Twenty-five, don't recall a time I felt this alive, so Wake Up Poll, there's so many things for us to do - The Boo Radleys (ILM artist poll #60) --- Voting open until Friday April 17, 2015

Been doing a bit of re-listening for this poll. A few things occur to me:
1) While I really liked quite a few of the Ichabod & I songs back at the time, it's very difficult to listen to them against what came later because the production is just so different. They sound very lo-fi, not in a good way.
2) Although I know the names of the songs on Everything's Alright Forever, and I recognise all of the tunes, I am incapable of matching those names to the tunes.
3) It's very difficult to judge Butterfly McQueen and Rodney King as separate songs as they're part of the same thing for me

Been busily re-listening too. Seems I'm somewhat likely to vote for ALL of the second side of EAF. Didn't see that coming.

One reason "Rodney King" seems to me like a substantial standalone piece is because I hesitated to buy Giant Steps long enough that the relatively expansive St Etienne remix, heard via radio, became a (slightly misleading) selling point for the album!

Can I assume that for ballot purposes Learning To Walk is not really an album? (Fondness for it being an added incentive to turn one's attention to the EP poll...)

I think the complete list of cover songs (thanks for the help):

Alone Again Or – Love
Boo! Faith (True Faith) - New Order
There She Goes - The La's
Zoom! – Fat Larry’s Band
The Queen Is Dead – The Smiths
4st7lbs – Manic Street Preachers
Tomorrow – Bugsy Malone
One of Us Must Know (Sooner Or Later) - Bob Dylan

damn, let's try this again:

Covers

Alone Again Or – Love
Boo! Faith (True Faith) - New OrderThere She Goes - The La's
Zoom! – Fat Larry’s Band
The Queen Is Dead – The Smiths
]4st7lbs – Manic Street Preachers
Tomorrow – Bugsy Malone
[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvGsIE8VnQ8] One of Us Must Know (Sooner Or Later) - Bob Dylan

i think i got it right now:

Alone Again Or – Love
Boo! Faith (True Faith) - New Order
There She Goes - The La's
Zoom! – Fat Larry’s Band
The Queen Is Dead – The Smiths
4st7lbs – Manic Street Preachers
Tomorrow – Bugsy Malone
One of Us Must Know (Sooner Or Later) - Bob Dylan

I'll definitely be putting a ballot in for this! I've been reminded of how much I love this song...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60ZPmNR1dpw

Also:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1KH0XCQX78

I was re listening to Wake Up and it's a seriously underrated album. Cmon Kids has aged a lot worse.

The singles are probably the weakest songs on Wake Up. Twinside, Stuck On Amber and Reaching Out From Here are my favourite songs on there. C'Mon Kids has dated a bit but it's still one of my favourites as it's the album that got me into them.

I've always assumed that Wake Up! just got overexposed in the UK or something, provoking a backlash. I think it's great as well, and have never gotten why it's not highly rated.

I have never heard anything off Wake Up (apart from that single). I suppose I might as well give it a listen now otherwise I'll never have a reason too.

The one of the biggest misconceptions about this band is that people assume Wake Up! is all full of songs like 'Wake Up Boo!', and it really isn't. 'Find The Answer Within' and 'It's Lulu' (the other singles) come the closest. I think Wake Up! and C'mon Kids both sound dated these days, which is to be expected, really. They both sound like albums made in the '90s. I think I prefer C'mon Kids of the two, though.

fwiw, I've just listened to it for the first time. I quite liked 'Joel', 'Martin, Doom!...' and the ending of 'Charles Bukowski is Dead', but I'm not going to vote for any of them at this late stage.

so to answer some questions. first i didn't know how many people would be willing to do the Singles/EP's part of this poll. i knew i was a big enough geek to look at four songs and compare but didn't know if it would be good for this poll. the good news is everyone but one has submitted a ballot with singles/ep's included, so that is a huge win for this poll. originally i was going to ask for your Top 13 then it was going to be Top 10 as five didn't seem like enough. so finally decided that a Top 7 would probably work best.

song of the day (Foster's Van) from the Boo Up! E.P. and the comp Learning to Walk.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeo06Go_4Do

i don't know anything pre-everything's alright forever, let alone and bsides. but i know the album very well and will be voting in this.

