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

great list Tomiboo and a lot like mine. love that you voted for "Superintendent" as that is another excellent b-side that they had.

glad you came along for the ride and great hooking up again after all these years.

i know Tomiboo from the old bravecaptain board.

It played out pretty much like I thought.

Not surprised about no votes for "Free Huey" and "Its Lulu"

Just need to know where "Nothing to do but scare myself" placed.

p.s. The deluxe editions of the albums are all still quite pricey, except for "C'mon Kids" which can be had for a fiver. My least favourite album, but has lots of great b-sides on disc 2 and ok I will give the main album a second chance, all these years later.

xpost ah the old bravecaptain board, I was there too. Do you remember that guy who wanted to sue Martin because he reckoned "There she goes" was nicked off him? Even M told him he never claimed to have written it, but the guy would not be told. (and no, it wasn't Lee Marcus)

Damn touchpad spelling corrector! Lee Mavers!

Really didn't anticipate "Firesky" being so high! (Or "Lazy Day" being so, well not exactly low, but a few rungs lower that I might have guessed.)

I like the way it's possible to have widely divergent views on this band. Not sure my ballot overlapped with those pasted by more than 4-5 tracks, from memory. :)

Thanks for crunching the numbers, etc, Bee OK!

Can't sleep so have snuck down to see the winner (well, to see the number two really).

Here's my ballot:
1 Kaleidoscope
2 I've Lost The Reason
3 If You Want, Take It
4 Leaves And Sand
5 Foster's Van
6 C'Mon Kids
7 Naomi
8 Barney (…and me)
9 Butterfly McQueen
10 Furthur
11 Firesky
12 Sometime Soon She Said
13 Spaniard
14 Room At The Top
15 New Brighton Promenade
16 I Hang Suspended
17 Everybird
18 Wish I Was Skinny
19 Take The Time Around
20 Lazarus
21 Rodney King
22 Upon 9th and Fairchild
23 Song For Up!
24 Four Saints
25 Does This Hurt?

That's the Ichabod version of Kaleidoscope, fwiw.

Can't sleep so have snuck down to see the winner (well, to see the number two really).

so were you surprised?

really thought "Kaleidoscope" would make it, it just happened to be one of the songs outside the Top 40. or number 45 with one number 1.

i voted for it but at number 22.

heres my ballot. absolutely astounded and gutted my #1 didn't place. okay its a side thought it was pretty much canon amongst fans

Blues for George Michael
Butterfly McQueen
Lazarus
Friendship Song
Joel
Four Saints
Spaniard
Fosters Van
Upon 9th & Fairchild
Almost Nearly There
I've Lost The Reason
Fairfax Scene
Rodney King (Song For Lenny Bruce
Put Your Arms Around Me and Tell Me Everything's Going to Be OK
From the Bench at Belvedere
Charles Bukowski Is Dead
Naomi
The Old Newsstand at Hamilton Square
Ride the Tiger
Annie & Marnie
Song For The Morning To Sing
Find the Answer Within
Leaves & Sand
I Hang Suspended
Bullfrog Green

*It's a b side though

"Blues for George Michael" did get two votes for 79 points.

a song i did not re-listen to for this poll, so i have no idea if it was robbed or not.

