The Boo Radleys - Everything's Alright Forever (corrected poll)

Thank you dog latin!

Boo Radleys - Giant Steps Poll
Throw out your arms for a new sound: The Boo Radleys - C'Mon Kids poll
The Boo Radleys - Kingsize poll

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

― Bee OK, Friday, May 29, 2026 3:51 PM (thirty-nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

I really don't have any idea what I'm going to vote for.

― Bee OK, Friday, May 29, 2026 3:52 PM (thirty-eight minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Have we not polled Wake Up!? Crikey, that's next then

― rameau in the main room (dog latin), Friday, May 29, 2026 3:53 PM (thirty-seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

You messed up, asthesearetwosongs:

Losing It (Song for Abigail) Memory Babe.

― Bee OK, Friday, May 29, 2026 3:54 PM (thirty-six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Right now I am sure I will vote Spaniard. Just so good. But I listened to this on a long car journey in the recent UK heatwave and really this has very few low points and a lot of high points, including moments I'd kind of forgotten about

― rameau in the main room (dog latin), Friday, May 29, 2026 3:55 PM (thirty-six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Xp oh shit. Can a moderator help?

― rameau in the main room (dog latin), Friday, May 29, 2026 3:55 PM (thirty-six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

You will have to start over, ask to lock thread...

― Bee OK, Friday, May 29, 2026 3:56 PM (thirty-five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

I should just never post here. Big apologies. Ive put in a request on the mod forum

― rameau in the main room (dog latin), Friday, May 29, 2026 3:58 PM (thirty-two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Okay shut thread. Ill start over

― rameau in the main room (dog latin), Friday, May 29, 2026 4:27 PM (three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Boo Radleys - Giant Steps Poll
Throw out your arms for a new sound: The Boo Radleys - C'Mon Kids poll
The Boo Radleys - Kingsize poll

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

Going to listen tonight

CAAAAAROLYN

Gonna give it my first listen today!

I wish I liked it more wholeheartedly. It ends up being rather backloaded in part because the first half, when listening right through, keeps undermining the momentum with inessential bits. But if you *did* edit out the indistinct street noise (? -- what's all that about?) and the first meandering half of "Losing It", you'd still have two sub-2-minute songs in a row that feel like preliminary sketches. Then a few tracks on, "Room At the Top" is the most nothingy track of all IMHO, despite the cacophony.

"Lazy Day" was almost certainly the first BR song I heard and "Does This Hurt?" likely came next but Learning to Walk was what I procured first as a schoolkid, for some reason. Some of the comp is arguably a bit sloppy but there's little on it that feels half-baked in the same way the subsequent long-player occasionally does.

Happily side 2 is pretty strong!

I think I'll vote for "Firesky", the blissful little pop confection with a silly name that I'm not sure I've ever heard anyone mention. (And whose lyrics I might be lucky to be only partially able to make out, for all I know lol.)

I now see that "Firesky" did in fact make it to #10 in the whole-discography ballot-based poll a decade ago. (Linked upthread.) Groovy.

"Memory Babe"

Just, yeah

"Memory babe" for the win

"smile fading fast" would be my #2, there's this smoldering brooding quality to it, maybe in how it's not as treble-heavy as much of the other album?

other album songs

post oh it won't win, but

xposts obv

Hooray, a Boo Radleys thread I can participate in. I don't usually because this is the only album of theirs I love. Giant Steps has some great songs on but it doesn't all work for me - I know this is heresy - and I never really bothered with them after that. But this one I truly love. Something about the combination of pastoral acoustic guitar and squalling noise (fwiw I don't give a shit about loveless), the consistency of approach, their way with pop hooks; and the fact that it hit me at just the right time during my first year at uni (not exactly sure when I bought it but it was released six months before I went), when I was finding myself and new friends and experiences, but also the same old disappointments and heartaches, which the album speaks to. It's irrevocably tied up in that time and definitely in my top ten of albums from then.

