Just a simple song but God I love it Embedded in me, so bittersweet I’m addicted, I’m a melancholic Sing it again, I’ll be your Poll forever: THE BOO RADLEYS - ILM artist poll #60 or new numbering #65

Kingsize was by far my #1 in the single/EP category, I just love each track on it. It makes me feel a bit sad listening to it, knowing that it was the swan song of The Boos, and that their best single was never even officially released so that only a handful of people have heard these songs.

Lazarus has a bit of an unfair advantage here as it includes the single, EP and the remixes, so there's a lot of good stuff in there. However, I never really cared about any of the remixes, and even the title track itself didn't make it into my top 10 tracks, so Lazarus ended up being a bit further down my top 7 singles/EPs.

I'm quite surprised that From The Bench At Belvidere is third on this poll! The title track and Almost Nearly There are obviously classics, but I've never really cared about Crushed and Hi Falutin, so I dropped this one from my top 7 altogether. Touchdown Jesus and that acoustic version of Peachy Keen are great though!

And even though Wake Up Boo! barely made it to my top 7, I'm glad that someone voted it at number one. Wake Up Boo! is pretty much the perfect pop song, and I don't really get all the hate (even by Boos fans) towards it. I guess it's just one of these "cool" things to hate. The b-sides of part 1 especially are good, although I'm not that keen on Janus and the other two probably go on for a bit too long.

Anyway, it's quite interesting that we all seemed to have different number ones in this category... it just shows what a quality band The Boos were, and how consistently good they were throughout their career!

I voted the Wake Up Boo EP #1 btw. Janus is one of the most forlorn little songs - not their best, but a succinct short story, a cousin to 4AM Conversation from the album. Friendship Song is typical Boos 'how to ruin a happy-clappy pop song in two easy steps' and I love it. Blues For George Michael and to a lesser extent ...And Tomorrow The World are, for me, the Boo Radleys aesthetic encapsulated. Plus I like the extended remix of Wake Up Boo!, a song which I've said a number of times is actually very much underrated in terms of lyrical content and much darker than it appears on the surface.

Albums:
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-pmZk0S0Tb7U/VTprOmWOzQI/AAAAAAAAAV4/D1MdZQ8Hp9g/w1024-h768-no/boo_wallpaper_03.jpg

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Kta2Nliuq5E/VTpruKVN_ZI/AAAAAAAAAWg/FZKcyogoqW0/w500-h493-no/First%2BFruits%2B-%2BEggman%2Bm.jpg

8. Eggman - First Fruits
released: May 27, 1996
82 Points, 3 Votes

i have a soft spot for the eggman album. lots of very sweet songs on there and super melodic.

Yay!

i did throw First Fruits some points but haven't listened to it in years.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-GSbomK-SekY/VTpuN0bKrwI/AAAAAAAAAXQ/zfMZrNyq6TY/w500-h493-no/Learning%2BTo%2BWalk%2Bm.jpg

7. Learning To Walk
Released: Nov 29, 1993
128 Points, 4 Votes, 1 Number One

very, very surprised that this is not higher.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-sCkBR8wd20s/VTpyKAyFMtI/AAAAAAAAAYE/yfdz6oAGKig/w500-h498-no/Ichabod%2Band%2BI%2Bm.jpg

6. Ichabod and I
Released: 1990 LP only (Action Records)
134 Points, 5 Votes

have never warmed up to that album, to me the Boos start at the Kaleidoscope EP. a roommate of mine, back in the day, was going to London and asked if i wanted anything. he knew i was a big music fan, so i asked him to try and find this LP. he came back with this LP, so i actually do own it.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-q29Y-ch29zQ/VTp3ObNujFI/AAAAAAAAAY4/Pd3rDCYw22g/w600-h598-no/Wake%2BUp%21.jpg

5. Wake Up!
Released: Oct 9, 1995
243 Points, 8 Votes

now into the Top 5 and didn't think this would be the album that would place the lowest. i loved it when i listened again for this poll.

very, very surprised that this is not higher

That might be because it's not a 'real' album. I like lots of the tracks on it, but I know them from EPs I bought in 91, so I voted for the EPs in that poll. I don't own Learning To Walk so it would have felt weird to vote for it.

have never warmed up to that album, to me the Boos start at the Kaleidoscope EP

I can see why that might be because the production is so lo-fi compared to what came after. For me, Ichabod was the first thing I heard* and owned by them so I liked it for what it was. But if your starting point came later on and you worked back to it I can see why it wouldn't sound that great.

