Boo Radleys - Giant Steps Poll

Opening track was pretty dece

Ismael you gotta hear C'mon Kids if you haven't! It's fucking MAD

Righto then. I don't dislike them as such, they have quite a few things I liked, they're just inconsistent. I don't know what it is exactly. Maybe that I think they're pretty poor at straight pop and pretty poor at being out there - but excellent when they balance on the pinnacle between the two, it's just that's a very hard thing to do.

ah, those days.

and then they made a record nobody has heard except me because I'm listening to it for the first time now on Spotify

"Kingsize" is actually quite good. "Wake Up!" is of course by far my favourite, but on "Kingsize" they managed to combine the pop sensibilities of that one with the weirdness of the others with quite good results. Surely joins Pulp in the list of bands whose last albums nobody ever heard even though they were actually quite good.

Maybe that I think they're pretty poor at straight pop and pretty poor at being out there - but excellent when they balance on the pinnacle between the two, it's just that's a very hard thing to do.

Sounds like "Kingsize" may be your kind of Boo Radleys album then.

Ichabod & I was the best, from there it was steadily downhill.

Yeah, they were OK when I saw them in New Brighton in '88 but after that... ;)

Actually, scratch that, Sice's best moment was when we beat Plessington away in the quiz league in '81 and we scoffed all the Ginger Nuts before the posh kids could get to them.

I liked Kingsize a lot, but it got lost in the Creation closedown, plus they split before the "Kingsize" single was issued which would have been a big radio hit.

I hung around R&TE to get the single promo for Kingsize for weeks. Got one tho.

(ending up sharing the unreleased tracks w/ Ned, way before ILX happened!

The "From the bench at Belvidere" e.p. gets neglected, I remember when it came out I ws like "If this was actually the new Beatles single, there would be mass rejoicing, etc"

Then "Free as a bird" came out a week later and I was vind.

(Is that page with Mine and NSouth's reviews still on the boo's website?)

(Seriously, I adore the EPs up to the time of Everything's Alright Forever, and that album too. After that, it was all a sort of displaced civic pride that they were doing so well. I think the records post-'92 are often very good, mind. Voting for Laz, las.)

I was so happy when the early EPs popped up on Learning To Walk, because that is still some of my favourite Boo stuff. The Finest Kiss is just swoonsome, and the whole Kaleidoscope e.p. - argh, I wish I had that stuff with me at work because it's so amazing.

I never really "got" the early stuff (i.e. pre "Everythings")

But then I found a CD of the "Kaleidoscope" e.p. and I liked it much more as an isolated 4-tracker.

The Kaleidoscope EP was the first thing I ever got - a friend just stuck it on to fill up the last 15 minutes or so of something else she'd taped for me (really miss that about 90 minute tapes) and I liked it more than the thing she'd actually taped for me. That also happened with an early Ride EP as well, if memory serves.

... the only time Sice got his song on the a-side. Heck, onto record at all!

I have always thought the early stuff was not great. There was a huge leap in my mind from the eps and ichabod and I to 'everything is alright forever'. I love even run my way runway. Were they always too odd to be huge or was it because they were ugly? Even wake up has some strange moments for it being the pop album. The eggman album was also very nice but sice's last effort was just as awful as the brave captain.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

i wish i was skinny.

C'mon Kids poll would be welcomed. In fact, Kingsize too, seeing as its their best album

yes, i still think Kingsize is their best album. i also love the Boos to death and they are probably my favorite band ever, with only the Cure giving them competition. i was such a freak for this band that i had a buddy going to UK on holiday look around for the vinyl only album called Ichabod & I, he returned with the album. i was very disappointed as i was looking for more stuff like they did for the Learning to Walk album but it wasn't even close to as good.

i'm going to put this album on tonight and then vote, so more later.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

it was so great listening to this album again, thanks dog latin.

it came down to "Leaves and Sand," "If You Want It, Take It" or my actual vote "I've Lost the Reason." i really loved the singles when they came on "I Hang Suspended," "Wish I Was Skinny" and the real stand out this time around "Barney (...and Me)."

"Lazarus" is arguably their best song (i think only "Bullfrog Green" and "Kingsize" are better) but i couldn't vote for it here because it is the edited 7" version. if it was the full 12" version that i grew to love over the years then it would have gotten my vote.

The song 'Kingsize' is what Embrace would have sounded like if they had any hope whatsoever. They shot and they splatted themselves in their collective face trying. What a great, criminally ignored album.

"Bullfrog Green" should have read "Four Saints"

it was great listing to the CD on big speakers and not through my computer speakers.

from what i remember hearing, this is not named after John Coltrane's album. the band just thought they had something special with this album and it was Giant Steps above Everything's Alright Forever or anything else they did in the past.

Giant Steps even has it own worship website, check out the fans section:

http://www.booradleys.co.uk/giantsteps/

I honestly don't get the love for Kingsize - not that it is in any way bad, but w/ ppl coming around & proclaiming it their unsung best. I liked it at the time & a lot of the songwriting is good, but the obviously-from-1998 production style esp. has aged poorly imo (to say nothing of the freakish pox that is "Free Huey"). It's been a long time since I listened to it, tho, so maybe I should give it another go..

Also, wtf @ KS cover art? I know Creation were giving all their money to Oasis back then, but jeez..

Now, Giant Steps, on the other hand, is a fucking masterpiece. This is the first I've seen of this poll, but I would have voted for "I Hang Suspended," "Leaves & Sand," or "Thinking of Ways." I will review & report back. Even though it is the obvious centerpiece & mindblowingly awesome, I've always associated "Lazarus" more w/ the EP, which came out considerably ahead of GS iirc.

well I voted 'I've Lost The Reason' and only one vote's been registered...hmm...