Spaniard: one of the best album intros. The most gentle lead in, strummed and flamenco guitars, then it starts to shimmer. A hit of pathos ("I've given all that I have/And if that's not enough I'm sorry"), then the best trumpet solo flowers over a haunted choir.
Towards the light: brings the noise, bookending a perfect little pop song verse. Yeah they could have stretched it out a bit but it's a gorgeous little gem.
Losing It (Song for Abigail): objectively the 2 minute intro is pointless but it's baked into my concept of the album and I just let it float past. The second part - it's a mood.
Memory Babe: quiet and loud done to perfection.
Skyscraper: a bit of a gentle/heavy juxtaposition again, the almost hendrix-like guitars over the end tower over everything.
I Feel Nothing: sheets of noise and a mellow summery ditty dissolve and precipitate in and out of each other. The mellow bits remind me of Saint Etienne, it could almost be Sarah Cracknell singing.
Room at the Top: on the whole I'm glad they focussed more on songs than noise experiments like this, but as a kind of album interlude it's pretty good.
Does This Hurt? Great title. Fantastic beat. The way the guitars never stop squalling. The final kiss-off line. Amazing.
Sparrow: a lovely little song sketch
Smile Fade Fast: the fastest track? Feels like a desperate dash to escape from a massive downer.
Firesky: the extra guitar part that comes in towards the end tops this off perfectly.
Song for the Morning to Sing: I bet this is on many summer themed playlists.
Lazy Day: five seconds of The Beatles, a simple riff for 30 seconds, then suddenly we're in a blender. Repeat.
Paradise: Highlights how good the sequencing is, it's a perfect closer, finishing in a good mood. The fact there's only one short vocal section makes it hard to get a sense of how it works as a track but I think it's a kind of subtle epic. The 'drop' at 4:00 is the capstone for the album as a whole.

It's probably between Spaniard or Does This Hurt? for me.

The sequencing of this album is great, you're right. It feels just right, like a proper journey or suite

I guess its too late to chuck in "Sunfly" ?

Talking about the perfect sequence, here's the Rough Trade cassette of the proposed lp running order from 5th Nov 1991

A1 Firesky
A2 Spaniard
A3 Memory Babe
A4 Towards The Light
A5 Sparrow
A6 Room At The Top
B1 Skyscraper
B2 Ravi Shankar's Got The Blues
B3 Losing It
B4 I Feel Nothing
B5 Song For The Morning To Sing
B6 Does This Hurt
B7 Lazy Day
B8 Paradise
B9 Smile Fades Fast

Whereas the cd running order would have been:

A1 Spaniard 4:01
A2 Towards The Light 1:41
A3 Losing It (Song For Abigail) 4:01
A4 Memory Babe 3:19
A5 Skyscraper 4:46
A6 I Feel Nothin' 3:06
A7 Room At The Top 5:05
A8 Does This Hurt? 3:56
A9 Sparrow 1:51
A10 Smile Fades Fast 3:13
A11 Firesky 5:04
A12 Song For The Morning To Sing 2:30
A13 Lazy Day 1:34
A14 Paradise 5:51

On first listen (near the end of Side A), I'm enjoying the vibe and the juxtaposition of quiet & LOUD, but feeling frustrated by how low Sice's vocals are in the mix.

That tape sequence is odd. I might have to turn it into a playlist to see how it works.

Hang on, "Ravi Shankar's got the blues"???

I'm not familiar with that one either.

Despite being a big fan, this album and all the pre-Giant Steps era kind of washed over me until 2021, I remember it clicking and listening to it repeatedly on Brighton beach in glorious weather, after nearly a year and a half of being stuck in the house - it's now a favourite, and a go-to album when the sun really decides to show up

It's interesting how they almost had two careers. I barely knew the post-Giant Steps material before undertaking remedial studies for Bee OK's preferential-ballot poll. :) They're a veritable Fleetwood Mac. Or Pink Floyd? Soul Asylum? Um... Chumbawamba?

"Now it's coming On faster than you'll ever know"

I have just listened to this album two nights in a row and:

This is one of the greatest albums of all-time or being a bit hyperbolic, it's one great album from 1992. It really is a piece and needs to nest inside while listening to the whole thing. What a time to be alive!

"Skyscraper" what an opt title

I can't listen to this album without thinking of scorched grass, crickets and blazing sunsets,

Giant Steps has this late autumnal feeling. It's a blustery day in November type of album.

Whereas EAF is pure summer. The way the guitars almost sound like a field of grass as seen on a hot day when the heat distorts the landscape

The Mediteranean feel of the opener (I assume they called it 'Spaniard' just because it sounded a bit Spanish) sets the scene and after that you're just hurtling into the sun while laying back on a hammock enjoying the view

I know it would be considered sacrilege to some here - and I' not saying it would be superior - but I'd like to hear an alt mix with Sice's vocals bumped up, simply to observe if it would sound any more like Boos Phase 2

I'm starting to wonder if "Ravi Shankar's got the blues" is the first two minutes of "Losing it (song for Abigail)", a song which is pretty evil in itself... It's about Abigail Folgar... "Now it's coming down faster than you'll ever know".

I've been thinking way too hard about this.

New listener reports in, Chapter 2:

The back half of Sparrow is pretty awesome.

