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

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...

I cannae find my minidisc of the "Ichabod and I" album, although I have found the "Giant Steps Demos" and "Live" from Martin's website from a lot of years ago (I managed to d/l and save the "RealAudio" files but they are long gone somewhere lost, prob)

My vinyl copy of Ichabod and I has no label on it and quite a large hole in the middle. I often wonder if it's a legit version or not.

I can't imagine they'd bootleg it, seems a bit "niche" really.

Having said that, I did see that there are two versions of it on Discogs, one with "331/3" on the front cover, and one with "Ichabod and I" there instead. I doubt they actually did two pressings..

(I think all the ones I've seen irl have had 331/3 on it)

i'll take a look tonight. the only distuishing mark on the vinyl itself is 'TAKE4' scratched into the runout groove.

also:

Matrix / Runout (Side Now, Etched): TAKE 4 A1 A PR-P LYN 26271 NO I AM, I REALLY AM!
Matrix / Runout (Side Then, Etched): TAKE 4 B1 PR-P LYN 26272 HERE HARE HERE

it has 33rpm on the front. i never understood the whole no label (like literally no label at all) and oversized centre pin hole which means it plays a bit wonky.

Glad to see that If You Want It, Take It only just missed out, that's probably the one I've played the most in recent years before this poll (whereas plenty of others I hadn't heard for years and years). Also amazed and pleased that Furthur nearly made it as well. Can't understand why Barney (and me) is so low, though.

has anyone heard 'Same Pants Different Day' off of this? http://www.discogs.com/Boo-Radleys-Rarities/release/384051

Is it the same song as Tambo (or is it Donkey?) the one that starts 'She don't care/She will wear the same pair/Two days on the run'?

Foster's Van should have placed higher. It's the best song of the Learning to Walk era. That bassline is incredible.

I can confirm that it is the same song and recording, yes.

FWIW, I tallied top 40 votes according to which era was most popular. I've lumped the earlier EPS under 'Learning To Walk' and things like From the Bench under 'Wake Up':

Learning to Walk - 6
Everything's Alright Forever - 6
Giant Steps - 10
Wake Up - 7
C'Mon Kids - 7
Kingsize - 5

So nothing surprising there, although GS dominates the top 15 while the earlier work is most prevalent towards the 30-40 region. Nice to see it's a fairly even mix here though.

MCarr used to be on my Twitter feed, but I think he's gone off now. Otherwise, I'd have posted this thread his way for his consid.

he's on fb i think.

Learning to Walk - 6
Everything's Alright Forever - 6
Giant Steps - 10
Wake Up - 7
C'Mon Kids - 7
Kingsize - 5

this is probably spot on.

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.

Doh! You robbed my number one. You'll have to live with that for the rest of your days.

The only boos a-side (ok, lead track) written by Sice

Listening back to Wake Up! since we did this poll, I forgot how much I'm taken by the last section of the final track, Wilder. I didn't vote for it but the guitar lead, the sample of who? Tony Hart? Saying 'you should always put your hand in front of you, and the way the Pet Soundsy train bell gets cut off. I adore that bit.

In more ways than one I think of Wake Up! As even more of a concept album than Giant Steps. There's the recurring theme of being in bed, like Lennon's 'I'm Only Sleeping' spread out over a number of tracks. But where Lennon was happy to laze around in a lysergic haze, there's a kind of existential dread that hangs over these songs - 'get out of bed, don't forget what it was you said'; 'what is this poison that you carry like a curse?', 'and all I do is sit alone and eat', 'you can't blame me for the death of summer'... for a shiny straight up pop album, it's flipping morose as anything.

I found this quote from a review of Wake Up!, which may shed some light on the overall theme of the album...

The subject matter relates mostly to the songwriter Martin Carr's exile to the dour northwestern English mill town of Preston, where his partner had found a job. The band hail from Merseyside (Martin and singer Sice were childhood friends) but had set up camp in Camden, London for sometime before Martin's move which he clearly hasn't enjoyed, being separated from his mates in London. He bounces between guilt over his behaviour toward Rebecca his partner and his frustration at being away from his drinking buddies.

Kind of wish I'd voted for 'Wilder' now. I've been thinking about the coda a lot lately.

There was a story in the Boo's fanzine about one bloke getting Sice's autograph, praising "Wilder" to sice saying oh thanks, then the guy said "It should have been a single". Apparently Sice's face was a pic.

it's not so much the 'song' bit (which is only about 2.5mins long) but the extended last section - a really masterful collage of instruments, guitar feedback, shimmery pianos, backwards harmonies, strange samples, pretty much everything i like about the Boos.

stone cold classic. that was the problem with only 25 choices, so much stuff had to be left out of my ballot

this was an excellent poll, imo. didn't really know how popular it was going to be and it turned out great. i'm doing Spoon next and though i love that band as well, i don't think my heart will be in it like it was for this poll, Talking Heads on the other hand...