Reviews (page 6 of 7)
Conflated. This album is ambitious, but would’ve benefited from additional production and a heaping of artistic focus. You can hear the shoegaze, the pop sensibilities, the reggae influence, the orchestral swell, but they’re all very much individual and just kind of smooshed together.
A bit too pop rock
This period of music in the UK was dreary. This offers nothing to change my view. Would I listen to it again? No.
not unlistenable which is high praise on this list
Geinspireerd door het sterke jazz album met de zelfde naam. Dat is ook voor mij wel het sterkere album van de twee, dit is meer rock-ish met zelfs wat kleine punkinvloeden lijkt het? Ik vind het interessant omdat sommige nummers heel klein beginnen, de muziek als het ware word weggedraait om dan in volle bak weer terug te komen. Jammer wel dat de 'kleinere' nummers een stuk interessanter zijn dan de bak herrie die je soms te verduren krijgt. Thinking of Ways gaat de lijn naar herrie bijvoorbeeld echt opzoeken met een overstuurde gitaar, maar ze gaan bij dit nummer specifiek de lijn niet echt over. Dat vind ik dus heel vet, jammer dat ze meestal juist er voor kiezen om wel echt een explosie aan geluid te produceren. Ja dit is wel echt een typisch voorbeeld van een album wat een stuk interessanter was geweest als iemand rond nummer 10 had gezegd "Ok jongens, nog max 2 nummers, anders word het echt veel te lang! " Nu zit me er zoveel filler in, dat het wel een gezicht lijkt van de gemiddelde Hollywood ster. Sommige nummers en stukken zijn echt wel interessant, maar te veel word te lang doorgevoerd of teveel de noise hoek ingeduwd waar ik gewoon echt he-le-maal niets mee heb. Het voelt nu ook gewoon lullig om in een nummer de hele tijd te benoemen "The end is near" en dan nog 3 nummers door te gaan... Dit begon best ok, maar uiteindelijk heb ik gewoon sterk het idee dat per ongeluk de verkeerde Giant Steps op de lijst is gezet. Wat een lange zit en wat zal ik nooit meer aan dit album denken zeg... FAVO: Thinking of Ways, Best lose the fear
Best Song: Wish I Was Skinny. A bit more upbeat in tempo than the rest, with a kind of silly/thoughtful lyric. Worst Song: Run My Way Runway. There's just noise in the background of the whole goddamn song. Overall: It is difficult to articulate exactly what I don't like about this album. It is very lyrics-forward, yet none of the lyrics spoke to me, and the delivery is done in this shoegazey, no-one-in-this-small-town-understands-me kind of way that I just find obnoxious.
Doesn’t hit as well as it did in the ‘90s. I enjoyed the shoegazey elements more than the straight up indie rock. No lack of melodies or ideas in here, I understand why it’s on this list. The Boos just never really did it for me.
I have no idea why this album was included on this list. Also, it needed to be about 5 songs shorter.
I am so sick of britpop
Boo
So much meh. They were naff when I was a teenager, and are still naff and the definition of mediocre britpop now.
Odd choice for this list. Not sure if any of the songs really were a hit for me. Liked the vocals though
Feel like this was added by mistake instead of Coltrane. It is a fine indie album, with the usual attempt at broadening to orchestration and “avant-garde” sections. Wouldn’t turn it off, but won’t be seeking it out again
Okay so why is this amateur hour anti-catchy shit on this list when the ACTUAL GIANT STEPS by Coltrane isn't??? WTF???
Moments of interest on here but it was painfully long and the noise elements were not to my taste at all.
Probably the most schizophrenic album I've ever heard.
Not my thing.
I somehow never listened to this band in high school, despite being the right age, and this sort of aligning with my tastes. In another universe I could see myself really getting into this, but now, many years later I’m just not interested in what it’s offering.
begon heel wat beter dan verwacht... helaas werd het na enkele nummers wel wat ik verwacht had... jammer
A couple of good songs on this album but mostly meh.
Not my thing. It got a bit weird here and there.
I really tried to have a take on this.