I like the intro to Abigail. Makes me feel like I'm standing at a bonfire at some sort of outdoor rave or festival

Yeah, I don't hate it, despite kinda dissing it above. Maybe a tighter take could have served as an opening theme before "Spaniard" or something. I just dislike all the (near) dead air inexplicably loaded towards the start of the record. I mean, the fairly-slight-to-begin-with song-y bit of "Abigail" then fades out for something like a third of its length. I'm all "Oh do stop faffing about lads" by this point, and thankfully they mostly do after that!

Torn between 'Smile Fades Fast' and 'Firesky' and I think in both songs my favorite part is the bridge before the return to the main riff.

As great as Giant Steps is, this is my favourite Boo Radleys album - there's only 'Room at the Top' I'm not keen on.

I really like Room At The Top. One of these tracks that reframes EAF in a more experimental light beyond "here are 14 boilerplate shoegaze songs", pointing towards the more ambitious sound Giant Steps.

Speaking of which, Song For Abigail sounds like a proto-Lazarus in parts. I keep expecting the trumpet riff to burst forth at certain sections.

If I were to drop anything it would be Towards The Light (which is fine but nothing special and surplus to requirements. Sounds like an offcut from the Learning To Walk era - at least it's short). Skyscraper doesn't do huge amounts for me either - it's fine, if a bit long, ploddy, a bit messy, and hasn't got the melodicism of some of the other songs here.

I enjoy I Feel Nothing. The waltz-time reminds me of "We Walk" from R.E.M.'s Murmur. This little 6/4 oasis in a scorched desert of noise.

Spaniard
Very likely the one I'm going to vote for. You can tell the band were starting to branch out stylistically at this point, and the Sketches Of Spain trumpet that bursts in around the 2:30 mark transplants us from the Wirral to the Plaza de Toros. Even the children's voices that bookend the track sound faintly Iberian. It's a perfect mood piece and scene-setter for EAF which as I said before is intrinsically a hot and scorching Summer's album for me

Towards The Light
The least remarkable track on the album. In fact it's the only real "skip". A noisy <2min racket more reminiscent of their earlier work. I'd much rather have gone from "Spaniard" into the subdued bonfirey haze of the intro to "Losing It (Song For Abigail", which would have worked brilliantly.

Losing It (Song For Abigail)
Yes, this would have worked so well as track 2 after Spaniard's realtively light touch. "Now it's coming down faster than you've ever seen". A proto-Lazarus. I like the strange ping-ponging lo-fi electronic effect buried away in there.

Memory Babe
One of the few true "pop" songs on here. Could've worked well as a single if Sice's vox weren't so far back in the mix. "Remember when we used to stay up all night and laugh?" is a great line. Sadly(?) I can't discern any of the others

Skyscraper
As I said above, it's the only other one I'd skip if I had to. It's fine, just nothing special. A bit slow and stuck in a straight-up shoegaze zone, like a remainder from the earlier EPs as opposed to forging new paths. One noticeable thing is the guitar solo around the 3.10 mark which sounds very-much in the playing style they would continue to use on later albums, especially C'Mon Kids.

I Feel Nothing
Already said this, but another deviation from the formula with this 6/4 time signature. The use of more acoustic sounds is welcome and follows-on from the rustic feel of "Spaniard". Also does the quiet/loud/wuiet/loud thing they'd lean into further on songs like "Leaves And Sand"

Room At The Top
Again, I already said this above, but I love how the album continues to deviate from the set formula of their earlier work. A repeated vocal over ever-layered drumless guitar drones, Sice's vocal frying into the sky. And then it degrades into this Alvin Lucier-style tape recording, looping over and over. Yes, I like it.

Does This Hurt?
Would have made for a funny sequence if this had preceded "I Feel Nothing". But here we are back to proper pop after the more outre experimentations of the last few tracks. They should have just called the track "Carolyn". Some propulsive drum work from Rob. Sice sounds great. A good un!

Sparrow
The second half of this album works well as a lightly-conceptual rural-psychedelic suite. The second part of the short and perfectly sweet "Sparrow" reminds me of The Stranglers' "Golden Brown" and I wonder if that was deliberate or not.

Smile Fade Fast
Another scorching pop song that would have worked just as well on one of the Learning To Walk EPs. Nothing special to report on this one other than it's a pleasant 3 minutes spent.

Firesky
The guitar sound on this one epitomises that hazy, mirage-like feeling this album emits. Like a field in summer that's been bleached gold by the sun.