*possibly not 100% technically true - the way I remember it, I heard 'Kaleidoscope' on the John Peel Festive Fifty around Xmas 1990 and on the strength of that went and 'Ichabod & I' a few days later, but I suspect the version I heard on the radio was the single version of Kaleidoscope.

good point about Learning To Walk. i voted for it and two of the singles in the other poll.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-AnW4qL3cB1Q/VTp7rSQBw5I/AAAAAAAAAZk/cZcHJreMP-I/s600-no/C%27Mon%2BKids.jpg

4. C’mon Kids
Released: Jan 15, 2001
258 Points, 8 Votes, 1 Number One

Released: Jan 15, 2001

Eh?

damn, should have caught that.

Released: Aug 14, 1996

getting the info off of Amazon and that was a re-released versions date.

A lot of people don't consider <b>Learning To Walk</b> as a proper album, so they may not have even included it on their list? I did include it, and I think it's a better album than Everything's Alright Forever. But while I really like a lot of the shoegazey stuff from the first three albums, it's their later albums (Giant Steps and everything after that) that I fell in love with...

Even Martin Carr himself claims to dislike Ichabod & I, but I think that there are some pretty fun songs on it. It was still the last one on my list though, and I would only recommend it for fans, but the album definitely has its moments. It's just the bad production that "ruins" it in my opinion. I'm not that surprised to see Wake Up! at #5 to be honest - I've seen a lot of people call Everything's Alright Forever their favourite Boos album so I had a feeling that it will be near the top, and even in my opinion Wake Up! is the weakest of their latter albums (but still awesome!)

I was hoping that at least C'mon Kids would finish above EAF, but oh well... Now, I'll be gutted if Kingsize is the next one!

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-BkcQ4emn4Uc/VTqANiaZXLI/AAAAAAAAAaU/joK7nAIxULM/s600-no/Kingsize.jpg

3. Kingsize
Released: Jan 19, 1999
263 Points, 8 Votes, 2 Number Ones

my number one!

NOOOOOOOOOO!!!

it makes sense to me and actually surprised that it was ahead of C'mon Kids and Wake Up!. all the points are really close though.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-rDfRYQsHVo8/VTqFS2t647I/AAAAAAAAAbI/ieVJxD0ACoQ/w600-h583-no/Everything%27s%2BAlright%2BForever.jpg

2. Everything’s Alright Forever
Released: Aug 11, 1992
281 Points, 9 Votes

and to the surprise to no one.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Hk4gDJOoR9g/VTqGwdVo--I/AAAAAAAAAb0/dT2V1yMIz3k/s500-no/Giant%2BSteps.jpg

1. Giant Steps
Released: Aug 31, 1993
338 Points, 9 Votes, 5 Number ones

i think ILM did a great job on the album side of things. not how i would order it but the order is probably spot on.

Results so far:

Cover Songs:

8 Ballots received
6 Different Songs

Tomorrow (2 Votes)
There She Goes (2 Votes)

Boo! Faith
Alone Again Or
The Queen Is Dead
One Of Us Must Know (Sooner Or Later)

Singles/EP's:

7 Ballots received
15 Different Singles/EP's

Ranking, Single/EP, Points, Votes, Number Ones (if any):

1. Lazarus 160 - 5 - 1
2. Adrenalin EP 144 - 5
3. From the Bench At Belvidere 142 - 4 - 1
4. Boo! Forever 135 - 5
5. Wish I Was Skinny 132 - 4 - 1
6. Boo Up! EP 109 - 3 - 1
7. Ride The Tiger 94 - 3
8. Wake Up Boo! 93 - 3 - 1
9. I Hang Suspended 91 - 3 - 1
10. Kingsize 70 - 2 - 1
11. Every Heaven EP 69 - 2
12. Barney (...and Me) 66 - 2
13. What’s In the Box (See Whatcha Got) 59 - 2
14. Kaleidoscope EP 58 - 2
15. Find The Answer Within 56 - 2

Albums:

9 Ballots received
10 Different Albums

Ranking, Album, Points, Votes, Number Ones (if any):

1. Giant Steps 338 Points, 9 Votes, 5 Number ones
2. Everything’s Alright Forever 281 Points, 9 Votes
3. Kingsize 263 Points, 8 Votes, 2 Number Ones
4. C’mon Kids 258 Points, 8 Votes, 1 Number One
5. Wake Up! 243 Points, 8 Votes
6. Ichabod and I 134 Points, 5 Votes
7. Learning To Walk 128 Points, 4 Votes, 1 Number One
8. Eggman - First Fruits 82 Points, 3 Votes

9. Brave Captain Advertisements For Myself 28 Points, 1 Vote
10. Martin Carr - The Breaks 24 Points, 1 Vote

now the real part of the poll starts.

going to do a Top 40.

i did run out of time so the artwork is just going to be from where the song comes from.

