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

Just catching up.

Happy that Comb Your Hair made the list. It's always been one of my favourites on Kingsize. Feel like it would have made a much better first single than Free Huey. One of my favourite Boo choruses.

Boo! Forever was my number three. Such a sad sounding song.

I still have a soft spot for Wake Up Boo. It was the reason my friends wouldn't take me seriously when I said they were one of my favourite bands at school but it's just a great song.

I don't think C'mon Kids is the best song on that album but I still like it. Their second biggest hit in the UK but I think that was probably down to it being sold for 99p when it came out instead of it being that popular. Always thought What's In The Box was a much better single.

Very surprised that Heaven's at the Bottom of This Glass placed. It doesn't really stand out on Kingsize at all.

i voted for both of those.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-SOeJBOsthaQ/VTqod_sR-xI/AAAAAAAAAik/zt5npV2xj-w/s400-no/Boo%2BUp%21%2BEP%2Bm.jpg

28. Foster's Van
From: Boo Up! EP (B-side)
Released: Sept 91
194 Points, 6 Votes

and there it is, all songs from Boo Up! made it.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-R5eeiB0qqwQ/VTvMFxrREqI/AAAAAAAAAmw/lafJxTfYJo0/w400-h419-no/Every%2BHeaven%2BE.P.%2Btwo%2Bm.jpg

28. Naomi
From: Every Heaven EP (B-side)
Released: 1991 (Rough Trade)
199 Points, 7 Votes

you guys sure know how to pick them, all these B-sides making it sure does make me proud.

I still have a soft spot for Wake Up Boo.

C'mon Kids is a good song too, but there are indeed better tracks on that album.

I like Heaven's at the Bottom of This Glass a lot as well (it's just a simple song but god I love it - pardon the pun!!), although it only finished last in my top 25. But there was a lot of competition for that last spot... There were so many great tracks from Kingsize that I had to leave out. Comb Your Hair would have been a good choice for a single indeed, but I still think that Kingsize should have been the first single. But I remember hearing a story about the making of the album a long time ago: the band had pretty much finished making the album, but Creation Records wanted to release a catchy uptempo song as the first single and there weren't any on the album, so Carr had to write Free Huey. Don't know how much of that is true, and what the source of the story was. Mr Carr himself still believes that it's a great song, and while I don't really disagree (it is a good song), the biggest problem with it is that it doesn't really fit on Kingsize in my opinion.

Best Lose The Fear was my #11. A pretty cool track, one of the better songs on Giant Steps. It's my friend's favourite Boos track (he forgot to vote - tsk tsk!).

I'm surprised that there have already been so many old tracks (pre-GS era) in top 40. I guess that there are quite a few boogaze fans in here. Firesky and Let Me Be Your Faith were the only "oldies" that made it to my top 25, which actually does surprise me a little. Foster's Van and a few others for example were hanging around the #25 spot when I was sorting the list, but fell on the "wrong" side of the line in the end.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-UjneqnYieyo/VTvR861svxI/AAAAAAAAAoM/r0ONrBzzx1U/w400-h388-no/Everything%27s%2BAlright%2BForever%2Bm2.jpg

27. Memory Babe
From: Everything’s Alright Forever
Released: March 1992
205 Points, 7 Votes

and there it is, all songs from Boo Up! made it.

Speaking of B-sides, I absolutely love them and think that The Boos are pretty much the greatest B-side band (and A-side band...) of all time, but I'm looking at my list now and just realised that I only have 3 B-sides in my top 25. That's yet another shocker for me. But then again, I didn't award any bonus/penalty points for any tracks and tried to remain as "unbiased" as possible - while compiling my list I was thinking what songs I actually listen to the most. And I often tend to neglect the early EPs and albums a bit... But seeing how all these songs are featuring in this poll now, I guess that must change now.

Yeah I'm surprised to see all the Boo Up! songs make it. I haven't listened to it in a long time. Didn't even consider voting for anything from it.

Every time I see your name (Kitchen Person) here, I think that you're Steve Kitchen who played trumpet on Wake Up Boo.