Song For The Morning To Sing
A detour into folksy pastoralism. The clarion of the lead guitar that bookends it sounds aptly like a songbird telling you to er.... wake up

Lazy Day
I don't love this short, punky single as much as a lot of you, but it's fine. Surprised it's only 1:34 which is extremely short considering this is one of their most celebrated early songs. This feels like a precursor to the more outre-pop of Wake Up and the rockier end of C'Mon Kids

Paradise
A fine closer which does the job of victory-lapping through the various styles and sounds established on the rest of the album. Definitely one of the better and more overlooked pieces here. I really like the mellow section at around the 2 minute mark, which hints towards the vibe they'd be exploring a bit more on Giant Steps.

Overall this is a scorching, sun-bleached sort of album. I have a distinct memory of listening to it on hoilday in the southern French countryside as a teenager, and I couldn't think of a better setting really. Giant Steps by comparison is cold and urban-sounding. Wake Up feels more like the cool daylight of early Spring.

Coming back to EAF though,. I'm convinced it's as close to a masterpiece as a band like the Boos could have got to at that stage in their careers. Glimmers of the sublime in almost every track and certainly a showcase of them being more than just a bunch of second-tier shoegaze wannabes.

I carried out a totally unofficial listening party for EAF on Twitter in the early days of lockdown, I'll have to dig my notes out. It was quite successful because someone on the Wichita Records account contributed - presumably Martin. Anyway I'll dig em out asap.

The best shoegaze album that isn't "Loveless". "Memory Babe" gets my vote.

An attempt at an alternative "God Mode" version of the album, swapping-out a couple of the less interesting tracks (including, controversially Lazy Day) with a couple of fave B-sides from that era

1. Spaniard
2. Losing It (Song For Abigail)
3. Memory Babe
4. Vegas
5. I Feel Nothing
6. Room At The Top
7. Does This Hurt?
8. Song For The Morning To Sing
9. Sparrow
10. Firesky
11. Smile Fade Fast
12. Buffalo Bill
13. Paradise

I would have swapped "Paradise" for "Whiplashed" which I think would have made a better album closer.

ooh nice call. I might try it like that

Relistened to this album today for the first time in many years (I own it on cassette but have no functional cassette deck), and I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected to.
The album really hits its stride on Side B with Smile Fades Fast -> Firesky.
Lazy Day could almost be a Dinosaur Jr song.
Still not sure how to vote...

(Spotify also got me to watch the video for "I Hang Suspended", and that might have forever ruined my favorite Boo Radleys song. Christ.)

Haha, I don't think I've seen that before today either, re "IHS". Was there ever a thread for "groansomely literal" music videos?

I strenuously approve of a EAF with "Vegas" on the tracklist. It damn near makes me weep despite 99.97% cluelessness about what he might be singing.

Also: "Sunfly" is not especially fabulous, is it? Can't say its absence from my CD copy ever kept me awake at night.

That should be more like "...not especially fabulous, innit <interrobang>" to be clear. Largely rhetorical, but would enjoy reading a passionate defence lol.

Can't remember what Sunfly sounds like but Sunfly II: Walking With The Kings is quite a fun attempt to go a bit techno. It would sound out of plave on EAF though

I love Sunfly II!

But emphatically don't love Everything's Alright Forever yet, even after a bunch of listens. Many of you wrote about how the album took hold of you *suddenly*, in some unexpected place and time, after which it became and stayed a big favorite -- I guess that's what I'll need to count on, too. Every other Boo Radleys (and Brave Captain / Martin Carr solo album) has won me over instantly... I can admire aspects of this record, especially after reading the many beautifully descriptive posts above, but my heart isn't coming along.

Yeah I'd call it a grower

The EAF bonus 7" version of Sunfly lacks the stylistic bells and whistles of "II". I may just be getting restless with basically the same chord progression for 3 minutes. "Are you sure you've finished writing this one, chaps?" etc.

Well I've never heard "Sunfly" before today. Not sure I'm in a hurry to hear it again really. "Sunfly II" is ace though, a nice way to end an EP where the Boos start to stretch their wings.

I would have swapped "Paradise" for "Whiplashed" which I think would have made a better album closer.

(Listens to Whiplashed) - utter madness. Utterly inaudible mumbled lyrics and textbook chugging 90s guitars vs "we can get what we want from this life, we are young, we are the dream!", a shimmering summery interlude, a trumpet hook to echo the one in the first track, and a wall of sound to finish it off.

The Boos agreed to the vid of "I Hang Suspended", liked the idea of being suspended. Then they realised that the video producers didn't have any other ideas.
They hate it, obv.

did they have any good music videos? i'm not sure i remember seeing any. ride the tiger is jokes

I saw "Lazarus" on The Chart Show, which introduced me proper to the Boos. That was alright, I believe...