Top 40

1. Lazarus 641 Points, 19 Votes, 6 Number Ones
2. I Hang Suspended 455 Points, 15 Votes
3. Butterfly McQueen 398 Points, 13 Votes
4. Wish I Was Skinny 387 Points, 13 Votes
5. From The Bench At Belvedere 374 Points, 11 Votes, 1 Number One
6. New Brighton Promenade 362 Points, 12 Votes
7. Lazy Day 348 Points, 11 Votes
8. Kingsize 343 Points, 11 Votes, 1 Number One
9. Reaching Out From Here 324 Points, 10 Votes
10. Firesky 308 Points, 10 Votes
11. I've Lost The Reason 306 Points, 10 Votes
12. Stuck On Amber 294 Points, 9 Votes, 1 Number One
13. Spaniard 272 Points, 9 Votes
14. The Old Newsstand at Hamilton Square 261 Points, 10 Votes
15. Does This Hurt? 260 Points, 10 Votes
16. Rodney King (Song for Lenny Bruce) One Vote For: Rodney King (St. Etienne Remix) 259 Points, 10 Votes
17. Bullfrog Green 246 Points, 9 Votes
18. Fairfax Scene 243 Points, 8 Votes
19. Everything Is Sorrow 241 Points, 9 Votes
20. Twinside 234 Points, 8 Votes
21. Ride the Tiger 228 Points, 8 Votes
22. Put Your Arms Around Me and Tell Me Everything's Going to Be OK 223 Points, 7 Votes
23. Upon 9th and Fairchild 221 Points, 8 Votes, 1 Number One
24. Four Saints 215 Points, 7 Votes
25. Smile Fades Fast 210 Points, 7 Votes, 1 Number One
26. Memory Babe 205 Points, 7 Votes
27. Naomi 199 Points, 7 Votes
28. Foster's Van 194 Points, 6 Votes
29. Best Lose the Fear 189 Points, 7 Votes
30. Heaven's at the Bottom of This Glass 187 Points, 7 Votes
31. C’mon Kids 183 Points, 6 Votes
32. Sometime Soon She Said 176 Points, 6 Votes
33. Everybird 170 Points, 6 Votes
34. Let Me Be Your Faith 161 Points, 6 Votes
35. Wake Up Boo! 160 Points, 5 Votes
36. Song For Up! 152, 5 Votes, 1 Number One
37. Boo! Forever 151 Points, 4 Votes, 1 Number One
38. Take The Time Around 150 Points, 5 Votes
39. Comb Your Hair 145 Points, 5 Votes
41. (Tie). Joel 138 Points, 4 Votes
41 (Tie). One Last Hurrah 138 Points, 5 Votes

before I forget - thanks so much for doing the poll Bee OK. so good to go back and listen to a lot of these songs

only one other Blues For George Michael voter? as I say, astounded and gutted. I honestly thought it was seen as some sort of classic. it's on the Find The Way Out comp

Do we get the full list later, BeeOk?

so were you surprised?

Not surprised that those two were in it ('Lazarus' was obviously the great-unmentionable throughout the countdown) as I always assumed 'I Hang Suspended' would feature in the top 40, but I also assumed that 'Barney (...and me)' would too and I had no idea which of the two was going to completely miss out. Kind of relieved 'White Noise Revisited' isn't there as that's about the only song on Giant Steps that I don't like.

To be honest, even though my number 1, 3 and 4 didn't make it, for the most part I've been pleasantly surprised at how many of my choices *did* make it.

I placed "Barney and me" way too low on my own ballot. Should have checked, really. It's more a shoe-in for my favourite ever, (I gave it to L, obv), but it ended up at 21 instead. Oh boo.

It's a perfect album closer, so it makes total sense for it to close LP1 of the double album.

Possibly their best single a-side. Although the 7" has a fade out which is just wrong.

Barney And Me just isn't my thing. Think I mentioned upthread that despite the flourishes of psychedelic flute and the ending (this is the one with the marching robot coda, right?), it's played just a bit too staid, and more than many of their other songs it sounds like a straight-up acoustic ditty that's been 'weirded up'.

Here is the rest of my ballot if anyone's interested:

Singles:
Wake Up Boo!
From The Bench at Belvedere
What's in the Box?
Adrenaline EP
Wish I Was Skinny
Find The Answer Within
Boo Forever

Albums:
Giant Steps
Wake Up!
Everything's Alright Forever
Learning To Walk
C'Mon Kids
First Fruits
Kingsize
The Breaks
Ichabod & I

In retrospect I may have swapped round LTW with EAF. Unlike others ITT, LTW is an album to me, because this is how I discovered those songs. It works really well as a full album, but yeah the Boo Up! stuff is the highlight. I listened to First Fruits the other day and was surprised how much I liked it. Some really excellent songs in there.

I listened to 'What's In The Box' last night and there's something fundamentally flawed about it. Like it's got a great verse and really rocks and you can see why it could have been a hit but it's all let down by the 'What's In The Box? What's in the Booox?' refrain, which is a really clunky anticlimax, sung so badly like the choir in Paul McCartney's 'Wonderful Christmastime', you can see why it wasn't a big smash.