― Tomiboo, Saturday, April 25, 2015

Should point out that I'm not him, just a really big Associates fan.

oh shit, just realized that i messed up the numbering:

28. Foster's Van
27. Naomi
26. Memory Babe

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-UjneqnYieyo/VTvR861svxI/AAAAAAAAAoM/r0ONrBzzx1U/w400-h388-no/Everything%27s%2BAlright%2BForever%2Bm2.jpg

25. Smile Fades Fast
From: Everything’s Alright Forever
Released: March 1992
210 Points, 7 Votes, 1 Number One

I like Heaven's at the Bottom of This Glass a lot as well (it's just a simple song but god I love it - pardon the pun!!), although it only finished last in my top 25. But there was a lot of competition for that last spot... There were so many great tracks from Kingsize that I had to leave out. Comb Your Hair would have been a good choice for a single indeed, but I still think that Kingsize should have been the first single. But I remember hearing a story about the making of the album a long time ago: the band had pretty much finished making the album, but Creation Records wanted to release a catchy uptempo song as the first single and there weren't any on the album, so Carr had to write Free Huey. Don't know how much of that is true, and what the source of the story was. Mr Carr himself still believes that it's a great song, and while I don't really disagree (it is a good song), the biggest problem with it is that it doesn't really fit on Kingsize in my opinion.

― Tomiboo, Saturday, April 25, 2015

I read that about Free Huey somewhere too. I'm sure Martin wanted The Future Is Now to be the lead single but Creation hated it. Personally I think it should have gone.

Comb Your Hair
Kingsize
The Old Newsstand At Hamilton Square
Eurostar

That would have been a great run of singles.

i like your thinking, those would have been good singles.

going to go ahead and reveal this now, "Free Huey" received zero votes.

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

24. Four Saints
From: C’mon Kids
Released: Aug 14, 1996
215 Points, 7 Votes

very happy about this, my number two.

I don't think C'mon Kids is the best song on that album but I still like it.....always thought What's In The Box was a much better single.

They're similar in that they both have that noise-guitar thing going on to deliberately shake off some of the newly accrued fans, but I much prefer C'Mon Kids.

and there it is, all songs from Boo Up! made it

I'm delighted by this. Foster's Van is brilliant, but I never seemed to be able to convince anyone of this, so (more than two decades later) I'm relieved to see I'm not alone on this one. I even met Martin Carr once in a pub in Camden and told him it was my favourite Boos song. He didn't even say that he liked it, just something like "ooo...that's an old one" (this was around 1996).

And even more surprised / delighted / relieved to see Naomi make it. Again, this is a track I always rated but seemed to be the only one. By the way, when you say From: Every Heaven EP (B-side), I know what you mean, but I wouldn't really call any of the tracks A-sides or B-sides from those early EPs. It's not like later on, when, say, 'Wish I Was Skinny' was clearly the A-side single and the other tracks were the B-sides. It was quite normal in 1990/1991 for indie groups to release EPs where all four tracks had equal billing and the name of the EP wasn't the name of any of the tracks and none of those tracks would be released on any subsequent album. The EPs were more like mini-albums in their own right, rather than a single with some filler.

very happy about this, my number two.

Yeah, I had to tinker with my list to make sure it got in. It didn't make my original cut, but I knew that was just *wrong*.

And even more surprised / delighted / relieved to see Naomi make it. Again, this is a track I always rated but seemed to be the only one. By the way, when you say From: Every Heaven EP (B-side), I know what you mean, but I wouldn't really call any of the tracks A-sides or B-sides from those early EPs. It's not like later on, when, say, 'Wish I Was Skinny' was clearly the A-side single and the other tracks were the B-sides. It was quite normal in 1990/1991 for indie groups to release EPs where all four tracks had equal billing and the name of the EP wasn't the name of any of the tracks and none of those tracks would be released on any subsequent album. The EPs were more like mini-albums in their own right, rather than a single with some filler.

good point, at first i didn't say B-side but then there were a few in a row and wanted to point out that they weren't the first song on the EP.

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

23. Upon 9th and Fairchild
From: Giant Steps
Released: Aug 31, 1993
221 Points, 8 Votes, 1 Number One

going to go ahead and reveal this now, "Free Huey" received zero votes.

Smile Fades Fast was someone's #1? Wow, that's surprising! Not that there's anything wrong with it, but the track that comes right after it on EAF is much better. That's Firesky of course, my favourite song from the boogaze era.

I'm also glad to see Four Saints here - it's amazing (my #14), and the weird little solo from 2:30 onwards is one of my favourite Boos moments (pretty sure that I already mentioned this before in the other thread though).

They're similar in that they both have that noise-guitar thing going on to deliberately shake off some of the newly accrued fans, but I much prefer C'Mon Kids.

"We didn't want to scare away the hit-kids, we wanted to take them with us to somewhere that we'd not been before. All we wanted to do was make a different type of album than Wake Up... All we wanted to do was try something new - to keep ourselves fresh and interested. We were very surprised to find that it was seen as a deliberate attempt to scare away newly created fans. That would have been an extremely foolish thing to do."

interesting, i know i liked the new direction and didn't really know why they didn't keep on the Beatles path.

or to me Wake Up! seems to be very Beatlesish.

