kids' to 'Giant Steps'.

Just got offed, Wednesday, 6 June 2007 11:15 (seventeen years ago) link

not sure about that new best of... what the fuck?

the next grozart, Wednesday, 6 June 2007 13:31 (seventeen years ago) link

'I've Lost The Reason' and 'Get On The Bus' are possibly my favourite two Boo Radleys songs, so their inclusion is very welcome. Underappreciated masterpieces both.

Just got offed, Wednesday, 6 June 2007 13:52 (seventeen years ago) link

if there's something that annoyed me about the last two albums was that they were way too preachy for my liking. "Colours For The Blind", that millennium song, "Heaven's At the Bottom Of This Glass".

the next grozart, Wednesday, 6 June 2007 22:55 (seventeen years ago) link

When did that squeeze out? Well, 7th May, obviously, but... Has anyone got it? is it the 12" version of Lazarus? What an odd tracklisting.

WTF? and don't know any answers to those questions.

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/51v0G4LGP0L._SS500_.jpg

beautiful cover but has nothing to do with the band. found this on Martin's web site, as he was answering the question of why nothing from Everything's Alright Forever or Kingsize made it on to this comp.

"Eaf wasn't anything to do with sony and i can only guess that they have forgotten about Kingsize.

I won't be buying it.

Mx"

Bee OK, Thursday, 7 June 2007 05:01 (seventeen years ago) link

Haha, the sleevenotes to this new best of quote me (but without naming me, the cheeky gits).

Scik Mouthy, Thursday, 7 June 2007 17:21 (seventeen years ago) link

haha what's the quote?

Cunga, Thursday, 7 June 2007 17:49 (seventeen years ago) link

It reads, "GIANT STEPS IS THE GREATEST INDIE GUITAR RECORD EVER EVER EVER RIGHT."

Ned Raggett, Thursday, 7 June 2007 17:54 (seventeen years ago) link

Of Lazarus, "a big pop tune halfway between Dinosaur Jr. and The Beach Boys slapped in the middle of a great big dub instrumental" taken from http://www.stylusmagazine.com/reviews/the-boo-radleys/find-the-way-out.htm

Scik Mouthy, Thursday, 7 June 2007 18:03 (seventeen years ago) link

I've barely listened to anything else for the last 24 hours.

Scik Mouthy, Friday, 8 June 2007 15:21 (seventeen years ago) link

two weeks pass...

How come no one's ever mentioned Learning To Walk?

Jack Rabid wrote, "Though it's just a collection of their first three EPs dating back to '90/'91 (plus two unreleased covers), Learning to Walk is actually the best LP released by this great Liverpool band, even better than Giant Steps... Learning to Walk sounds like an LP, not a collection, and if we regard it as three sessions in one, it is the Boo Radleys' real second LP, and their masterpiece, even without the terrific 1991 Peel Session versions of Love's "Alone Again Or," and New Order's "True Faith" (retitled "Boo Faith," naturally) tacked on for extra value. With all three EPs out of print, Learning to Walk is even more valuable. Do not miss."

Fastnbulbous, Wednesday, 27 June 2007 07:40 (seventeen years ago) link

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

nah.

Mark G, Wednesday, 27 June 2007 07:46 (seventeen years ago) link

it's pretty good. i especially like "Foster's Van".

the next grozart, Wednesday, 27 June 2007 12:17 (seventeen years ago) link

I said this on the poll thread the other week:
The two EPs in 1991 between the first and second album sound better-produced, but still essentially go for that mixture of extreme guitar noise and sweet singing. That wasn’t a problem for me as that was exactly what I liked back then. I love Naomi (off Every Heaven) and Everybird, Sometime Soon She Said and Foster’s Van (off Boo Up). I think these are all on Learning To Walk, but I’m not voting for that because it’s not a real album.