AHEM

i don't know anything pre-everything's alright forever, let alone any bsides. but i know the albums very well and will be voting in this.

what happened to the fire that got you through, the days when nothing went right for you

"put your arms around me" was inserted into the middle of the U.S. edition of kingsize and it's like why was it not thrown in there instead of, say, the abominable FREE HUEY

i would like to hear sice collaborate with jim steinman

what the hell is this?!?!? http://www.discogs.com/Boo-Radleys-Find-The-Way-Out/release/742208

OTM, makes no sense to me either. "Free Huey" hasn't bother me this time around, either i'm getting use to it or i have skipped it enough times where it's a bit fresher right now.

xpost

Find the Way Out is the last thing i bought at a record store called Mod Lang in Berkeley. have also played it to death, it's a very good compilation.

love that they added "Tomorrow" to this compilation but hate that this was their chance to add "Put Your Arms Around Me and Tell Me Everything's Going To Be OK" but didn't for whatever reason.

xp Yeah, it looks cool! Just kind of a random selection compared to the "Best Of".. like, lol "blues for george michael"? (the only boo's bside i know of, it's "experimental" tape tomfoolery or whatever, right? Spent many hours digging at Mod Lang as a teen, tiny place but I just loved hanging out there.

I believe it was Martin Carr's selections, as opposed to a 'greatest hits' that was being proposed.

(which also came out about a year or so later)

Blues For George Michael is one of their best songs. Fosters Van is my favourite of their pre-EAF phase.

Foster's Van is great.

I have now re-listened to Kingsize for the first time since 1998. I still don't like it.

Seems I'm getting almost comically 90-93 focused. Time and again I'm reminded of how affecting some washed out little thing like "Vegas" is, and another "It's Lulu" is bumped out of contention.

i think Kingsize is by far the best thing they have ever done, that album is so misunderstood. i get why people don't like it and i think it's because it doesn't sound like anything else they did up to that point. but i think Martin Carr never wrote better lyrics then he did during this time and the album is so pretty. i related to it the year 1999-2000 and some of my favorites are on the album including "Put Your Arms Around Me...," "Blue Room in Archway," "The Old Newsstand...," "High As Monkeys," "Jimmy Webb Is God" and the beloved "Kingsize."

song of the day:
"I can't wait until tomorrow, i don't see how I'm gonna sleep tonight."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7H7tfLiJT8

such a sweet song.
something I noticed about carr's songwriting is how it changed over the years. from Kingsize and on through his solo work I find it increasingly specific to his life, which is something I have trouble parsing sometimes as not-cringey

It's funny how Kingsize seems to divide opinions so much. Kingsize may not be as experimental or exciting as some of the other Boo albums, and when you listen to it you can tell that it was going to be their last one, but my god it's such a beautiful album. It's a bit heartbreaking in a way, but I think it was the perfect swansong for the Boos. And of course I'm totally not at all biased or anything, Kingsize just happens to be my favourite album of all time...

By the way, today marks the 20th anniversary of a significant milestone for the Boos - it was twenty years ago today when Wake Up got to #1 in UK! Some call it a curse that killed the band in the end, but I dunno, I probably wouldn't have discovered the Boos without that. Buy damn, they should have been massive.

https://youtu.be/AxCQPk3YqMo

hey welcome Tomiboo , love your name, if in fact you are new to ILM.

and i'm happy that you agree with me regarding Kingsize as sometimes i feel like i'm the only one who loves that album as much as i do.

and wow about Wake Up! anniversary, will make my song of the day to reflect that fact.

for song of the day i wanted some obscure track that probably wouldn't get a lot of attention. but with the 20th year anniversary of making it to number one, going to pick a album track:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sWstpsq8jg

Can I assume that for ballot purposes Learning To Walk is not really an album? (Fondness for it being an added incentive to turn one's attention to the EP poll...)

i do agree with this but didn't put any restrictions on what people vote for. that is the reason for the Singles/EP's section of this poll.