Apparently people at Creation genuinely thought What's In The Box was going to be a massive hit. It really should have been. It's the song that made me fall in love with them.

Interesting (xps)

I don't know why they thought it would be a massive hit.

Just listening to Four Saints. Really should have voted for it. I love all the different directions that song goes in.

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

22. Put Your Arms Around Me and Tell Me Everything's Going to Be OK
From: Kingsize (American Release Bonus Track)
Released: Oct 9, 1998
223 Points, 7 Votes

yes my user name is because of this song, i have used it on a few music boards. i originally thought that this will be the very last new Boo Radleys song i will ever hear. turns out it wasn't as there were songs from the Kingsize single that i heard afterwards. so my name was going to just be "Be Okay" but the song was OK so that had to stay, then i thought by adding a extra "e" would make for a bit of a better user name. so here today i still use Bee OK.

The Boos should have been massive, yeah. But in music industry things sometimes just don't work out. In my opinion What's In The Box? has got all the ingredients of a hit, but I don't know, I guess it wasn't just fashionable or something at the time.

interesting, i know i liked the new direction and didn't really know why they didn't keep on the Beatles path.

The link in my previous post doesn't seem to be working, but it's pointing to this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxCQPk3YqMo

very, very happy it placed. as i thought it was one of those songs that a lot of people probably didn't hear as it was not on the original release of Kingsize.

i remember being at Amoeba Records and seeing the American release. i saw that it had this extra song on it and debated with myself if it was worth re-buying for just one song. well i bought it and even though it was super expensive for just one song, still happy about it. would not have this user name if i didn't.

Bee OK, I remember your story from a certain other music forum, but that's a cool story. It's a great username. :D

I love Put Your Arms Around Me... (it was my #6) and for many many years it was the only Boos track that I didn't "officially" own in any format. I was so sad when they screwed up the release of the Kingsize deluxe edition a few years ago and left out many tracks, but I finally got the song earlier this year when I got the vinyl version of the album!

Just catching up with the countdown, I was the #1 voter for 'Boo! Forever', such a gorgeous song. Pleasantly surprised to see EAF get second place in the albums poll too (though of course Giant Steps deserves its #1 spot as well).

oh it is on the vinyl version? nice.

xpost

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-qLl8rCmVkvA/VTvskFM3nWI/AAAAAAAAAo8/QN4BepijZAY/w400-h398-no/Ride%2BThe%2BTiger%2Bpart%2B1%2Bm.jpg

21. Ride the Tiger
From: C’mon Kids and Single
Single Release Date: Dec 30, 1996
228 Points, 8 Votes

yes, the only song of the three singles from C'mon Kide that made my list. love how the songs sort of ends but doesn't.

so onto the Top 20.

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

20. Twinside
From: Wake Up!
Released: Oct 9, 1995
234 Points, 8 Votes

a song i didn't know i was going to vote for until i re-listened to Wake Up!. then it was like, i remember how much i love this song.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-ygvObeqSGE0/VTvziIoEZaI/AAAAAAAAApk/qEHzs0Hpmgs/w400-h399-no/Everything%2BIs%2BSorrow%2Bm.jpg

19. Everything Is Sorrow
From: C’mon Kids
Released: Aug 14, 1996
241 Points, 9 Votes

"Everything Is Sorrow" was not released as a single but i still found artwork for it. does anyone know the story behind that? also that picture looks like what might have been the C'mon Kids prop?

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

18. Fairfax Scene
From: Wake Up!
Released: Oct 9, 1995
243 Points, 8 Votes

"Even though I'm keeping busy
there's something more that still escapes me
I had it then, but now it's gone away"

Love Ride The Tiger. Very happy to see it place. Always thought it wasn't an obvious single choice but I guess there weren't many obvious ones on that album.

Twinside has always been one of my favourite Boo songs. I wish they'd put it out as a single. This poll is making me realise I don't think they did the best job choosing singles.

Everything Is Sorrow is such a brilliant song. I'd forgotten how great that whole album is.

Bee, I had no idea that was where your name came from. That's so cool. I didn't know that song until you mentioned it on another Boo thread a few years ago. It's a lovely song.

I love Put Your Arms Around Me... (it was my #6) and for many many years it was the only Boos track that I didn't "officially" own in any format. I was so sad when they screwed up the release of the Kingsize deluxe edition a few years ago and left out many tracks, but I finally got the song earlier this year when I got the vinyl version of the album!

― Tomiboo, Saturday, April 25, 2015

Was it easy to get a vinyl copy? It's the only one I don't have on vinyl and wouldn't mind getting a copy.