Funny, I listened to "C'Mon Kids" the album, for possibly only the second time since getting a full promo from MVE back before it got released proper.

As I said upthread, I was massively disappointed at the time, but..

IT'S GREAT!

WITB actually fits much better in the album rather than a stand-ahead single, as does the title track. "Ride The Tiger" would be the exception, but oh that clunker of a line "I don't need to be the way I are" urg.

yeah that's my favourite single on the album. it's aged quite badly (little bit of oasis hangover going on) but i like the album version for the samples 'after you, gideon', 'and now a lion' etc...

The lyrics are frankly awful - 'to be the way I are', 'a fuel infected car' etc... 'I wanna stand next to the fire' echoes 'Don't Look Back In Anger's 'Stand up beside the fireplace/Take that look from off your face'. Never understood why Carr had so much respect for Oasis really.

Just realised 'French Canadian Bean Soup' (b-side of a free single that came with C'mon Kids vinyl) is just Martin Carr reading a passage from the Illuminatus! trilogy over the chorus (again, the chords are ripped directly from the 'Wonderwall/Whatever' school of riffs) of Ride the Tiger.

wow okay so now in my head 'ride the tiger' and 'whatever' are playing over each other as pretty much the same song. almost certain you could sing one over the other with little difficulty.

tbqhaf, those lyrics are much worse than even Noel ever managled..

(those specific lyrics, the rest of the song is fine)

thing is, i get (and like) the sentiment of the song a lot more than the vague kitchen-sink psychedelia of Oasis; it just heralded in a time when I started feeling Carr was getting a bit lazy with his lyrics. Always rated his lyrics - especially on the Wake Up! album, which (It's Lulu aside) has some fantastic lines. But too many songs from the C'mon Kids era onwards felt like they needed fine-tuning in that respect.

Yeah, I'd go along with that.

anyway, as an ILM long-running resident Boos superfan, I feel I'm being quite negative in this thread. I guess that's because I've been a fan for so long that on the occasions when I revisit these records, they often sound different to how I remember: different sounds, lyrics and qualities stand out. Songs I once loved recede into the background while others stand out. Listening back to Wake Up!, now it's Stuck on Amber and Fairfax Scene which are the highlights for me whereas before it would have been something else. That album, especially has the most chameleonic qualities and I'm always amazed at how certain lines can feel so pertinent to my life at that particular moment.

For those who are interested and didn't read it the first time round, here's an interview I did with Martin in a Skype convo a year or two ago about Giant Steps:

http://thequietus.com/articles/13477-boo-radleys-giant-steps-review

Ah, I'm on that 'dedicated website' along with our Nick..

yeah i saw that. read it from beginning to end before writing the article.

Of course, never doubted that.

nice article, dog

My ballot (unranked):

Comb Your Hair
Eurostar
Everything Is Sorrow
From the Beach At Belvidere
Get on the Bus
High As Monkeys
Lazarus
Losing It (Song for Abigail)
Memory Babe
One Last Hurrah
Petroleum
Put Your Arms Around Me and Tell Me Everything's Going to Be OK
Skyscraper
Song for the Morning to Sing
Song from the Blueroom
Spaniard
Stuck on Amber
Swansong
Take the Time Around
The Finest Kiss
The Future Is Now
The White Noise Revisited
What's in the Box? (See Whatcha Got)
Wilder
Wish I Was Skinny

The Rest:

If You Want It, Take It 134 - 4
Thinking of Ways 132 - 4
Friendship Song 126 - 4
Almost Nearly There 123 - 4
Kaleidoscope (One Vote for Ichabod & I version #1) 120 - 4 - 1
Furthur 115 - 4
Song for the Morning to Sing 115 - 4
Petroleum 108 - 4
Barney (…and me) 102 - 4
Eurostar 98 - 3
Wilder 93 - 3
Leaves And Sand 88 - 3
What's in the Box? (See Whatcha Got) 88 - 3
Get on the Bus 86 - 3
Skyscraper 86 - 3
Swansong 85 - 3
Find the Answer Within 83 - 3
The White Noise Revisited 83 - 3
Peachy Keen 82 - 3
Blues for George Michael 79 - 2 - 1 Number One
Jimmy Webb Is God 79 - 3
Room At The Top 77 3
Vegas 75 - 2
Blue Room In Archway 69 - 3
Annie and Marnie 68 - 3
Sparrow 67 - 2
Tortoiseshell 68 - 2
Vote You 65 - 2
As Bound as Tomorrow 63 - 2
Roadie 62 - 2
Safe at Home 61 - 3
Oh Brother 59 - 2
Paradise 59 - 2
Hi Falutin 58 - 2
4AM Conversation 56 - 2
Catweazle 56 - 2
Nothing To Do But Scare Myself 56 - 2
Charles Bukowski Is Dead 55 - 2
Towards the Light 55 - 2
Bodenheim Jr 54 - 2
Aldous 51 - 2
Melodies For The Deaf (Colours For The Blind) 39 - 2
The Future Is Now 29 - 1
High As Monkeys 29 - 1
Losing It (Song for Abigail) 29 - 1
Song from the Blueroom 29 - 1
The Finest Kiss 29 - 1
Spanish Lizards 22 - 1
Eleanor Everything 20 - 1
In a Galaxy Far, Far Away 19 - 1
Meltin's Worm 19 - 1
Superintendent 19 - 1
Crushed 18 - 1
I Feel Nothing 18 - 1
(I Wanna Be) Touchdown Jesus 17 - 1
I Will Always Ask You Where You've Been Even Though I Know The Answer 17 - 1
There She Goes 17 - 1

Full Results:

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

Songs

21 Ballots received
98 Different Songs:

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

1. Lazarus 641 Points, 19 Votes, 6 Number Ones
2. I Hang Suspended 455 Points, 15 Votes
3. Butterfly McQueen 398 Points, 13 Votes
4. Wish I Was Skinny 387 Points, 13 Votes
5. From The Bench At Belvedere 374 Points, 11 Votes, 1 Number One
6. New Brighton Promenade 362 Points, 12 Votes
7. Lazy Day 348 Points, 11 Votes
8. Kingsize 343 Points, 11 Votes, 1 Number One
9. Reaching Out From Here 324 Points, 10 Votes
10. Firesky 308 Points, 10 Votes
11. I've Lost The Reason 306 Points, 10 Votes
12. Stuck On Amber 294 Points, 9 Votes, 1 Number One
13. Spaniard 272 Points, 9 Votes
14. The Old Newsstand at Hamilton Square 261 Points, 10 Votes
15. Does This Hurt? 260 Points, 10 Votes
16. Rodney King (Song for Lenny Bruce) One Vote For: Rodney King (St. Etienne Remix) 259 Points, 10 Votes
17. Bullfrog Green 246 Points, 9 Votes
18. Fairfax Scene 243 Points, 8 Votes
19. Everything Is Sorrow 241 Points, 9 Votes
20. Twinside 234 Points, 8 Votes
21. Ride the Tiger 228 Points, 8 Votes
22. Put Your Arms Around Me and Tell Me Everything's Going to Be OK 223 Points, 7 Votes
23. Upon 9th and Fairchild 221 Points, 8 Votes, 1 Number One
24. Four Saints 215 Points, 7 Votes
25. Smile Fades Fast 210 Points, 7 Votes, 1 Number One
26. Memory Babe 205 Points, 7 Votes
27. Naomi 199 Points, 7 Votes
28. Foster's Van 194 Points, 6 Votes
29. Best Lose the Fear 189 Points, 7 Votes
30. Heaven's at the Bottom of This Glass 187 Points, 7 Votes
31. C’mon Kids 183 Points, 6 Votes
32. Sometime Soon She Said 176 Points, 6 Votes
33. Everybird 170 Points, 6 Votes
34. Let Me Be Your Faith 161 Points, 6 Votes
35. Wake Up Boo! 160 Points, 5 Votes
36. Song For Up! 152, 5 Votes, 1 Number One
37. Boo! Forever 151 Points, 4 Votes, 1 Number One
38. Take The Time Around 150 Points, 5 Votes
39. Comb Your Hair 145 Points, 5 Votes
40. (Tie). Joel 138 Points, 4 Votes
40. (Tie). One Last Hurrah 138 Points, 5 Votes
If You Want It, Take It 134 - 4
Thinking of Ways 132 - 4
Friendship Song 126 - 4
Almost Nearly There 123 - 4
Kaleidoscope (One Vote for Ichabod & I version #1) 120 - 4 - 1
Furthur 115 - 4
Song for the Morning to Sing 115 - 4
Petroleum 108 - 4
Barney (…and me) 102 - 4
Eurostar 98 - 3
Wilder 93 - 3
Leaves And Sand 88 - 3
What's in the Box? (See Whatcha Got) 88 - 3
Get on the Bus 86 - 3
Skyscraper 86 - 3
Swansong 85 - 3
Find the Answer Within 83 - 3
The White Noise Revisited 83 - 3
Peachy Keen 82 - 3
Blues for George Michael 79 - 2 - 1 Number One
Jimmy Webb Is God 79 - 3
Room At The Top 77 3
Vegas 75 - 2
Blue Room In Archway 69 - 3
Annie and Marnie 68 - 3
Sparrow 67 - 2
Tortoiseshell 68 - 2
Vote You 65 - 2
As Bound as Tomorrow 63 - 2
Roadie 62 - 2
Safe at Home 61 - 3
Oh Brother 59 - 2
Paradise 59 - 2
Hi Falutin 58 - 2
4AM Conversation 56 - 2
Catweazle 56 - 2
Nothing To Do But Scare Myself 56 - 2
Charles Bukowski Is Dead 55 - 2
Towards the Light 55 - 2
Bodenheim Jr 54 - 2
Aldous 51 - 2
Melodies For The Deaf (Colours For The Blind) 39 - 2
The Future Is Now 29 - 1
High As Monkeys 29 - 1
Losing It (Song for Abigail) 29 - 1
Song from the Blueroom 29 - 1
The Finest Kiss 29 - 1
Spanish Lizards 22 - 1
Eleanor Everything 20 - 1
In a Galaxy Far, Far Away 19 - 1
Meltin's Worm 19 - 1
Superintendent 19 - 1
Crushed 18 - 1
I Feel Nothing 18 - 1
(I Wanna Be) Touchdown Jesus 17 - 1
I Will Always Ask You Where You've Been Even Though I Know The Answer 17 - 1
There She Goes 17 - 1