Album version of "Lazarus" inferior to the original single version. That is all.

well I voted 'I've Lost The Reason' and only one vote's been registered...hmm...

well i meant to vote for "I've Lost the Reason" but i'm pretty sure i hit "The White Noise Revisited" on accident instead.

i also saw the Giants Steps tour at the Roxy in Hollywood, amazing show and one of the best shows i have ever seen. i remember everyone talking about how great the show was when we were walking out, special night that one was.

Ha, once again we were at the same show, BeeOK -- also thanks to a friend I was at the promo dinner with them down the road, plus interviewed Rob and Tim in the Roxy parking lot!

I made up a cassette version with the 12" version of Lazarus inserted.

It didn't work.

The album version is right for the album.

(p.s. it's not the single version either)

http://www.booradleys.co.uk/giant_steps/fans.htm

Blimey, some names on that page!

(not just me and nick, I mean)

Butterfly McQueen was my choice - it's the homeopathic essence of the album distilled into one song. That said, it's nothing without the following Rodney King as mentioned upthread by Louis. Still it's a great song. Even when I was 16 I knew that the opening bars, "Sha-la-la-la, sha-la-la-la... Finally an okay calm has washed right over me/Poverty and cops with guns have lost their reality" was a stylistic tribute to another band, but I've never been able to put my finger on it. Is it George Harrison? The Moody Blues? Something very seventies melodic about it...

Has anyone got the recent Giant Steps 3CD reissue on Cherry Red?

Aside from the track listing (original album plus contemporaneous EPs, b-sides & remixes) information on this is a little vague. Is the album remastered? What is the packaging/artwork like? Anyone know??

info here:

1990s Reissue Thread!

Thanks!

Is the album remastered?

no but didn't need to be. this whole reissue is all about the B-sides, those songs needed to be collected in one place.

So, does this actually exist? Who's got one?

no but didn't need to be.

I agree, it sounds fantastic. The original CD is pretty quiet by today's standard, so I was more concerned about brickwalling due to an (unnecessary) increase in loudness.

I already bought a lot of the bonus material at the time, so I guess I'm most interested in the packaging and liner notes. As Mark said, anyone actually got one?

just found out my boss actually owns this album.

I saw the Wake Up deluxe edition in HMV, it's mmm....

Well it's a 'foldover' rather than a 2cm wide 'box', and it was £20.

Wouldn't get a WakeUp deluxe anyway, but I wouldn't go £20 for a Giant Steps deluxe that I had all the tracks of.

Thanks for the update Mark. Amazon lists it as £10.99, which seems much more reasonable! You can get them direct from Cherry Red for about 15 quid too ...

So neither album has been remastered nor had the volume raised?

Found a place with a copy of the original (are there any others?) rpressing on vinyl for $17.98. Should I go for it?

pressing*

Um yes! It is 2 discs, after all, so that's not a bad deal.

Sure! I just wasn't sure what a mint copy of this album on vinyl generally goes for.

Ha, I've had "Barney (...And Me)" running through my head most of the day...

A mint copy of the vinyl is around £30.

(Funnily enough, I got a white label of Lazarus last week, 50p)

For me, I think that's part of the appeal and charm. I've always loved the "stoned mixtape" approach to albums, and this fits in with the grand traditions begun with things like the White Album and Smiley Smile, where it's more about laying down this huge flood of ideas best you can before you forget about them.

I just wonder how a band with so many good ideas didn't really manage to continue making great albums together as a band or solo.

For me, I think that's part of the appeal and charm. I've always loved the "stoned mixtape" approach to albums, and this fits in with the grand traditions begun with things like the White Album and Smiley Smile, where it's more about laying down this huge flood of ideas best you can before you forget about them.

― dog latin, Tuesday, February 12, 2013 4:03 PM (33 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah, I agree... this is part of the reason why I like C'mon Kids so much!

I like "It's Lulu." I don't hear any obvious signs of it being worse than any other song on Wake Up.

It's over maligned, for sure, but it's no Joel.

Wake Up is often seen as their chirpy Britpop album, but only because of singles like It's Lulu. The rest of it's still pretty dark, psychedelic and confessional.

One of many great moments on this album: that tiny bit of ludicrously loud high-pitched feedback just before 'Leaves and Sand' kicks in!

i have not thought about this album probably since ILM's Boo Radleys poll from a few years back. i do play that Spotify all the time but was thinking about putting on those first three EPs just this morning. ironic that this thread got bumped. the first three EPs also called Learning to Walk is right up my shoegaze alley, nothing else quite hits that spot in the same way.

I also re-listened to Wake Up! tonight and enjoyed it pretty much start to finish. 'Joel' and 'Martin, Doom! It's Seven O'Clock' particularly stood out as fine slabs of '90s psychedelia, but the singles on it are probably some of the finest pop songs Martin Carr ever penned.

Martin Carr is auctioning off a slew of GS-related swag (including an initial demo tape!)

https://newshapes.co.uk/product/giant-steps-turns-30-martins-attic-bundle/

http://www.booradleys.co.uk/giant_steps/fans.htm

Ten years since the "ten year anniversary" site was set up!

― Mark G, Monday, 11 February 2013 17:00 (ten years ago) link

Fucking hell.

― they all are afflicted with a sickness of existence (Scik Mouthy), Monday, 11 February 2013 17:05 (ten years ago) link

Fucking hell.

Fucking hell indeed

And there we all still are!

30 year and I bought on day of release as I was a huge fan of Everything's Alright Forever. I was not prepared to proclaim best band of the 90s but that is what ultimately happened.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAD6nrv-zGg