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Boo Radleys reform

Started by Beagle 2, July 07, 2021, 05:23:23 PM

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Lisa Jesusandmarychain

" What's In The Box?" rips off the melody from Madonna's " Material Girl".

My contribution to this thread, there. New page, too.

PaulTMA

Going away for over a week without a laptop so unable to write big impassioned Kingsize (and C'mon Kids) post that I'd prefer to, so I'll just reaffirm that these are two of the best albums of the 90s and that Kingsize, in particular, is a lost classic, the sound of a band throwing everything they've got at what they must know is their last album without a detectable trace of bitterness.   They may not have been having a happy time during its creation, but it is frequently a moving and euphoric listen and is filled with great songs.   'High As Monkeys' seems to encapsulate this the best, strangely going out on a musical high while their fortunes crumbles around them.




[If anyone has a double vinyl copy they'd like to sell I will make them a negotiable offer of £2.50 for it (plus p&p)]

purlieu

I think I'd pretty much agree with PaulTMA's order. Giant Steps is great, but a touch too long with just a handful of songs that don't quite hit the mark for me. On the whole, though, I think all of their Creation albums are fucking great.

Brundle-Fly

Was the single Wake Up their Shiny Happy People?  Whenever I hear it I still think of a carrot-topped, headphones wearing Chris Evans, surrounded by sycophants, gurning into a microphone.

PaulTMA

Quote from: Brundle-Fly on July 09, 2021, 03:24:34 PM
Was the single Wake Up their Shiny Happy People?  Whenever I hear it I still think of a carrot-topped, headphones wearing Chris Evans, surrounded by sycophants, gurning into a microphone.

It's more their You're Gorgeous, the unexpected giant hit that killed their credibility. You've done a good job of explaining why.  REM can leave SHP off a hits album and easily get away with it.  aside from REM already being being fairly massive in the long run with a larger back catalogue, It's more of a popular mistep in their eyes, rather than being an albatross like Wake Up Boo, their only proper hit.

purlieu

All appearances of 'Wake Up Boo!' should be replaced with 'Wake Up Boo!: Music for Astronauts' in its full nine minute glory.

I don't actually mind the song, really, it's a fun pop song and I like the fact that, despite being such an obviously 'sunny' song, the chorus is minor key. Its ubiquity definitely did the band no favours, although I honestly think it's a better song than, say, 'Parklife' or 'Country House' in terms of the slightly novelty britpop hit single stakes.

Rev+

'Wake Up Boo' is just a legitimately good song on every level, and at the time it felt like this effortless flex:  'see, we can write songs like this if we want to, but now back to slightly weirder stuff'.  It helps that the music and lyrics seem to be at war with each other, which is always a good combination.  The album that followed is the only disappointing one in their catalogue for me, because it was the most straight-laced thing they ever did.

CaledonianGonzo

If it's done anything this track has prompted an almighty Boos binge for the first time in way, way too long.

I agree with the general praise for Kingsize - although having played it on Spotify I'm only finding out just now after 23 years that there's a hidden track (Tranquillo) at the start of it.  Free Huey grates  a bit but the rest of it is big, bold and frequently very beautiful.

And we may never be this young again....

lazyhour

Verse of the new single rather embarrassingly rips off a melody from High As Monkeys. Disappointing.

Mr Eggs

Everything's Alright Forever has the 2 best bangers for Chromesthesia folk in Firesky and Skyscraper.

kaleidoscope and The Finest Kiss might give you lights.

PaulTMA

Production aside i flippin love the new single now.  Been playing it to death.  Seems very fittingly 2021 to have them come back without Martin but strangely it's kinda great

badaids


I loved the Radley's back in the day and knew Martin Carr a bit from going to their gigs.

I listened to Giant Steps the other day and still totally love I Hang Suspended, but the rest of the record I was saddened that just couldn't listen to it.  Totally bored the shit out of me and I couldn't stand Sice's voice which is, just like his head, smooth and featureless.