Nasty, Brutish & Short, Wednesday, 27 June 2007 13:58 (seventeen years ago) link

What is with the latest Boo Radleys revival/craze on ILM? It's not as if more than 5 people ever gave a fuck about them before and now there's a thread being revived every couple of days (I'm not complaining).

the next grozart, Wednesday, 27 June 2007 14:26 (seventeen years ago) link

The new compilation put them back on my radar. I never could get into Wake Up and am wondering if I should try Giant Steps or the remastered two CD comp that came out two years ago.

Fastnbulbous, Wednesday, 27 June 2007 14:46 (seventeen years ago) link

The remastering on that comp is not good, in my opinion. I played Lazarus off that and the remixes EP from 1994 back-to-back the other day and the bass was doing all sorts of unpleasant things on the remaster.

Scik Mouthy, Wednesday, 27 June 2007 15:31 (seventeen years ago) link

I own a ridiculous amount of "Lazarus" e.p's, all different.

From the original issue CD, the promo with the 7" version added, through 3 different USA columbia promos and normal ones, to the UK reissue and so on.

Mark G, Wednesday, 27 June 2007 15:33 (seventeen years ago) link

I have the original 12" EP and the double-CD remixes thing.

Scik Mouthy, Wednesday, 27 June 2007 15:35 (seventeen years ago) link

I saw the video one saturday morning, Chart show, went out and got it that day.

ahhh screen goez all wobbly....

Mark G, Wednesday, 27 June 2007 15:36 (seventeen years ago) link

great band but really their masterpiece is Giant Steps even if i personally love one of their other album more

we had this just the other day F'n'B:

ILM POLL: Say there, what about Boo Radleys?

where i wrote:

my order would be:

1. Kingsize - this album has had a huge impact on my life, especially at the time. i have, at times, felt like Martin was writing out my life on this album. skip "Free Huey" and you have a remarkable album. also from Kingsize is one of those perfect three minutes in pop music with the song "Put Your Arms Around Me and Tell Me Everything's Going to Be OK."

2. Giant Steps - they did just about everything they could do with this album and made a classic. i still feel like this is the White Album of the 90's.

3. Learning To Walk - the third best shoegazer album ever. it, however, is just a collection of three brilliant singles. 12 songs total from the three singles with a couple of just OK covers thrown in.

4. C'Mon Kids - the guitars were back and were louder than ever. also contains their best song "Bullfrog Green."

5. Wake Up! - their stab at being commercial and made a accessible album expect for the lyrics. might be the boo's most honest work.

6. Everything's Alright Forever - this album simply doesn't have enough money behind it. great beginning but the heights were barely being reveled.

as far as the remastered is concerned, it's actually not a bad place to start because it gives you all their stages as each album is very different. with an extra bonus of a few b-sides thrown in for good measure. the b-side is where they have some incredible stuff (23 in all) and they need to come out on a comp. at some point.

Bee OK, Wednesday, 27 June 2007 19:16 (seventeen years ago) link

*it's 23 singles in all well past 23 songs.

Bee OK, Wednesday, 27 June 2007 19:21 (seventeen years ago) link

i'd definitely recommend "find the way out" as a primer going by the track selection.

the next grozart, Thursday, 28 June 2007 01:17 (seventeen years ago) link

three years pass...

http://www.cherryred.co.uk/cherryred/artists/booradleys.php

Kingsize
cdmred467

PREORDER NOW! Released on 20/09/ 2010. The Boo Radleys are - for reasons that are hard to understand - a greatly underrated band. Formed in 1988 in Merseyside and their own way through the changeable music scene of the 90 s leaving many classic albums and singles and a couple of massive hits. Kingsize was the bands sixth and final album they split on its release not helping its sales. It is a great album and well worth discovering twelve years on. It is presented here with bonus tracks and an exclusive booklet.