Tracks:
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Mt3RuVU_kpA/VTqJxNEYHMI/AAAAAAAAAcg/drXW_d3AvxQ/w1024-h768-no/boo_wallpaper_05.jpg

we start with the only tie in the roll out part of tracks poll.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-13vN7GP1i8w/VTqVUVWuZ2I/AAAAAAAAAfE/VJkG0GZtTls/s400-no/C%27Mon%2BKids%2Bm.jpg

41 (Tie). One Last Hurrah
From: C’mon Kids
Released: Aug 14, 1996
138 Points, 5 Votes

It would have been madness if anything other than Giant Steps had won the albums poll.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-i-TpN4rEddE/VTqTQxSqELI/AAAAAAAAAdY/O4FQ_qNX2PE/w400-h398-no/Wake%2BUp%21%2Bm.jpg

41. (Tie). Joel
From: Wake Up!
Released: Oct 9, 1995
138 Points, 4 Votes

i thought Joel was a shoe in but it barely made it. was on my ballot.

can anyone start a Spotify of this?

These album release dates still look wrong to me - or maybe they were released later in the USA? I'm convinced I was listening to EAF in the summer term of my first year at university, which would make it June 92 at the latest. And I was sure some friends got me Kingsize as a Christmas present in 1998. Or am I just going mad?

i'm not sure, i usually use Wikipedia for that kind of stuff but they don't have it either. i did use the dates from Amazon UK but they could be wrong as well. Amazon list stuff two or three times sometimes, so i could have clicked the wrong one.

Wikipedia claims Aug 92, but that *is* wrong. Discogs says March 92: http://www.discogs.com/Boo-Radleys-Everythings-Alright-Forever/release/380812. This makes sense to me because I know I saw Boo Radleys and Pale Saints on a double-header tour in April 92 when they had both got new albums out ('In Ribbons' for Pale Saints).

and i also see that you are right about Kingsize that was released October 9, 1998 according to Wikipedia.

It would have been madness if anything other than Giant Steps had won the albums poll.

The bigger surprise for me is that no one voted Everything's Alright Forever as their number one. I assume that it must have been #2 for a lot of GS people. Someone will have to explain the magic of EAF to me some time, because to me it's their least unique album (apart from a few great songs). The cover art is fantastic though! (Probably my favourite piece of album art by any artist ever, in fact.)

Discogs is gonna be better. Wiki is probably best.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-L0q-Ee7v9C0/VTqXqP6uHfI/AAAAAAAAAf0/n3tOXIODzJs/s400-no/Kingsize%2Bm.jpg

39. Comb Your Hair
From: Kingsize
Released: Oct 9, 1998
145 Points, 5 Votes

this one is a surprise, of all songs on Kingsize i would not think that this is one of them that would break into the Top 40.

I've always liked Comb Your Hair. A very cool pop tune that would not have been a bad choice for a single even.

Now that I think about it, it's strange that I only had four songs from Kingsize in my top 25, and it's still my favourite album. And yet, I feel that just about every track on the album could have made it on the list... It was so damn hard to decide which ones to leave out.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-0zWbfrQF9b4/VTqdMuyIfbI/AAAAAAAAAgw/4PMNW5c3rG4/s400-no/Giant%2BSteps%2Bm.jpg

38. Take The Time Around
From: Giant Steps
Released: Aug 31, 1993
150 Points, 5 Votes

Now THAT is a surprise... my favourite track from Giant Steps!

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-gh6qSrA_FUo/VTqjgxtZiuI/AAAAAAAAAhg/DPAQ7WvCKw4/w400-h378-no/Boo%21%2BForever%2Btwo%2Bm.jpg

37. Boo! Forever
From: Boo! Forever
Released: June 8, 1992
151 Points, 4 Votes, 1 Number One

yeah for the B-side making the poll.