Bee OK, you're picking some amazing songs of the day. I have very vivid memories of buying Wake Up from the local FNAC as a teenager while visiting my grandparents in Paris. I dug it out the other day and it's an extremely nostalgic listen even today. Joel is a highlight for me - a forlorn younger brother to Hey Jude. I always loved the BR songs that went through two or more very different movements, and this is one of them.

xpost FWIW I think of Learning To Walk as an album. It works as an album to my ears and it's a better representation of their early work compared to Ichabod & I.

Can dig that. Learning To Walk is likely the BR disc I've listened to most (and the only one I picked up right on release), while I've never actually laid eyes on the corresponding 12"s. Shall go ahead and give it some points as a long-player then.

Meanwhile some of these unassuming Kingsize tracks are finally growing on me more than I was anticipating. "Old Newsstand..." and the like have some attractive arrangements, at least.

Newsstand is great. Kingsize has many highlights but it's also disjointed and strays into some pretty corny moments. It sounds very much of its time (trendy for the time drill'n'bass rhythms and token scratching etc).
As mentioned, by C'mon Kids I start to find it harder and harder to enjoy Carr's lyrics. Lots of trite, drawn-out metaphors: 'Monkeys dressed in uniforms/Thinking they own the place/Threatening to break my face'; 'Open up my paintbox/It had all turned to blue' etc. Plenty more on his solo stuff too (check out 'The Only Life I Know'). Not sure what it is, as all his lyrics from Giant Steps onwards were autobiographical, but he seemed to get more and more sixth-formery as he went on. It's Lulu was where the rot really set in, just bludgeoningly literal songwriting compared to the rest of Wake Up.

basically - Boo Radleys: Best B-Sides band, worst A-Sides band. It's Lulu, Free Huey, C'Mon Kids, What's In The Box and arguably Wishing I Was Skinny and Barney & Me are among their least interesting songs for me, although I don't mind the last two that much.

Thanks for the welcome, Bee OK! I vaguely remember creating an account here like ten years ago and maybe posting something, but I have no idea what my login details could be. Looks like this place hasn't changed much... which is probably a good thing, I think!

About Carr's lyrics, I agree that they are very "personal" sometimes, but in my opinion that is exactly what makes him one of the best songwriters of our generation! I know we all like different kind of things in music, but I find his songs easier to relate to at least, and I prefer them over some pseudo-poetical nonsense lyrics that so many other songwriters seem to spurt out (or something like "One Is For" from Giant Steps). And even if he often writes his songs in "first person", I don't think that they're about his personal life or anything, or meant to be taken literally - I doubt that Martin went gold digging in California with his family in 1849, or that his mother actually worked for Santa Fe Skyway. But I'm not really much of a lyrics guy (I suppose it's a bit harder for me as I'm not a native English speaker) anyway, I try to listen to the words of course but I don't try to find any hidden meanings between the lines or anything.

But the best thing about Carr and his songwriting is that he has never "made the same album twice". The step from "Everything's Alright Forever" to the Boos' next album wasn't the only giant step in his career - he has taken a giant step between every album that he has released! (They may not have always been steps forward, depending on who you ask!) Or can you say that all the different Boos eras and albums for example don't have their own recognisable flavour? In my opinion the closest that Carr has ever come to releasing similar sounding albums is now with "Ye Gods (and Little Fishes)" from a few years ago and his newest album "The Breaks", but they're both pretty good (especially the latter!) so I'm not complaining. And there isn't much that Carr hasn't already done, anyway...

I don't suppose anyone knows a website which has Boo Radleys setlists? I'm curious to know which songs I saw them play. I saw them bottom of the bill at Crystal Palace around June 91 (Pixies and Ride were top of the bill), then supporting My Bloody Valentine in Bradford around Nov/Dec 91, and then doing a joint tour with Pale Saints at the Astoria in London the night after the general election in April 92.

all three early EP's should make my Top 7 Singles/EP's list and i personally don't think i will vote for Learning To Walk as well but might. i'm not a fan of Ichabod and I, so my love starts with these three early EP's.

Song of the day:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sci4q6-pXMU

BTW, everyone will get conformation emails, so you can still edit ballots until you do get that email from me. also i haven't sent email out at this point as those will start coming next week.