1. Blue Room In Archway
2. The Old News Stand In Hamilton Square
3. Free Huey
4. Monuments For A Dead Century
5. Heaven’s At The Bottom Of This Glass
6. Kingsize
7. High As Monkeys
8. Eurostar
9. Adieu Clo Clo
10. Jimmy Webb Is God
11. She Is Everywhere
12. Comb Your Hair
13. Song From The Blueroom
14. The Future Is Now
Bonus
15. Spanish Lizards
16. Everything Falls Away
17. In A Galaxy Far, Far Away

Bee OK, Sunday, 22 August 2010 00:28 (fourteen years ago) link

C’Mon Kids
cdbred468

PREORDER NOW! Released on 20/09/10. The Boo Radleys are - for reasons that are hard to understand - a greatly underrated band. Formed in 1988 in Merseyside and their own way through the changeable music scene of the 90 s leaving many classic albums and singles and a couple of massive hits. C'mon Kids is the fifth Boo s album although a departure from hit album Wake Up! it is still packed with classic pop based songs wrapped in wonderful soundscapes. The album is presented here as an enhanced double CD, positively packed with bonus tracks and a luxury booklet

Disc One:
1. C'Mon Kids
2. Meltinsworm
3. Melodies For The Deaf (Colours For The Blind)
4. Get On The Bus
5. Everythings Is Sorrow
6. Bullfrog Green
7. What’s In The Box? (See Whatcha Got)
8. Four Saints
9. New Brighton Promenade
10. Fortunate Ons
11. Shelter
12. Ride The Tiger
13. One Last Hurrah

Disc Two Bonustracks:
1. Bloke In A Dress
2. Flakes
3. What’s In The Box (Krisneedsmix)
4. Atlantic
5. The Absent Boy
6. Annie And Marnie
7. Spion Kop
8. To Beautiful
9. Bullfrog Green (Ultra Livingmix)
10. Nothing To Do But Scare Myself
11. From The Bech At Belvidere (Ultramarine)
12. Fourtunate Sons (Greg Hunter Remix)
13. Vote You
14. A Part I Know So Well
15. Everything Is Sorrow (Grantby Mix)
16. Roadie
17. Safe At Home
18. C'Mon Kids (Mekon Mix)

Bee OK, Sunday, 22 August 2010 00:38 (fourteen years ago) link

i'm upset at the Kingsize reissue. first, they don't have "Put Your Arms Around Me and Tell Me Everything's Going To Be OK." (that is the song i got my username from.) not only that but the song is three minutes of pop bliss but has never been released in the UK. this is the perfect time for that. they could have also added "Superintendent," "Tomorrow," "Last Night I Dreamt Of God" and their excellent Bob Dylan cover of "One Of Us Must Know."

Bee OK, Sunday, 22 August 2010 00:48 (fourteen years ago) link

Could have released a blank CDR, wd have contained the same number of tunes.

'ray Clamence (Noodle Vague), Sunday, 22 August 2010 00:51 (fourteen years ago) link

that makes no sense

Bee OK, Sunday, 22 August 2010 01:30 (fourteen years ago) link

i'm upset at the Kingsize reissue. first, they don't have "Put Your Arms Around Me and Tell Me Everything's Going To Be OK." (that is the song i got my username from.)

Where where these two songs available? I have the three others you mentioned as I found the promo single for Kingsize a long time ago. The C'mon Kids reissue looks good, Roadie is one of my favourite songs they did.

Kitchen Person, Sunday, 22 August 2010 01:52 (fourteen years ago) link

"Put Your Arms Around Me and Tell Me Everything's Going To Be OK." is one song. it was released on the US edition of Kingsize but wasn't on the Creation Records edition.

Bee OK, Sunday, 22 August 2010 20:02 (fourteen years ago) link

Yes, and the Australian version. And the UK LP version, I believe.

Didn't one of them have a 'rewindie' track?