In early 1992 the stylus on my record player started to give up the ghost so by the time this album came out I had to break the habit of a lifetime and buy things on cassette (until I got a CD player for Christmas many months later). Without the even the grooves on a record to guide me, let alone the track numbers on a CD, I found it impossible to work out which names went with some of the songs (because I assumed that Losing It (Song For Abigail) was actually two different tunes), so even now, even though I know all the songs, I can't remember their names most of the time.

Just listening through again for this poll. The contenders - Spaniard: always thought this was excellent and it will probably get my vote. Skyscraper: love the intro. Room At The Top: hypnotic noise. Does This Hurt: catchy almost-pop drowned in feedback. Firesky: I remember rediscovering this when we did the ballot poll some years ago, very tempted to vote for this actually.

To be honest, this is my least favorite era of the Boo Radleys. I think the Learning to Walk era is about 100x better and still adore Kingsize. It spoke to me the most for some reason that I've explained elsewhere.

Paradise
Skyscraper
Firesky

To be clear, this is only comparing to other Boo Radleys albums, next tier would be:

Does This Hurt?
Spaniard
Memory Babe
Lazy Day
Song for the Morning to Sing

The album that's aged for me is C'mon Kids. I really like Four Saints but otherwise the much-touted "back to weird"-ness isn't all that pronounced.
The two lead singles are lumpen meat'n'potatoes rockers. And there's a little too much Oasish Britpop DNA in the production to save it from sounding like a product of its time.
When the weirdness does come through it feels forced, effortful, and marred by sophomoric whimsy and bubblegum psychedelia.
By contrast Wake Up has loads of "weird" moments but because the lyrics aren't about worms and tigers and bullfrogs it's seen as their "straight pop" record

Bee OK, I love the Learning To Walk stuff but personally wouldn't put it above EAF

Kingsize, for better or worse, sounds like it was made in Microsoft PowerPoint. The songs are strong though - stronger than C'mon Kids. It could have done with a bit of trimming. Feels like there are a lot of "twin songs", i.e. Two songs on the same album that do the same thing or serve a similar purpose.

Twin songs on Kingsize, or C'mon Kids

Twin songs on Kingsize. Eurostar and Adieu Clo Clo. High As Monkeys and Heaven's At The Bottom Of This Glass. I don't think Comb Your Hair is a very interesting song although I get the impression the band like it. Could have been left off

Nah, "Comb Your Hair" was discussed as being the third single, and Martin quit due to the sad inevitably of the whole process...

The inevitability of it being released as a single?

Old Newsstand feels like a more obvious choice. Should have been the lead single

Xpost yeah, that.

I just couldn't see that song doing anything as a single, even if they had been more popular at that stage. Newsstand feels more fleshed out and memorable

I love "Comb Your Hair" if edited then "Free Huey" is the only obvious cuts. I guess you could cut "The Future is Now" too as it does feel out of place but then I would add "Put Your Arms Around Me..."

But to agree with dog latin, "The Old Newsstand at Hamilton Square" is an obvious career highlight and the better song.

This has been a great poll and discussion.

We should do Wake Up! next. I don't think it's been polled

I think "Newstand" did pretty much *immediately* make it onto my ballot for the big 2015 poll after *finally* giving a listen to Kingsize!

We should do Wake Up! next. I don't think it's been polled

And that's a poll I would join in passionately!

I hope we let it breathe a little bit

Wasn't The Future Is Now their original choice for the lead single?

That would have been a wild choice. I like the song but can't hear it as a single

There's something in the My Magpie Eyes book where Alan McGee dismisses it as "not even a C-side"

I don't get why McGee was so vocally disparaging of a band that got him probably one of his biggest hit singles this side of Oasis

I think he and Carr had some kind of falling out in the late 90s. There's been a lot of talk about how they were 'Dick Green's band' and McGee 'never got them' etc, but I doubt it's quite as simplistic as that

But yeah, McGee basically pressured Carr into coming up with a hit single, and it backfired as much as it was a success

But yeah, McGee basically pressured Carr into coming up with a hit single, and it backfired as much as it was a success

you can say that again

Every album has a moment where you can tell they were sweating to try and write another pop hit. Even before Wake Up Boo, to me, the intense psychedelic swirl of Giant Steps gets interrupted by Wish I Was Skinny and Barney & Me which feel like huge landing bumps in an otherwise soaring journey. Not bad songs, they just interrupt the flow of the thing

Yeah, Alen McGee turned into a dick in regards to this band.

the intense psychedelic swirl of Giant Steps gets interrupted by Wish I Was Skinny and Barney & Me which feel like huge landing bumps in an otherwise soaring journey. Not bad songs, they just interrupt the flow of the thing

I know what you mean, but I think they belong there. It would be a lesser album without those tracks.

