Welcome! Welcome to a rather sprawling set of tunes, a culling of a
decade in the life of a "briefly-famous," because they had a few hits
throughout Europe; but if you're not familiar with the Boo Radleys,
don't blame yourself. The problem is either that you're American
(like me), or Sudanse or Nepali or something, or else the problem is
simpler: that the Boos turned down their many chances to turn their
chart-topper "Wake Up Boo" into the most durable jingle for corn
flakes, orange juice, and/or cocaine ever made. Still, the Boo
Radleys are not a briefly-famous band to take lightly, for the Boo
Radleys could, if they'd wanted, have been the greatest pop band ever…
But how many great tunes do you already know that hang around being
pretty all day? Lots. Me too. And they're lovely to have. But if
the Boo Radleys had sent the world a hundred more, you know perfectly
well that this collection would be the eighth Radleys compilation in
the last five years, and that we'd now be stuck with book-length
minute-by-minute accounts of their recording sessions. You'd have
otherwise smart, funny, insightful friends who would natter at us for
hours about the soul of the Boos' inspiration until finally you yelled
"Of course the Boos were sodding brilliant, and of course 'New
Brighton Promenade' was inspired by the nutrition label on a package
of carrots, now could you shut up already!?!?" And since that's no
way to talk to a friend, we must feel thankful that their music
instead was richer, odder, and just a shade less omnipresent.
This
way, you can unlock its secrets yourself: Just by listening, and
listening, and listening again…
The first and fourth paragraph from the compilation
Find the Way
Out by Keith Cameron.
Is there anything more to really to say? AMG has rated this 4 and ½ stars but no review yet. I adore this band and believe that they are one of the best bands ever! I think the music speaks for itself. So this is a bit of my guessing review of their brand new compilation called
Find the Way Out. Cut short because of time reasons with no time to rewrite.
Acquiring this compilation was not the easiest thing in the world.
Came out on July 4th 2005 and went to my local area (Los Angeles)
record stores. Went to a store called Arons and they were sold out,
than off to Amoeba and they also didn't have it. Even though I left
with a huge stack of CD's, I wasn't happy because I went for only one. Fortunately, I had to go to the Bay Area for business which in turn
led me to Mod Lang in Berkeley where I was able to buy my copy.
This compilation is beautiful. It has six pages of notes and
information from that Keith Cameron, which I haven't finished reading
yet. The next few pages have a full discography. Then it closes with
Martin Carr giving a brief description of how the songs on this came
about over six more pages. The remastering sounds amazing consistent
throughout the whole CD. Castle Music did a great job on this.
I just really love this band, as most of you already know. This happens to be brand new and thought I would share with Obner a few songs from this compilation. This is not for everyone but they were very good at what they did, just look at that cover.
CD One:
Breaking the compilation down into time periods. When they first
started out they were a full on noise band. Dinosaur Jr. had to be
one of the biggest influences in Martin's life at that time. During
this time they released their debut album
Ichabod And I on
Action Records and is a collector's item today ($100). After that they had a
brief period with Rough Trade Records where they released 3 loud EP's
(12 songs total) that are on another compilation called
Learning to
Walk, here is one track from that period:
Insert: The Finest Kiss
Next was
Everything's Alright Forever in 1992. It was a nice change of pace back then because they went from a white noise type of band to using the Kick Horns on this track:
Insert: Spaniard
In 1993 they released what many, many people call their masterpiece
Giant Steps. It took a lot of balls to name an album that but
they didn't disappoint and this will always be the album they will be
remembered for:
Insert: Best Lose the Fear
Insert: I've Lost the Reason
: Barney (…And Me)
Single
CD Two:
Even though
Giant Steps is considered their best, they were
really just getting started with that one. No matter how much I love
that album, CD Two is what made this band my favorite. This is when
Martin Carr wrote his best songs and when you got to hear Sice's
beautiful voice shine through. These are just some of the songs that
made this band a classic, IMO.
Wake Up! was their biggest album because of the title song.
The lost Brit-Pop album from the era, but if you listen closely they
were so much better than most of those bands back than.
Insert: Wake Up Boo!: Music For Astronauts
Insert: Joel
Well, Martin Carr would never be satisfied with just doing Brit-Pop
and so he set out to make a loud and creative album.
C’mon
Kids could of their best if they included some of their B-Sides
instead. If you only wanted to hear one song of theirs that best
describes what the Boo sound is then that song would come off this
album. "Four Saints" is so mind boggling good that it’s criminal:
Insert: What's in the Box?
: Four Saints
MP3
Insert: Ride the Tiger
The Boo's saved the best for last and is lacking from this
compilation. I just believe that
Kingsize is the best thing
they have ever done:
Insert: Blueroom In Archway
: Tomorrow
B-Side
So, if you are interested in hearing my 12 songs compilation PM me and I will get it out to you. It's funny because I didn't even include anything in my personal top five and I was a bit sad that they missed songs like "Bullfrog Green" and "Put Your Arms Around Me and Tell Me Everything’s Going To
Be OK." "Lazarus" and "Kingsize" also in my top five and are on this compilation but there are so many great songs that I can leave off the best two.
I hope you enjoy the music.