Mark G, Monday, 23 August 2010 08:26 (fourteen years ago) link

kingsize has a short pre-track 1 track called 'tranquillo'

put your arms... isn't on my kingsize cd (which is an aus pressing)

shorten curlies (electricsound), Monday, 23 August 2010 08:31 (fourteen years ago) link

Delighted to see these albums are getting a reissue, disappointed 'Kingsize' won't be gathering everything together from that era. If not now, then surely never.

'Everything Falls Away' is great though.

PaulTMA, Tuesday, 24 August 2010 03:45 (fourteen years ago) link

I think I need to reacquaint myself with C'mon Kids.

Sun Tea (Pillbox), Tuesday, 24 August 2010 04:07 (fourteen years ago) link

Yeah, I think they are missing "XFM is ace" and "There she goes"

Mark G, Tuesday, 24 August 2010 08:11 (fourteen years ago) link

The C'Mon Kids one looks absolutely essential. Kingsize has been shortchanged and Bee OK is OTM about Put Your Arms Around Me.

village idiot (dog latin), Tuesday, 24 August 2010 09:34 (fourteen years ago) link

The only thing the C'mon Kids reissue is missing is the bonus 7" that came with some versions of the album on vinyl. I've never actually heard Skywalker or French Canadian Bean Soup, can anyone tell me if those songs are worth hunting down?

Kitchen Person, Tuesday, 24 August 2010 17:16 (fourteen years ago) link

Skywalker was released for the Euro 96 cup IIRC. It's kind of dancey - sort of like Sunfly II from their early days. French Canadian Bean Soup features someone reciting a passage from the Illuminatus! trilogy with a kind of lolloping backing chorus. In typical Boo Radleys b-side fashion, they're rather charming and experimental although "essential" isn't necessarily the word.

village idiot (dog latin), Tuesday, 24 August 2010 17:40 (fourteen years ago) link

I think I can probably live without those then, thanks for the heads up.

I'm definitely going to be hunting down Put Your Arms Around Me, the thought of hearing a new Boo Radleys song after all this time is really exciting.

Kitchen Person, Tuesday, 24 August 2010 17:49 (fourteen years ago) link

four weeks pass...

Kingsize and C’Mon Kids have come out today.

Bee OK, Wednesday, 22 September 2010 01:05 (fourteen years ago) link

So, "Kingsize" definitely doesn't have the extra tracks from the unreleased single?

Mark G, Wednesday, 22 September 2010 10:16 (fourteen years ago) link

eight months pass...

I!L!M! (calling all)

please to post boo radleys videos so i may see the light. i mean i want to believe....

And the piano, it sounds like a carnivore (contenderizer), Wednesday, 8 June 2011 08:34 (thirteen years ago) link

Good man.

Alas, there's no video online for Blues For George Michael.

Thing is, while the Boos did release excellent singles, their choices of A-sides always tended towards the straight-up pop side of their work. It was the b-sides where they got truly weird.

I would say get hold of Giant Steps (the album). There's a track on there called 'Lazarus' which is one of my all time favourite singles by any band. There are two versions of that song - one which has an extended ambient-dub intro, and one without. I'm at work so I can't vouch for which one is posted here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1IRy5AfPmQ

But if you want a top ten, here's mine:

Blues For George Michael
Lazarus
Butterfly McQueen
Joel
Four Saints
Fosters Van
Spaniard
Lazy Day
Annie & Marnie
Friendship Song

Really, there's a lot of different sides to their work throughout the 90s - from their early incarnation as a shoegaze band, through dubbed out psychedelia, classic horn-driven Britpop, folky Dylanesque stuff, bizarre studio experiments with tape loops, and even a few forays into dance and electronica.

There's an excellent compilation from a few years back that collects a nice sampling of all these styles - a's, b's and album tracks.

