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.
― Mark G, Wednesday, 3 March 2010 12:17 (fourteen years ago) link
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.
― There's Always Been A Dance Element To (Masonic Boom), Wednesday, 3 March 2010 12:24 (fourteen years ago) link
... the only time Sice got his song on the a-side. Heck, onto record at all!
― Mark G, Wednesday, 3 March 2010 12:25 (fourteen years ago) link
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.
― keythhtyek, Thursday, 4 March 2010 01:46 (fourteen years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.
― System, Friday, 5 March 2010 00:01 (fourteen years ago) link
i wish i was skinny.
― Melvin van Osterlow, Jr. (res), Friday, 5 March 2010 01:33 (fourteen years ago) link
C'mon Kids poll would be welcomed. In fact, Kingsize too, seeing as its their best album
― PaulTMA, Friday, 5 March 2010 01:44 (fourteen years ago) link
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.
― Bee OK, Friday, 5 March 2010 03:26 (fourteen years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― System, Saturday, 6 March 2010 00:01 (fourteen years ago) link
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.
― Bee OK, Saturday, 6 March 2010 03:50 (fourteen years ago) link
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.
― PaulTMA, Saturday, 6 March 2010 03:52 (fourteen years ago) link
"Bullfrog Green" should have read "Four Saints"
it was great listing to the CD on big speakers and not through my computer speakers.
― Bee OK, Saturday, 6 March 2010 04:58 (fourteen years ago) link
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/
― Bee OK, Saturday, 6 March 2010 05:01 (fourteen years ago) link
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.
― Man or Austro-Hungarian? (Pillbox), Saturday, 6 March 2010 05:12 (fourteen years ago) link
well I voted 'I've Lost The Reason' and only one vote's been registered...hmm...
― I spent four bloody years there (acoleuthic), Saturday, 6 March 2010 15:52 (fourteen years ago) link
Album version of "Lazarus" inferior to the original single version. That is all.
― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 6 March 2010 15:55 (fourteen years ago) link
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.
― Bee OK, Sunday, 7 March 2010 00:14 (fourteen years ago) link
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!
― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 7 March 2010 00:42 (fourteen years ago) link
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)
― Mark G, Sunday, 7 March 2010 17:19 (fourteen years ago) link
http://www.booradleys.co.uk/giant_steps/fans.htm
Blimey, some names on that page!
(not just me and nick, I mean)
― Mark G, Monday, 8 March 2010 07:42 (fourteen years ago) link
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...
― dog latin, Monday, 8 March 2010 13:09 (fourteen years ago) link
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??
― Against The 80s, Thursday, 1 July 2010 09:05 (thirteen years ago) link
info here:
1990s Reissue Thread!
― you're the fucking treasurer (electricsound), Thursday, 1 July 2010 09:08 (thirteen years ago) link
Thanks!
― Against The 80s, Thursday, 1 July 2010 09:12 (thirteen years ago) link
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.
― Boo Radley (Bee OK), Friday, 2 July 2010 05:31 (thirteen years ago) link
So, does this actually exist? Who's got one?
― Mark G, Friday, 2 July 2010 07:22 (thirteen years ago) link
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?
― Against The 80s, Friday, 2 July 2010 08:28 (thirteen years ago) link
just found out my boss actually owns this album.
― village idiot (dog latin), Friday, 2 July 2010 12:07 (thirteen years ago) link
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.
― Mark G, Monday, 5 July 2010 06:55 (thirteen years ago) link
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 ...
― Against The 80s, Monday, 5 July 2010 10:37 (thirteen years ago) link
So neither album has been remastered nor had the volume raised?
― PaulTMA, Monday, 5 July 2010 13:36 (thirteen years ago) link
Found a place with a copy of the original (are there any others?) rpressing on vinyl for $17.98. Should I go for it?
― I will always think of you, while (quite) fondly, myself (Evan), Tuesday, 28 September 2010 03:52 (thirteen years ago) link
pressing*
― I will always think of you, while (quite) fondly, myself (Evan), Tuesday, 28 September 2010 03:54 (thirteen years ago) link
Um yes! It is 2 discs, after all, so that's not a bad deal.
― blank, Tuesday, 28 September 2010 04:22 (thirteen years ago) link
Sure! I just wasn't sure what a mint copy of this album on vinyl generally goes for.
― I will always think of you, while (quite) fondly, myself (Evan), Tuesday, 28 September 2010 04:44 (thirteen years ago) link
Ha, I've had "Barney (...And Me)" running through my head most of the day...
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 28 September 2010 04:47 (thirteen years ago) link
A mint copy of the vinyl is around £30.
(Funnily enough, I got a white label of Lazarus last week, 50p)
― Mark G, Tuesday, 28 September 2010 06:36 (thirteen years ago) link
(the 12" single, I should have said)
― Mark G, Tuesday, 28 September 2010 06:37 (thirteen years ago) link
If you had to shave 20 minutes off this, what songs would you cut? I want to pla it at Devon Record Club on Tuesday, but need to lop it down to about 45 minutes. 50 would do. We've got license to edit track listings for once - normally we can't pick albums over an odour long at all.
― Sick Mouthy (Scik Mouthy), Sunday, 8 July 2012 18:10 (eleven years ago) link
i would definitely cut both songs with parentheses in the title
― I'm HOOSin' out, 36 o's, so I'm drivin' round with that steena (some dude), Sunday, 8 July 2012 18:13 (eleven years ago) link
Yeah? Crazy. I was actually thinking I'd just drop the ones that got no votes!
― Sick Mouthy (Scik Mouthy), Sunday, 8 July 2012 18:16 (eleven years ago) link
well that seems silly and arbitrary
― some dude, Sunday, 8 July 2012 19:32 (eleven years ago) link
Cut: Thinking of Ways, Spun Around, Best Lose The Fear, The White Noise Revisited
― Özil Gummidge (Nasty, Brutish & Short), Sunday, 8 July 2012 20:03 (eleven years ago) link
Agree that Spun Around and Best Lose The Fear could go. Maybe Take The Time Around and Leaves & Sand? There's no way Thinking of Ways should go, it's probably my favourite song after Lazarus.
― Kitchen Person, Sunday, 8 July 2012 20:52 (eleven years ago) link
Maybe Leaves & Sand, definitely not Take The Time Around.
― Özil Gummidge (Nasty, Brutish & Short), Sunday, 8 July 2012 20:56 (eleven years ago) link
"Leaves & Sand" is the best song, cutting it would be crazy!
― some dude, Sunday, 8 July 2012 20:58 (eleven years ago) link
So I think we're all agreed there should be no cutting of this album. I mean the ones I mentioned are all great, this album is a masterpiece. I'm no help at all here.
― Kitchen Person, Sunday, 8 July 2012 21:33 (eleven years ago) link
Drop side 4, the album works as a complete unit without it.
― Mark G, Sunday, 8 July 2012 21:42 (eleven years ago) link
oh, and,
"You asked Martin Carr this question? You actually asked Martin Carr this question?"
― Mark G, Sunday, 8 July 2012 22:11 (eleven years ago) link
I couldn't cut any of this, but if I had to: Barney & Me, Wish I Was Skinny (both are nice songs, but a bit normal-setting for this album). I couldn't cut Spun Around or Best Lose The Fear (you cray!) or White Noise for that matter.
― Scary Move 4 (dog latin), Monday, 9 July 2012 08:42 (eleven years ago) link
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.
― Bee OK, Thursday, 31 August 2023 03:31 (six months ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAD6nrv-zGg
― Bee OK, Thursday, 31 August 2023 03:38 (six months ago) link