Rev+

It's not an album with many obvious singles, but I've never liked 'I Hang Suspended' because it's pretty much there to fulfill that role.  It's really thin.  'Lazarus' was out ages beforehand and is better in its proper, ridiculously long version.  'Barney' - well, you're stretching for singles now.

It's an album that's an album, and needs to be listened to from start to finish.

sweeper

Well, this is absolutely awful.

I loved that the Boos were one of the great overlooked-by-history bands of their era, poorly represented by their most famous moment, sealed off and, far from perfect, but finished, complete, with much to discover. 

Now, they're back with something soothing that sounds like what people think they sounded like. Just another one of those dead-eyed bastards filling the afternoon slot at the Shiiiine On Weekender.[nb]'Weekender, fuck off, fuck off and die'[/nb]

Sorry to be a negative voice among the positivity, but this thin nostalgic gruel makes me unhappy. I wish certain tombs had been left undisturbed.

CaledonianGonzo

The combo of Comb Your Hair and Song From The Blue Room one after another is god tier.

SpiderChrist

Quote from: sweeper on July 13, 2021, 10:37:26 AM
Well, this is absolutely awful.

I loved that the Boos were one of the great overlooked-by-history bands of their era, poorly represented by their most famous moment, sealed off and, far from perfect, but finished, complete, with much to discover. 

Now, they're back with something soothing that sounds like what people think they sounded like. Just another one of those dead-eyed bastards filling the afternoon slot at the Shiiiine On Weekender.[nb]'Weekender, fuck off, fuck off and die'[/nb]

Sorry to be a negative voice among the positivity, but this thin nostalgic gruel makes me unhappy. I wish certain tombs had been left undisturbed.

No need to apologise. You are not alone.

DrGreggles

Quote from: CaledonianGonzo on July 17, 2021, 10:13:19 PM
The combo of Comb Your Hair and Song From The Blue Room one after another is god tier.

Kingsize has undoubted highs, but there's a lot of misses on there for me Clive.

PaulTMA

Quote from: CaledonianGonzo on July 17, 2021, 10:13:19 PM
The combo of Comb Your Hair and Song From The Blue Room one after another is god tier.

This.  It's an astounding album

Going nuts for Everything's Alright Forever right now.  Never 'got it' before.  I shouldn't care about a band's critical standing but something seriously needs addressed concerning the Boos.  It's a crime they aren't at least regarded in the same terms as SFA

sweeper

Had assumed that Martin must have at least nodded the reunion through, even if he wasn't interested in participating. Would have thought that Sice and the rest would have sought that, perhaps even used the occasion to highlight his overlooked talents. Recent tweet from Martin suggesting otherwise:

https://twitter.com/martin_carr/status/1417422163041206277?s=21

Norton Canes


purlieu

Reminds me of Dubstar's reunion without Steve Hillier - the band's main songwriter, co-producer and performer of about 95% of the music on their tracks - and not even mentioning that he'd left. The press around their last album pretty much suggested they'd always been a duo.

PaulTMA

Quote from: sweeper on July 20, 2021, 12:42:41 PM
Had assumed that Martin must have at least nodded the reunion through, even if he wasn't interested in participating. Would have thought that Sice and the rest would have sought that, perhaps even used the occasion to highlight his overlooked talents. Recent tweet from Martin suggesting otherwise:

https://twitter.com/martin_carr/status/1417422163041206277?s=21

Sice was on the Back To Britpop podcast this week and said he and Tim were recording together and then got Rob involved on drums, then Sice visited Martin and he said he didn't want to become involved at such an advanced stage in their project.  I think Martin is saying that it is weird that he is not being mentioned in interviews, although he tweeted that right after an interview with Tim went out which indeed doesn't mention him, but the uncut zoom call has since been uploaded to Youtube and of course Martin is mentioned in that, just didn't make it article.

