The Boo Radleys
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The Boo Radleys were a British rock band of the 1990s who were associated with the shoegazing and Britpop movements. They were formed in Wallasey, England in 1988, with singer/guitarist Sice, guitarist/songwriter Martin Carr, bassist Timothy Brown and drummer Steve Hewitt. Shortly after the release of their first album, Hewitt was replaced by Rob Cieka. The band split in 1999.
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[edit] Band name
The band is named after a character in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. In the book, Boo Radley is a misunderstood recluse.
[edit] Beginnings
In 1990, the band's first album Ichabod and I was released on a small British indie label, Action Records. It was similar in style to much of the then-popular shoegazing sub-genre, and bore the influence of My Bloody Valentine and Dinosaur Jr. Although not a commercial success, this release brought the band to the attention of Rough Trade Records, to whom they signed. Around this time, Hewitt was replaced on drums by Rob Cieka.
Almost immediately after the release of the Every Heaven EP in 1991, Rough Trade collapsed and the Boo Radleys were signed by Alan McGee's Creation Records. Their first release for Creation was Everything's Alright Forever in 1992, which was the first step in a move away from the shoegazing sound. That development in their sound was to be fully realised on their first album for Creation, Giant Steps (1993). The album takes its title from a song by jazz musician John Coltrane, of whom Martin Carr is a fan. Carr said the album "was a step away from the MBV sound into using more instruments and less conventional arrangements." The record was well-received by critics, and was awarded 9/10 by the influential weekly music magazine NME, which wrote:
- It's an intentional masterpiece, a throw-everything-at-the-wall bric-a-brac of sounds, colours and stolen ideas. That The Boo Radleys (of all people!) have decided to accept their own challenge and create a record as diverse and boundary-bending as this is, at first glance, staggering. Isn't this the job of the U2s and the leisured idols of rock, unable to do anything without the tacit approval of history? Fortunately not. The Boo Radleys are sifting through time (the mid-'60s, mostly) and conjuring up something that's as cut-up and ambitious as anything you'd care to mention.
Giant Steps placed second to Debut by Björk in the 1993 NME album of the year list, voted by the paper's contributors, although it came in first place in the subsequent NME readers' poll. The now-defunct Select magazine declared Giant Steps their album of the year for 1993.
[edit] Wake Up! and later albums
Despite such critical acclaim and a large cult fanbase, the Boo Radleys were still largely unknown to the general public by the time the Britpop phenomenon broke into the mainstream in 1995. This changed when the band released the musically (but not lyrically) upbeat single "Wake Up Boo!" in the summer of that year. It made the UK chart top 10, and has been used extensively as background music on television. "Wake Up Boo!" remained on the chart for two months, by far the band's longest run for any of its singles. (With a three-week stint on the chart, the Boo Radleys' followup release, "Find the Answer Within," was the band's only other single to chart for more than 2 weeks.)
Their fourth album Wake Up! (1995), from which both singles were taken, was close in tone to much of the catchy, melodic, Beatles inspired British pop of the time. But many tracks featured unusual arrangements and relatively complex songwriting, not to mention strangely titled songs like "Martin, Doom! It's Seven O' Clock". The group came to be seen as a Britpop band, which they resented. Interviewed in 2005 by the BBC, Martin Carr said:
- "I tried to have nothing to do with what was being called Britpop. Our whole career was spent trying not to 'fit in'. We just carried on doing what we had been doing. I didn't like most of the new bands or the flag-waving. I didn't like New Labour or idolise Paul Weller and I hated media-generated movements within music."
In 1996, Carr and the Boo Radleys responded to their brush with mainstream success with C'mon Kids. The album, which featured more experimental sounds, was considered offputting by many listeners, and blunted whatever commercial momentum the band might have had. The Boo Radleys' final album was 1998's Kingsize, which was influenced in parts by soul music, hip hop and dance music. Despite the fact that these albums were warmly received by critics, neither found commercial success. A career-spanning compilation, Find The Way Out, was released in 2005.
- The Boo Radleys - Wake Up Boo! excerpt (file info) — play in browser (beta)
- An excerpt from Wake Up Boo!
- Problems listening to the file? See media help.
[edit] Disbandment
The Boo Radleys disbanded in early 1999. Bassist Timothy Brown can now be found teaching Information Technology (ICT) at St Louis Grammar School, Kilkeel, in Northern Ireland. Under the name Bravecaptain, Martin Carr has since released six albums, including The Fingertip Saint Sessions Volume 1, Go With Yourself, Advertisements for Myself (2002) and All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace (2004). His latest work is titled Distractions and is available for free download from his website. Carr has since announced that he will be retiring the Bravecaptain name to work on new projects but these will not include reforming the Boo Radleys.
Sice walked away from music for several years after the split but following a guest vocal on Bravecaptain's All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace and also two songs with the Japanese musician Ryo Matsui's solo project, Meister, and he currently is working with his own band Paperlung on new material. Their second single Do What Thou Will is due for release in January 2007.
- Free Download of the current Bravecaptain album Distractions
- Paperlung's first video, for Do What Thou Will
[edit] Discography
[edit] EP's and singles
1990:
- Kaleidoscope
1991:
- Every Heaven EP
- Boo Up! EP
1992:
- Adrenalin EP
- Does This Hurt/Boo! Forever (reached #67 on the British charts)
- Lazarus
1993:
- I Hang Suspended
- Wish I Was Skinny (#75)
1994:
- Barney (...And Me) (#48)
- Lazarus (re-release) (#50)
- Wake Up Boo! (#9)
1995:
- Find The Answer Within (#37)
- It's Lulu (#25)
- From the Bench at Belvedere- (#24)
1996:
- What's In The Box (#25)
- C'Mon Kids (#18)
1997:
- Ride The Tiger (#38)
1998:
- Free Huey (#58)
[edit] Albums
- Ichabod and I (July 1990)
- Everything's Alright Forever (March 1992)
- Learning To Walk (1992)
- Giant Steps (July 1993)
- Wake Up! (March 1995)
- C'mon Kids (September 1996)
- Kingsize (October 1998)
- Find the Way Out (July 2005)