Martin Carr

I Will Always Ask You Where You've Been Even Though I Know The Answer is obviously inspired by The Beach Boys. The first part I wrote after watching The Shining. I love the bar scenes and wanted to write music that sounded like the kind of music I would expect to hear in a bar like that. I don't have a copy so I can't really elaborate more. Fun to do although I don't think there was ever a question of it being on the album.

Song of the Weekend:

I Will Always Ask You Where You've Been Even Though I Know The Answer

http://mp3red.ru/1816049/the-boo-radleys-wish-i-was-skinny.html

That was one I barely recalled before this week but which I'll likely be voting for. It's like a 3 minute summary of their entire oeuvre (including bits that were yet to come at that point!)

+-)

last Song B-side Song of the Day:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGteqENK1D0

so we need a title for the results thread, any ideas?

Mark G and dog latin, your ballots have been modified.

good reminder, you can edit your ballot up until i email you your conformation. they have yet to go out.

Re results title, PM sent

Right, finally got it done. You should have my 25 tracks now, will do the other polls later.

You'll never poll the magic if you don't reach out far enough
Make it wilder Poll the tiger
What's in the Poll? See What You Got!
If You Want It, Make A Poll

The "What's in the Poll?" one is actually quite funny, and the only one of those that isn't absolutely terrible, haha!

Now that we're into the last day of voting, it's the perfect time to mention that there's one Boos cover that we all forgot (that a friend reminded me of)... Here, ladies and gentlemen, is The Boo Radleys (with Noel Gallagher) playing "Live Forever":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqkgQVKn3O0

It's not the greatest of covers in my opinion, but worth a mention anyway.

And here's another track that some of you may have forgotten, one that a lot of people may not even be aware of. It's got a nice video and everything!

"Oh Brother" (from the "Help" War Child charity album, 1995)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZ8uy6rCmSQ

I really like "Oh Brother" and wanted to have it in my Top 25, but unfortunately it had to make way for other songs.

keep the puns coming!

Please Vote!

Vote You!

Oh Brother's very sweet - surprisingly straightforward for them. They always seemed shy about showing their experimental side in public and the Help chairty album was no exception.

Speaking of 'sweet' songs, I always liked 'Wallpaper'. Always wondered about Carr's relationship with Christianity. When I saw him play at the Union Chapel the other week he remarked on how much he liked playing in a church despite 'not believing in anything'. But this isn't the only BRs song that plays with religious lyrics and musicality.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2O_c7UPkPs

It was that brief period where they were amongst the top bands along with O, B and R.

BTW, time of roll out will start around this time so everyone knows. poll will open during the week next week. i took off some days from work for this.

also love that this thread is like their b-sides thread, with the real stuff still yet to come.

woah thanks Bee OK. Sadly this is coming up to about the time I leave work :-/

Have you got my ballot?

yeap, conformation emails will start to come tonight.

"Wallpaper" is a great song, I agree! I guess I never paid enough attention to the lyrics since I hadn't thought of the religious connection before. But speaking of Carr's relationship with Christianity, I think that the song "Darwin's Tree" (from "Ye Gods") sheds some light on your question. The lyrics are quite "literal" and personal which you might not like, but I think that "Darwin's Tree" is one of the best songs that Carr has ever written. Just a simple song but god I love it...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_9GSTCPlbI

"Sing your songs, they are beautiful - but don't misunderstand, they mean nothing to me."

voting is still open.

and lol at that Oasis cover.

need more titles, not sure about these ones yet. might use them but i'm liking the one i have in mind unless someone comes up with a better one.

I think that:

Number one will be obvious
Number six will be a total surprise
The biggest hit will be quite low.

yeah.

well, just kidding. not going to give anything away.

i have almost everything ready to go, i will start posting some results in around 48 hours from now. i am trying to have most results come out at a decent hour for London Time. so it seems like the main roll out will be around 4 to 5 PM London Time or so. have a lot planned for this and think it's going to be a virgin poll. meaning the graphics are already outstanding so i don't see a need to modify anything.

going to be so much much...

lol.

fun, fun.

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

Tomorrow is an amazing cover. I love it when bands pick songs to cover which could easily have been written by themselves. This (and to an extent Zoom), really do sound like Boo Radleys songs. I've not really heard the original mind you. Vaguely recall being shown Bugsy back in primary school but I was only about 5 and couldn't really understand it.

wrong thread