4:15 here to hear Sice talk about it: https://player.fm/series/back-to-britpop/the-boo-radleys-sice
Doesn't mean there might no be weird feelings about it,  of course, but I don't get the impression there's any nastiness or underhand behaviour involved.  Might be just a slightly awkward outcome that has materialised.

Beagle 2

Thanks for that Paul, it does clear things up.

I don't understand why some people are getting upset about it, it's hardly going to be a cynical reunion for the money is it? Just that using the name is going to guarantee at least a bit of an audience. I'm chuffed that those people are making music again, that's it really.

holdover

I loved Martin's Brave Captain stuff which he now seems almost embarrassed about. The albums he put out under his own name totally bored me. He was clearly the leading force behind the Boos and wrote the songs but I always got the impression that Tim was responsible for a fair bit of the arranging and production?

I'm just chuffed to hear Sice sing again.

sweeper

Quote from: PaulTMA on July 21, 2021, 07:23:17 PM
Doesn't mean there might no be weird feelings about it,  of course, but I don't get the impression there's any nastiness or underhand behaviour involved.

Maybe, but if I was Sice or one of the Sleeperblokes, when the conversation about what to call ourselves came up, I would say 'well, definitely not the Boo Radleys, because that would imply the resurrection of a long-dead band, which this project definitely isn't, agreed?'

There's a mean, dishonourable calculation at work which debases all of us as a species.

DrGreggles

Sice and Tim were members of the band throughout their career though, and Rob for most of it, so they're well within their rights to use their name.
It's hardly a Bucks Fizz situation, although I reserve the right to change that opinion if Martin is replaced by David van Day.

sweeper

They were members of a band that would have been nothing to no one if not for the contribution of the other member.

I'm not arguing from a legal perspective, I'm sure it's perfectly permissible. I just think it's grubby, desperate, transparent and bleak. If you told me in the mid-90s that I'd be flinging those words at the Boos I'd have blacked your eye.[nb]Then started crying five minutes later and apologized.[/nb]

PaulTMA

I think it's possible that he did give his blessing, with whatever mixed feelings he had/has, but checked a couple of the interviews (I think there have only been about 2?) and felt odd about not getting a mention in those, which may be more down to the journalists rather than the band attempting to write him out of history.  I'd suspect they probably feel cagey about even bringing him up, but what do I know...

I'm wondering how they are going to play live, surely they need at least five people to pull it off?

Beagle 2

I think the BBC radio interview might have pissed him off a bit as Sice was announced as "singer and songwriter for the band" and then the inane host talked about how brilliant Wake up Boo was and Sice went along with it politely.

Listen to that Britpop podcast for a better explanation of how it came about - Sice and Tim started working on songs together after Tim came to Sice's birthday get together, then thought they should get Rob to do some drums on them. They had been Martin's support band for that long that you can see why they didn't contact him until the writing was done.

By the time they decided to see if Carr wanted to get involved they already had the tunes, so you can also see why Martin may have been a bit irked and thought there was nothing for him to get involved with.

Also interesting that he said that Kingsize was Tim's album, and I've heard Martin say that abum turned out totally differently to what he imagined. But... Kingsize is great! And the new song sounds very Kingsize.

So, okay, I guess you can say it's not the Boo Radleys and they've cynically used the name to ensure some sort of audience,  but I'm still interested in hearing what they produce.


SteveDave

Quote from: Beagle 2 on July 21, 2021, 07:55:59 PM
Thanks for that Paul, it does clear things up.

I don't understand why some people are getting upset about it, it's hardly going to be a cynical reunion for the money is it? Just that using the name is going to guarantee at least a bit of an audience. I'm chuffed that those people are making music again, that's it really.

I did see a poster last year for (I think) one of those Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine On weekenders where it was "Sice Boo And The Radleys". I wonder why they've changed that?

FAKE EDIT- Here we go-