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

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...

are you doing the Talking Heads one, Bee? If so they're another all-time favourite band of mine.

done:

New Order 80's
Steely Dan 70's
The Boo Radleys 90's

Coming up polls that i have signed up for:

Spoon 2000's
Bauhaus/Love and Rockets 80's
Talking Heads 80's
Shoegaze/Dream Pop/Post-rock (Albums and EPs) 90's
Blondie 80's

also signed up for The Jesus and Mary Chain but never got added. i was thinking about adding Super Furry Animals or Suede but i think i'm going to do an American 90's band instead.

Always feel like I should have given SFA more of a chance but I never really did. I like a lot of their songs, just never became a fan.

i know this poll was more of a personal project thing for me but i'm glad so many people actually submitted ballots. also, imo this was such a great poll, you people really know your Boo Radleys even if i don't agree with the ranking.

best band from the 90's and really it isn't really close!

haha, ILx: You have posted 10,000 messages

Wow, what a milestone.

i was thinking about adding Super Furry Animals

― Bee OK, Saturday, May 9, 2015 2:22 AM (5 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This would be brilliant!

SFA would be great indeed, they're the only modern band that come close to the brilliance of The Boos. I'd definitely vote in that poll.

Wilder ..... and the way the Pet Soundsy train bell gets cut off. I adore that bit.

visions of martin carr singing "I need to have something to keep me on my feet" with an acoustic guitar to an empty factory hall.

if anyone is interested, i will make a Spotify of the Top 40.

still so proud of this poll, my crown achievement on ILM and i did the Steely Dan and New Order polls.

I liked it much more than I thought I would.

The one poll ballot that had a 'should we do this' poll.

if I recall, the answer is no.

iirc that was a response to my Blur poll. Some dude got a bee in his bonnet about me doing an artist poll as a ballot thing and the whole never-ending list for the schedule of artist polls was born as a result. In part of the row/discussion about this, I think the idea of a Boo Radleys was floated as an example of a ridiculous thing that nobody would be interested in. And then some people said they would be. And then a poll was held. And most people were against the idea. And then a great deal of time passed. And then the poll actually happened. And it was good.

Yeah, so ner to that lot.

The one poll ballot that had a 'should we do this' poll.

ha, i found it: Boo Radleys Tracks Poll - Interested or not?

13 people said they would vote and 21 end up voting...success!

haha, cleaning out the closet (or artwork that didn't make this poll):

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/u1QWr5nKX4-HZbStQkLaSCwR100rUpb5E_3hunsvgGc=w1024-h768-no
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/vtiN9HEepOe1FIR7jHKol6VlAmhnxSiLjK_-n4ikwE8=w600-h597-no
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/EHwY59yn9tbaFFQpz7C8jdWvHC85kcfne8AZjqkqonA=w600-h590-no
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/HRoteOshA8KDoPklPcx7TI7rk9B-xFe2CgikvfJ-LpU=w1024-h768-no
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/U57zAzJSKcfuFupP6gtZNM5xdZLdx8_uVkuMwzoY4hA=s600-no
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/bwx6lnya2rBLNX5wBlMJUIdcnEYCpU4Etw6WpZ2n5ao=w950-h911-no
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/rZIJ9AosE5Bc67jEIvt-thTircerbA8CIJQ7pSWwW6g=s582-no
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/2keWEfTr2-GbPjeIHODv-TmE8XVXC3IO9LJiCqZ5AsE=w598-h600-no
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/2IUm126wC6ZdJ9uxylVm1vu5htZqLn7fPv1rml1B_y4=w600-h521-no
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/U_lQLjvnUlUUYKV2Jp4_hFahBHNF74va2LKkF0-58Ko=w593-h600-no

seems there is a 10 image limit:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/sXpi25sYLdW0ZGwR6kya6WnK55sgjg4ZavTHjMjtcPw=w599-h597-no
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/wnN-eNhsvW_wSr8AO0neNJe1UrFqUFitiQvgGpXre8k=w599-h604-no
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/f6lSiu5Ed_DGESV39t2F_ZKe38U-Vt5mzqFap2Aszso=w538-h534-no
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/dvpZB00nrdXc5kSH7BsBEzRD96sW9jqcm7-rVvJ8a5A=w501-h497-no

Yeah, I got that last one along with the full album promo (looks identical to that except the track listing) about a month ahead of release.

have to update thread as results have fallen off page: