It’s true. I couldn’t resist adding another column in hopes of turning you cats and kittens on to more music. This is going to focus on discs primarily from the 80s (and early 90s) that have long been hard to find or sort of fell through the cracks of the collective consciousness. They will also be true records in that you should own the whole thing and not download just a few songs. To make life easy, I will focus on spending some of your eMusic credits. The service is still spotty with new releases but an amazing array of back catalogues have come on-line and digging through ebay or gemm has now been simplified to single clicks at a fraction of the cost. Sit back and enjoy!
The Boo Radleys “Everything’s Alright Forever”
They may have never truly crossed over to the U.S. but in their native U.K. the Boo Radleys became major pop stars. Once Martin Carr was given a big studio budget, there was little stopping him. I enjoy those records and their wild experimentation wrapped around pop sweetness, but it is the early formation of those skills that I love the most. Named after the character in “To Kill A Mockingbird,” the group was established early as a presence outside of the normal chummy shoegazer scene. Carr seemed to be using his multitude of guitar effects to power other sounds into the mix for Sice’s choirboy voice to float over. This would become obvious in their later recordings, as he would bring in horns and strings for the same effect.
The overwhelming success of the work following did little to raise the profile of their first record, given the sonic changes they overtook in fulfilling Carr’s vision. This release has lingered out of print for far too long. It opens dramatically with the aptly named “Spaniard” and its flamenco haze forming the introduction of Sice’s high croon. “Towards the Light” strums and burns with a wonderful melody until the full guitar assault arrives with bombast. “Losing It (Song for Abigail)” is caught a bit in the time period with the wandering, effects heavy fretwork, but the second half of the song still brings the noise in a good way. “Memory Babe” simplifies with acoustic builds and electric shimmers into the distorted bed of the chorus and it’s lyrically longing sentiment showing the classicist in hiding.
The fuzz is heavy until halfway through “I Feel Nothing” with it’s playful percussive jump, before building back to shoegazing bliss and back again. “Does This Hurt” brings a more straight-ahead rock attack and wouldn’t be out of place in a Stone Roses set following “I Wanna Be Adored.” Drawing on psychedlic strums for “Smile Fades Fast” and 60’s pop for the sweetly sung “Firesky” the lilting through the slow fog of “Song for the Morning to Sing” with a crying guitar lead into the short burst of my favorite Boo’s track – the amazing “Lazy Day” with it’s alternating race of distorted guitars and strummed strings chopping against the sweet vocal build until it seems to fall to the ground exhausted with pop joy. “Paradise” closes the proceedings with a little bit of everything.
Upon the initial release it seemed as if the Boos would be buried in the middle of the pack of guitar pedal merchants - but close listening alerted many of us to the amazing songwriting chops that Carr almost seemed embarrassed to let breathe. On the follow up, he would find that those chops served him well in nearly any mode. On “Everything’s Alright Forever” we have the joy of a simpler focus and the sound of a young band starting to push and pull in order to do justice to the structures lying underneath. For those of us who like our pop magic wrapped up in a fuzzy jumble, this is honey on the tongue.
Listen here and start with Lazy Day.
As a MAJOR bonus – the first two EP’s from the band are now available through eMusic!
RIYL: later Boos, My Bloody Valentine playing 60s covers, early Ride and general shoegazing
Ah, now see, this is good. I know little about them except that they have waaaaay too many releases, and that many are not that good.
The “Boo! Forever/Does This Hurt?” single is marvelous and noisy (though, following “I Wanna Be Adored”? Really?), as is “Lazy Day,” so maybe this album is where I should be focusing, rather than on the later, Giant Steps and beyond, releases.
Not that there’s anything wrong with “I Hang Suspended;” indeed, everyone should download the “Rodney King (St. Etienne Remix).” But still. It would appear Lazarus was the first release of their poppier, less satisfying period.
September 4, 2008 at 5:02 pmI totally second William’s recommendation to also get “I Hang Suspended” and “Rodney King” and I will throw in my second favorite Boos track “Wishing I Was Skinny.”
September 4, 2008 at 5:15 pmi love this band. i love this record.
i do think that giant steps picked up where this record left off and gave the band the opportunity to fully realize their potential - really beefing up the shoegaze factor. the first three songs on giant steps kill me. literally stop me in my tracks. when i dj shoegaze sets, i almost always play “upon ninth and fairchild”.
i will say that anything after giant steps is a waste of time. i think that between 1993 and 1995 they let the rise of britpop influence them. don’t get me wrong - i adore (almost more than shoegaze) mid-90s britpop. but, the boo radleys weren’t meant to be a pop band. ever. the songs are often cute, but unmemorable and essentially pointless.
still, they will always be up there among my favorites from the early 90s (most definitely still my favorite era).
yay john!
September 5, 2008 at 12:04 pmI agree for the most part post Giant Steps but they always have a brilliant moment on each record to remind you of what could have been. I do like a smattering of Sice’s solo record as Eggman and a song or two from Carr as Brave Captain.
Go see Carri DJ on Saturday to see if she is telling the truth!!!
September 5, 2008 at 12:38 pm“but they always have a brilliant moment on each record to remind you of what could have been.”
i agree completely. although, i never really paid attention to the solo records. anything in particular you could recommend?
and, thank you very much for the shout out - but i don’t think i will be doing a shoegaze set tomorrow night. although, if you come, i will most DEFINITELY play a little boos for you…you can even pick.
September 5, 2008 at 1:13 pmSorry if someone replied to Rick and I missed it … Anyway, “Ichabod and I” is much more shambling than “Everything’s All Right.” The former strikes one as the sound of band trying to find its way; while the latter is that of one that’s found it.
As John mentioned, I agree that some of Brave Captain is quite worthwhile!
October 17, 2008 at 12:46 pm
Excellent work—thanks for writing about this album John! “Everything’s Alright Forever” is easily my favorite Boo Radleys album. This album features so many of my all-time favorite songs from the early 90s (”Spaniard” is too beautiful for words and “Does This Hurt?” is a shoegaze classic). I don’t think the band ever struck a more perfect balance between the experimental and the accessible than they do on this one. Some of the sound experiments on their next album (”Giant Steps”) strike me as a bit contrived—like the band is taking an everything-plus-the-kitchen-sink approach for the sake of having a crapload of stuff on there. Not that “Giant Steps” is a bad album—there are some nice pop songs on there. But the band had clearly lost some of their sparkle…
Btw, I never got around to hearing their debut album, “Ichabod & I.” Have you heard that one and is it any good?
September 3, 2008 at 10:45 am