The Boo Radleys, Classic or Dud?

So far it's alright. The lyrics aren't particularly strong and the overall spark that Martin would usually bring is missing. They would be better off getting an outside pair of ears to mix the record rather than doing it 100% in-house

I'm guessing I'm the third biggest, but who?

Anyway, whassitlike? Or has it not arrived yet?

Thread starter

It has not

In case you're interested, Martin has put all the material he wrote for David Quantick's Snodgrass (based on the Ian MacLeod short story about a middle-aged Lennon, who had left the Beatles pre-fame) up on Bandcamp. It was a 30min Sky Arts film with Ian Hart in 2013, and was supposed to be become a feature (with my friend Chris attached to direct), but Ian Hart didn't want to play Lennon for the umpteenth time, and it all seems to have fallen through - hence a clutch of unused songs.

I get why they reused the name, likely cuz this thing would get even less attention than it’s getting now, but it seems pretty clear few people were clamoring for the return of the Boos. I hardly knew this was out til I saw the thread.

xp don't know why I click on this thread as I only really like one album (EAF) but glad I did as Snodgrass is one of my favourite stories and I had no idea about any of that!

The Sky Arts thing is on YouTube (not great quality, mind), I think.

They weren’t going to use the name, but Martin said they should.

Yeah, this is a perfectly nice album, better than I expected based on the other songs on the EP.

This album is good and so much better than it has any right to be. I guess if you take 24 years off and decide to come back then it should be worth it and I think this is worth it. That being said, I really don't consider this a Boo Radleys album, you can't lose your songwriter and expect it to be the same band. I look at this more like a follow up to that Eggman record from the 90s.

I really like that Eggman record. Not heard it in years though

Yeah, played that Eggman album a fair bit. Added "turn all your lies to truth" to mixtapes at the time

I see there's a cheap (deluxe) download available at the Boos Official merch site, ok I'm gonna get one tomorrow...

I cannot really get into that Eggman albun nor even less the Paperlung effort but I think the new Boos is kinda charming. Sorry.

*album

It's pretty great. Big hugs from the Boos.

Now got Kingsize on and bawling my eyes out. Oh dear oh dear.

I agree the new one is pretty good. Kingsize is probably my favorite but I have been over that here before and yes it can make me cry too.

Kingsize is a 10/10 genius album. Love it to death

I usually don't share reviews but this one is spot on except I think I like it better
https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/the-boo-radleys-keep-on-with-falling/

i still have not received my signed copy from the Boo Radleys store but it is on streaming here in the US and am able to listen to it

A new album, called "Eight"

However, they seem to be touring a "Giant Steps revisited" show, and are playing South Street Arts Centre in Reading, 13th June.

What, really? I feel like the only one on earth who loved their last album.

Ya, rlly.

I bought the d/l with the live gig. Made it through five tracks, um yeah.

Still, tempted to go see...

Not going to defend it as it's lacking without Mattin Carr guitar work but I ended up playing it over and over and over again. Can't believe how much I warmed up to it. Just yesterday I woke up singing "Tonight." That doesn't happen very often but also the second half is better.

Will try it again tomorrow

New song is gash, I'm sorry to say. But well up for the Giant Steps tour

Can anyone see the venues and dates anywhere? Can't seem to find them

Three dates beyond the above on songkick, tix currently only available to purchasers of the new album.

Yeah wasn't keen on the last album - has a band member's absence ever felt so pronounced? - but I will happily see them do Giant Steps.

https://i.imgur.com/kZYouM7.jpg

Eight

CD1:
1. Seeker
2. The Unconscious
3. Hollow
4. Skeleton Woman
5. Sorrow (I Just Want To Be Free)
6. Sometimes I Sleep
7. Swift's Requiem
8. The Way I Am
9. A Shadow Darker Than The Rest
10. Wash Away That Feeling
11. When I Find It Hard
12. Now That's What I Call Obscene
13. How Was I To Know

CD2:
1. Seeker (Full Version)
2. Skeleton Woman (Extended Version)
3. Sometimes I Sleep (Alternative Version)
4. A Shadow Darker Than The Rest (Piano Version)
5. The Hollow (Alternative Version)
6. I Won't Be There With You
7. That Ain't A Way Of Life
8. Now I Know
9. All Things Must Pass Live At The Cavern (2022)
10. Spaniard Live At The Cavern (2022)
11. Find The Answer Within Live At The Cavern (2022)

Out June 9, 2023 via Boostr

The Reading tickets seem to be available now

Actually not minding "Seeker" at all

The b-side is nice too

The album is alright. Marginally better than last year's LP, mostly because of Seekerm vaguely bossa-ish Skeleton Woman and britgum-ish Now That's What I Call Obscene (sounding more like McFly than the new McFly metal riffola album).

Oh, it's out today!

Thought this was about the Giant Steps remaster, etc.

I bought this, just like the last album. Not sure why as I don't buy CD's anymore but I do it for this band. I will get a bonus CD but going from London to Los Angeles so I don't have it yet.

It's on Spotify, so looking forward to listening tonight.

Is this Giant Steps tour going to be any good without Martin? The London gig hasn't sold out yet so I could possibly go, but I'm not convinced.

Yeah, it’ll be great

The last album to me made some sense as it had a Boo Radleys sound. The problem with that is you no longer have Martin Carr who's the real genius. I grew to like the album and played it many times last year. This album is different, not a 180 turn but a turn nonetheless. It was strange as I felt like it had no guitar's until about 3/4 through it. These songs are just different so it's throwing me for a loop.

Just seen their first set (they're coming back out to do Giant Steps in a bit). First time I've seen them since 1992.

Sounds like fun. I got to see them back in the day and even at Lollapalooza.

Wish I was there and looking forward to your review.

That was actually really good. Glad I went.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08Qldx37Gz8

A belated review of sorts (of the London gig). Sice had got the stage times wrong (which he apologised for) as he got them mixed up with the following night, so they came on at 8pm for the first set instead of 8:30pm and I missed the first 20 minutes or so. Everything I heard from this set was new (either from the new new album or the one a year or two ago) so I didn't know them, but I was surprised to find I quite liked these songs. The exception was The Finest Kiss, which they closed with. As you can see from Paul's video above, they were augmented by a pretend Martin, which solved the missing guitar sound problem that had been making me reluctant to go to the gig originally.

The Giant Steps set later was pretty faithful to the album and did a good job of recreating the sound live (e.g. the feedback sounds at the start of Upon 9th and Fairchild). They played nearly every track: Sice announced mid-set that they would be missing out 'the shit noisy one' and asked 'how many people really want to hear Run My Way Runway?' - the answer was a lot of us, so he said he'd go and get a hoover and mike it up as this would do the job. It was largely in order apart from a medley section (can't remember exactly what was in this - One Is For definitely, maybe Spun Around and Best Lose The Fear). They messed up the opening to If You Want It, Take It twice before finally getting it right and then Sice got the chorus wrong (singing the second bit twice instead of "there's nothing bright about being undecided"). The only problem sonically was that Tim was singing the "do you know my name before you tear me apart? do you care who I am?" lines from Rodney King and it was almost inaudible, which was odd because his backing vocals were clear most of the rest of the time. I was surprised at how many people were there and the band seemed delighted by the audience response - broad smiles on their faces at the 'ba-ba-ba-ba's from the crowd during Lazarus. I took little video clips, but no whole songs. If I can be bothered I could stitch them together and put them on YouTube, but don't hold your breath.

Still not sure how I feel but came across this:
https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/the-boo-radleys/eight-review

Just found this sublime acoustic version of Everybird from a couple of years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kovwtpD26ng

Rob playing bass AND a bit of hi-hat too? Nice!

Why is C’mon Kids not on streaming?

are you also in the USA? might have something to do with Mercury records’ rights