The Boy Who Can Go Inside The TV (dog latin), Wednesday, 8 June 2011 08:48 (thirteen years ago) link

sound quality in that tube is horrid, unfortunately (and it's the version w/out the dub intro), but i'll check giant steps, which i tried in the mid 90s and didn't quite get, and the 2CD comp

And the piano, it sounds like a carnivore (contenderizer), Wednesday, 8 June 2011 09:08 (thirteen years ago) link

Cool. TBH I'm a bit wary of trying to convert people to the cause so log after the fact. To a British teenager growing up in the '90s, they were revelatory pop experimenters, dabbling with a range of styles and emotions, singing about their lives - subjects ranging from love, depression, heartbreak, isolation, drink and drug culture, politics, nostalgia etc... But I don't know how that would hold up to a newcomer in 2011. I can actually imagine something like the earlier shoegaze material working better on today's ears than the eclectic/Britpop stuff which I fear might have aged badly.

A couple of tracks I forgot to mention:

From The Bench At Belvedere - Maybe the best pure-Britpop song of all time? A non-album single that's just a sweet Merseybeat song about growing up in Merseyside and feeling a little misty-eyed.

"Rodney King (Song For Lenny Bruce)" - a Cocteau Twins/MBV-esque dance-pop number that segues straight in after the equally brilliant Butterfly McQueen

"The Old Newsstand At Hamilton Square" - a later track that should have been a single. Similar lyrical theme to Belvedere, but with a slinky spy-theme soundtrack.

"Put Your Arms Around Me And Tell Me Everything's Going To Be OK" - a bit of an obscure one, as it came out on the back of one of their final singles (possibly an unreleased single, can't remember). A sweet Dylanesque mid-tempo ballad that felt like a fond farewell from the band. It sounds to me like a proper goodbye and should've been included on their last album really.

Find The Way Out is the name of the compilation you need.

The Boy Who Can Go Inside The TV (dog latin), Wednesday, 8 June 2011 09:34 (thirteen years ago) link

Some really great choices there Dog Latin.

I always thought From the Bench at Belvedere was their most underrated song, such a beautiful and simple melody. I probably like it more than anything on the Wake Up album.

The Old Newsstand At Hamilton Square is another good call. I was just listening to that album the other day thinking they could have picked so many other songs as the lead single instead of Free Huey. Eurostar, Comb Your Hair or kingsize would have all been better choices. I always hated Free Huey and blamed it for the failure of that album.

I never knew Put Your Arms Around Me And Tell Me Everything's Going To Be OK existed until last year. I found a cheap American version of Kingsize that has it placed after Eurostar. Another song that could have been a great single.

A few other tracks I would add as hidden classics.

Boo Forever - This was a song on the Boo Forever ep which had Does This Hurt as the lead track. I much prefer this to anything on Everything's Alright Forever. It has such a sad feel to it, Sice's vocals sound like he's just crushed.

Swansong - This is my favourite song on the Learning to Walk compilation. Like Boo Forever it's a really sad song with amazing guitars all over it. I really like that the verse rips off Fade to Grey by Visage.

http://youtu.be/aJ0q7R_ZXPs

Eurostar - I still think this could have been a bigger hit than Wake Up Boo.

http://youtu.be/bA-ZkrGsxq8

Twinside - Obviously they put out the more commercial songs as the singles but the songs that make Wake up a really good album are ones like this, Stuck On Amber and Reaching Out From Here. I never get tired of the way he sings "I can't make up my mind" where he sounds like he's really trying hard to reach those high notes. Even if you hate Wake Up Boo I'd say there's plenty to love on this album.

Wow there really aren't enough Boo Radleys songs on Youtube.

Kitchen Person, Wednesday, 8 June 2011 11:16 (thirteen years ago) link

"I want a Rainbow Nation" is also an obscure one, it came out as a creation promo (mail order)

Mark G, Wednesday, 8 June 2011 11:18 (thirteen years ago) link

Eurostar - I still think this could have been a bigger hit than Wake Up Boo.

Totally agreed. It's like a dance-y Oasis.

Naive Teen Idol, Wednesday, 8 June 2011 17:37 (thirteen years ago) link


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