I think the lesson Carr learned in between Giant Steps and Wake Up was to do things like have a proper strong, concise hook, sing the title etc, which wasn't really something that was executed too much in the previous singles. Those are great 'indie' singles but fall a bit short of crossover

I can barely comprehend not thinking of "Wish I Was Skinny" as one of Carr's more perfectly-formed compositions and an inevitable highlight of any longplayer it might have ended up on!

^ I now see, decades on, that it too had a less than perfectly executed promo video. Bless. :)

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

The Giant Steps tour from a few years back was a complete joy to tag along for
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08Qldx37Gz8

I wish for things and
I pray all day

Looking forward to seeing how this plays out

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

I don't get why McGee was so vocally disparaging of a band that got him probably one of his biggest hit singles this side of Oasis

― rameau in the main room (dog latin)

I remember Alan slagging off the Wake Up album in the press at some point after they'd split referring to it as a atrocity exhibition. He made some comment about the label losing money on the From The Bench At Belvidere single as well.

By the time of Kingsize he had absolutely no interest in the band and said they'd be lucky to sell 10,000 copies of the album which is probably about what it sold eventually (and would get you a top three album now). I wish they'd gone to a different label for that last album. It deserved so much better. I do wonder who came up with the idea of putting out Free Huey as the lead single. Was it some kind of self sabotage or did everyone really believe in it?

Because of the success of Wake Up! Mercury Records picked them up for C'Mon Kide but did drop them. King-size was then pick up and released in the US, was six months later and they already broke up. It seems like there were plans? That release had Put Your Arms Around Me on it and how I acquired it.

It was on the Australian CD, that's how I got it. Also, "Tranquilo", the UK rewindie, but they didn't do the rewind stuff in Aus.

Oh, and the UK double LP, obv.

This poll got 100 posts but not that many votes. Anyways, here are the results of the first abandoned poll:

Poll Results
Option Votes
Losing It (Song for Abigail) Memory Babe 2
Paradise 1
Song for the Morning to Sing 1

Good to see the last two got votes. I was feeling sorry for SFTMTS especially

I kept forgetting to contribute to the thread but I did vote (semi-arbitrarily for smile fades fast).

you can still contribute!

Ha, I never noticed that about "Tortoiseshell"

― Mark G, Thursday, 23 April 2015 19:28 (eleven years ago) bookmarkflaglink

Ha, I never noticed that about "Tortoiseshell"

Never noticed what?

― (Meme From) Essex Press (Nasty, Brutish & Short), Thursday, 23 April 2015 21:47 (eleven years ago) bookmarkflaglink

.. that they did two renditions of that one. One for the "Every Heaven" ep, and one for the "Barney and Me" one.

Sorry, it took some time to work out what I hadn't noticed, and subsequently forgot.... (copied over from the big ballot thread)

You know, I would love it if the current Boos lineup did an acoustic tour of the early work. I could see a lot of the LTW/EAFE material working great as psychedelic folk songs

Just for fun I got my old classical guitar out and recorded three Boos songs with my Mac microphone. All one take, so apologise for murdering: https://soundcloud.com/charliestoictrax/booradleys

Thanks for sharing your covers of these songs dog latin!

.. that they did two renditions of that one. One for the "Every Heaven" ep, and one for the "Barney and Me" one.

Sorry, it took some time to work out what I hadn't noticed, and subsequently forgot.

I'm staggered to discover the big ballot was 11 years ago already. Thanks for the belated answer anyway.

You know, I would love it if the current Boos lineup did an acoustic tour of the early work. I could see a lot of the LTW/EAFE material working great as psychedelic folk songs

Absolutely. The acoustic version of Everybird on youtube is fantastic. I was thinking the other day that Skyscraper deserves the same treatment.

Just for fun I got my old classical guitar out and recorded three Boos songs with my Mac microphone.

Sadly the first one's from the album I hardly bothered to listen to and the other two are from the album I didn't bother to buy so I don't know those songs. I managed to work out how to play the intro to Spaniard a few years ago, and the chords to Everybird, but I've forgotten again now.

From where I'm standing the first and last weren't on any of the UK albums

Ah! I just lazily checked what years they came out and made an assumption.

"Put Your Arms Around Me and Tell Me Everything's Going to Be OK" is where I got my username but I have talked about Kingsize enough on this thread. You should give it another go tho. "From the Bench at Belvidere" is quite simply one of the Boo's best songs.

Think I've worked it out again: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFa05vnUIb0

Played the whole album today.