At least I wasn't completely alone in voting for "Tortoiseshell" or "Vegas". Barely understand a word of either, but dig the...textures.

Playing the b-sides disc that came with the recent "C'mon Kids"

I forgot to add "Annie and Marnie" on my ballot, daft Blur, that one.

Will post my ballot later

I voted for Annie & Marnie. Still astounded I was the only other vote for Blues For George Michael and also that Friendship Song beat it out.

Almost Nearly There deserved to place a bit higher too. Very sweet song.

In fact it's really interesting to see what fell just outside the top 40. I figured Barney and Me would be a shoe-in.

I think Leaves & Sand might have been the first Boos song I ever heard - even before Wake Up Boo, because it was included as part of a free music CD that came with Donkey Kong Country.

I don't feel so bad about having "Barney and me" too low on my ballot now, higher up would have made no difference.

Still surprised it wasn't top ten, though.

Right: Tracks first

1 Lazarus
2 Wake up boo - Music for Astronauts
3 From The Bench At Belvidere
4 Lazy Day
5 Memory Babe
6 Stuck on amber
7 Kingsize
8 Spaniard
9 Roadie
10 Peachy Keen
11 Petroleum
12 twinside
13 Hi Falutin
14 Friendship Song
15 Nothing to do but scare myself
16 Does this hurt
17 Furthur
18 Butterfly McQueen
19 I hang suspended
20 Rodney King
21 Barney and Me
22 Best lose the fear
23 In a galaxy far far away
24 Crushed
25 Annie and Marnie

Next up : "Singles/EP Sets"

1. Lazarus
2. From the Bench at belvidire
3. Ride The Tiger
4. Kingsize (the promo)
5. Wake Up Boo
6. Adrenalin
7. I hang Suspended

now for the albums
1. Giant Steps
2. Kingsize
3. Everythings Alright Forever
4. Wake up
5. Ichabod and I

Finally: The Cover Version:
1. The Queen is Dead

I feel daft having TQID as the cover, I should have picked "Zoom"

Oh, I did have Annie and Marnie on it. Fair enough...