"Song for the Morning to Sing" should have had at least one vote.

Hard agree. The shame about polls like this is you can't vote for a top 2 or 3

"Song for..." works particularly well in context. "Firesky" to the end of the record might be the most pleasing four-track BRs sequence I can even think of tbh. (Related challenging opinion: part of me kinda wanted to skip just about every second track on Giant Steps last time I listened to it. *ducks* )

So as I say, i dug up my Boo albums, the three Cherry Red deluxe editions (Giant Steps has all the Everything's Alright Forever singles plus b-sides which means the free single got missed but otherwise is a great collection.. oh yeah close bracket).

Wake up and C'mon Kids also deluxe editions...

So that leaves Kingsize and Everythings' in need of a good packaging.

And of course "Learning to Walk"

I put an order in for the "Find the Way Out" anthology which i found cheap.

The 1 disc "best of" is on Spotify, it can stay there unless I see it in the wild.

I did compare the two "Tortoiseshell" versions. Very much an Old Boos vs New Boos.

Maaaannnn... I have all the Learning To Walk EPs but it works so well as an album with those (admittedly a little rough'n'ready) Love and New Order covers on there.

Seriously thinking of going to one of those one-off vinyl pressing plants and getting LOTW and my And Tomorrow The World comp put on some slabs of plastic

I hadn't realised until yesterday that "Find The Way Out" has some "Ichabod and I" tracks on it, not on CD otherwise.

Gee, not necessarily the Ichabod tracks I'd have guessed! "Eleanor Everything" was robbed, etc.

I'll maybe wanna go back to Ichabod. My copy is a bit weird - has no label on the vinyl and the hole is weirdly a bit too wide, which makes me wonder if it's a bootleg (but why would anyone go to those lengths to press up a bootleg with a proper sleeve and then make the vinyl all weird?). I saw another copy in Ghost Papa in Margate the other day and I was so sorely tempted to snap it up as it's rare to come across. My wallet decided otherwise. With the best will in the world it's not something I'd play every day

Great work on the Spaniard intro there btw, NB&S

Cheers.

I voted Fireksy in the end, despite thinking I was definitely going to vote for Spaniard. Must have listened to this album more over the last two or three weeks than in the whole of the previous decade or more.

re: Learning To Walk - I assume the reason it's not on Apple Music / Spotify is because those EPs were on Rough Trade, not Creation? It's a bit annoying. I mean, I've got all the tunes myself, but it's annoying not being able to make a streaming playlist for other people.

re: Find The Way Out - I didn't even know this existed. Looking at it, it seems a fairly random selection of tracks. I'd agree with Catweazle off Ichabod (and Kaleidoscope, but I suspect this is the EP version instead), but not the other two. You can't leave Naomi off Every Heaven. Sunfly 2 / Buffalo Bill - I recognise these names but can't remember anything about the songs. They were on the B-side of one of the 1992 EPs, weren't they? I can't have liked them much.

re: Icahbod & I on vinyl - my copy was left in a cardboard box in my parents' loft for years and got bent to such an extent it's impossible to play any more.

re: Learning To Walk - I assume the reason it's not on Apple Music / Spotify is because those EPs were on Rough Trade, not Creation? It's a bit annoying. I mean, I've got all the tunes myself, but it's annoying not being able to make a streaming playlist for other people.

This is correct, they're on Rough Trade Records. I'm right there with you in regards to streaming, I mean I also own the EPs along with Learning to Walk CD but they are packed away. Its YouTube or nothing at the moment.

re: Find The Way Out - I didn't even know this existed. Looking at it, it seems a fairly random selection of tracks. I'd agree with Catweazle off Ichabod (and Kaleidoscope, but I suspect this is the EP version instead), but not the other two. You can't leave Naomi off Every Heaven. Sunfly 2 / Buffalo Bill - I recognise these names but can't remember anything about the songs. They were on the B-side of one of the 1992 EPs, weren't they? I can't have liked them much.

I also own Find the Way Out because I wanted "Tomorrow." The only thing I'm missing is that Best Of comp which is worthless to me and the promo "Kingsize" single which I have been looking to own for years. I don't remember which "Kaleidoscope" version it is but something tells me it's the album version. Yes, those are B-sides from around this time, EAF ones to boot.

re: Icahbod & I on vinyl - my copy was left in a cardboard box in my parents' loft for years and got bent to such an extent it's impossible to play any more.

I had a friend who was going to London and asked him to pick it up for me if he found it. He found it so I do own it but hardly played it.

Buffalo Bill and Sunfly II are both fab!

Campaign to reissue Learning To Walk (with accompanying acoustic tour)

I went down to R&TE (as it was) in Notting Hill on a daily basis when i heard the Kingsize single release was cancelled.

I still have that 5 track promo.

There remains one track "Superintendent", which remains unreleased (otherwise).

There remains one track "Superintendent", which remains unreleased (otherwise)

Also "Last Night I Dreamt of God" is unreleased.

Gosh. I know ive got digital copies of these but I cant remember them at all

Xpost its on here, a free promo cd. Free with what, i dunno...

https://www.discogs.com/release/503641-The-Boo-Radleys-Everything-Is-Sorrow

If I had to make a completely speculative guess, I’d say with a ticket to see the Manic Street Preachers arena tour in April 1997

Oh wow, I remember using that image in our Boo's poll but didn't remember it being on there. They were finally going to release it on the "Kingsize" single but was canceled.

Just listened to "Lazy Day" while putting the car through a car wash. Sounds like it'd fit on "Ichabod"

Hah! I had no idea B side Buffalo Bill is basically a rip off of A Taste Of Honey

"Spaniard" and "Lazarus" can be heard when listening to "This Time Tomorrow" by The Move.

What timing this poll was, I just got this in my inbox:

Hello Boo-sters

We are very excited to announce that our first album for Creation Records in 1992 Everything’s Alright Forever is being reissued on vinyl as part of the Sony Classics series on September 4th.

And... wait for it.... you can pre-order a copy right now on our web store:

https://thebooradleys.tmstor.es/product/everything-s-alright-forever-reissue-lp-vinyl

Tugging on our nostalgia strings, we cast our collective minds back to the making of the record in 1992...

Unlike all our other albums after Everything’s Alright Forever, we had rehearsed up some of the songs that would end up on the record before we went into the studio. Plus, we had played some live.

We recorded this in First Protocol studios on Benwell Road, north London. And mixed it in Air Studios on Oxford Street. The Beautiful South were there at the same time - which was a treat!

Our first experiences in recording, the first Rough Trade EPs, were done with Rudy from AR Kane (Kaleidoscope) and then Alan Moulder (Every Heaven and Boo! Up).

The album was due to be released as part of our deal with Rough Trade and so we were working with their somewhat meagre budget. We were blissfully unaware that the label was about to go bust.

Creation Records stepped in and signed us after we’d finished recording. They did a fantastic job promoting the band and the record, with both the album and the Does This Hurt? single making the charts.

My memory is that we had wanted Alan Moulder to produce the record but, as he wasn’t available, we agreed to work with Ed Buller. But once we started recording, the choice didn’t really sit well with any of us. It felt off. A mismatch.

We had a bunch of great songs written by Martin but, rather than allowing us to indulge in guitar pedal analogue noisiness, Ed was floating pristine rack mounted digital effects over the top which didn’t quite sound “Boo dirty” enough. The fact that the gear we owned at that time was shite might have been one of the reasons for his preferences!

So, we felt some of the songs lost their raw power with the ethereal, panning, guitar effects shifting the overall sound towards the emerging “shoegaze” genre. A label we found horribly derogatory at the time.

We had left our Dinosaur Jnr / MBV soundalike past and were moving towards our Giant Steps future. See Buffalo Bill, one of the tracks on the Boo! Forever EP, which pointed the way forwards.

Without Ed there would have not been the spectacular Spanish-esque trumpet solo on Spaniard. He got the right man in (Roddy Lorimer) and it sounded amazing and unique.

But the album didn’t sound like the noise we were making live and we had no one to blame but ourselves with our disappointment at how it turned out. But this discontent led to us arrogantly saying “we’ll do it ourselves without a producer”.

We maybe didn’t realise it at the time, but we learned a lot of studio craft from Ed - without which our confidence to self-produce could have proven to be our folly.

And Giant Steps landed with a huge critical thump after that, and Everything’s Alright Forever was a crucial step in our development as a band.

Tim, Sice & Rob

Everything’s Alright Forever (Reissue)

Originally released in 1992, Everything's Alright Forever captures The Boo Radleys at the exhilarating point where their swirling shoegaze roots began to blossom into something brighter, bolder and unmistakably their own.

Layering shimmering guitars, adventurous studio experimentation and soaring melodies with an infectious sense of optimism, the album stands as one of the defining records of the era and a vital step toward the band's later mainstream breakthrough.

Featuring fan favourites "Lazy Day," "Does This Hurt?" and "I Feel Nothing," this lovingly restored reissue offers the perfect opportunity to rediscover a richly inventive album whose ambition, emotional warmth and boundless imagination continue to resonate decades later.

My favorite Boo album. Fascinating insights. $20 shipping but may indulge.