Weird music
Completely forgettable. Not sure why this is on the list
Hey lookit, first one I don't recognize at all, album or artist or songs. Cool. I don't really even know what shoegaze constitutes, though I have a pretty good idea. Not sure it'll be my thing but you never know. Let's do it. Ohhh! Exclaimed Italianly. 64 mins. 1. I Hang Suspended - cool, that's what I thought shoegaze was. Hrm, I'm gonna try to get through this whole thing but I'm not sure I can do 64 mins in one sitting. The melody is nice on this one, I like the kind of non-functional cadence on the "I hang suspended on your word". Singer's voice is surprisingly soft? I thought it'd be a little more screamy. 2. Upon 9th and Fairchild - both songs so far have started with that ambient space. But ooh I do like the bassline on this one. It's funny, this isn't quite the kind of music that your parents would hate like grunge was in the US in the 90s, but it's getting there. I did enjoy the initial groove but midway through, I think the chorus, it gets sorta generic again. The tinny vocals remind me of some of the Gorillaz stuff later on, Damon Albarn used that a lot. Again that initial groove is cool, but then it's just loud. The distorted guitar doing the Sun Ra gag sorta. It reigns it back into melody later though. Hey a string section! That's neat actually, nice addition to the soundscape. Gives it body. 3. Wish I Was Skinny - and now something totally different, very clean tones. This is closer to the toothless sort of alt rock that I don't associate with what I thought shoegaze was, but I guess it counts fine enough. Hand claps and bright cymbals. Melody ain't bad. It's a cute song, but a little dull. I do like the horn addition, and I appreciate that these folks are incorporating more into their sound than just fuzz guitar wall of sound. Weird ending but it's kinda funny. 4. Leaves and Sand - there's that sound I expect. I hate to be this way, I'm not sure it's my favorite kind of sound. Still kinda noisy but without real gumption behind it. I think the lack of any syncopation contributes to that. The wall of sound thing is this case I understand and it's a sound of extreme loud to extreme quiet for effect. Subito over many bars. But I dunno. If you're gonna be that loud you better be playing something I can move to. I did like the melody contour when the singer started up though. 5. Butterfly McQueen - okay I actually would rather not have the trumpet here. I dig the groove a little before the wall of sound starts wall of sounding. Yknow this album was inspired by Coltrane apparently, but I wonder if that's just in the title and the wall of sound phrase? His wall of sound doesn't mean the same thing it does here. I like the way this one ends and leads into the next song, Youtube's endless ads and DIAs endless bullshit kinda ruined the transition but I still got the idea. 6. Rodney King - have to pause here to do something but so curious what this will be like. Hmm the beat gives me pause but I'm letting it ride. This track is p simple but I like that the volume is used in conjunction with the higher pitched softer melody. I probably still wouldn't dance to this, but I could see someone doing so. Someone that dances like Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction. Hey the lyrics are pretty clever here. Just 3 lines, but fairly powerful for what they are supposed to be. Not the most powerful I've heard about the subject matter, but not so bad for some white British guys right after it happened. Synth ending was nice, if not a non-sequitur completely. 7. Thinking of Ways - oh nvm it's a transition again. I should have hit this on Spotify or my own cpu. I see some people making connections to the Beach Boys here, I think I would have gotten that too. I like this guy's voice, wish it was on more Brian Wilsony stuff like this instead of loud pre-emo. "I'm thinking of ways I can get out of things just like always" has a great contour and they stick the melody line on it to boot. Pretty nice there. It is around this time however that I begin to look at my watch, I think the run time here is going to knock this one down a peg or two. Plus they love that guitar that sounds like an ewe and a large metal door being fed through a chipper a little too much for me. 8. Barney - kinda Blues Traveler-y? Again, nice melody but a bit toothless. I think there's a middle ground between their wall and this, and I think it lies in a little bit of syncopation. A line or two, not just held chords. Oh as I say that, there's a hit on two to lead into the chorus. Immediately made me pay attention and blew some life into this, so I think I'm right on that. I like the bassist's tone, overdriven enough for the verses then that real fuzz for the instrumental breaks. The harmony vocal thing in the middle didn't really work. There are more than a few non-seqs that don't FULLY work. I know that's subjective by their nature almost, but eh. Not my thing, at least I don't think it works well here. 9. Spun Around - a little Doors intro with the organ and dry bass and stuff. But, I visibly made a face of slight disgust when the vocals come in with that noise around them. Again, I think the actual melody is quite nice and I'm sure the soundscape is just right for some people. I think it's distinct and interesting, but I wouldn't put it on my stuff or seek it out to listen. 10. If You Want It, Take It - yeah that Albarn style of singing again. I guess it's actually Boo Radley style. This sounds like what would be ubiquitous in a 90s or 2000s film about a freshman at college "just trying to score". I guess I don't mean that in a derogatory manner, that kind of thing has surely aged poorly but has its place as a time capsule to a specific emotion. For me, at least. Never looked up any of those soundtracks though... 11. Best Lose the Fear - thought we were dropping into 7 for a second there. Again, I like the addition of the organ here. Good extra texture. Again, nice enough melody - I like the chorus. Looser feel on this track than the rest. It works for the vox but everyone kinda on their own in the rhythm section, ehh. And I liked the organ, but the clarinet isn't really working. Sounds sorta like a school band and there was one friend that played clari so just let him noodle around a bit. 12. Take the Time Around - so loud upfront, that's actually unpleasant to me. That fuzz is drowning the whole track, it had to be deliberate but man I don't like it very much. Goddamn and the double solo is even louder. I sound so old but like, this is approaching noise just for the sake of it. If you wanna be loud, be funky! Damn. Be loud and have a sick ass groove that's stank worthy, otherwise it's just pain. I didn't even pay attention to anything else in this track aside from how noisy it is. 13. Lazarus - mkay some New (Nu? Neo?) Reggae, kinda. OH SHIT WHY DO I KNOW THIS SONG?? OH SHIT ITS THE END CREDITS TO THE TELEVISION SHOW LAZARUS BY THE COWBOY BEBOP GUY! WATANABE! That's really a funny thing I never thought of, his other shows are so funky. Bebop and Space Dandy are in rotation for me all the time cuz they're so good. I do like the synth melody that is played here and the half-ambient bit in the middle. Was this a hit for them? It's probably one of the better ones on the album. Again, dudes regular old melody writing is pretty good. Very sound and smart. I think it comes through better here than some other songs. 14. One Is For - interesting arranging choice again, cello and vibes. Short one, more of an interlude. Not much to say here from me. 15. Run My Way Runway - again, I get that they're going for a thing here but I don't like it. The oscillating noise, the trumpet back to noodle. I'm trying not to check out for the rest of this album but I'm really struggling. Even with the melodies, which again are very strong and singable! It stinks cuz I think they could be on a better album. Stopped this one 20 secs early, legit hurt my ears. 16. I've Lost the Reason - breath of fresh air here, chill and quiet. Same thing as before, nice changes and melody. Unfortunately, we have a U2 problem here. Kinda too little too late. Plus, after the intro we're back to the standard fare about 1.5 mins in. 17. The White Noise Revisited - sadly, I just couldn't be arsed. I kinda skipped through this one and then shut it off. Getting really really tired of the sound now, vocal effects etc. Sorry. Some things to note: I like the melodies a little more often than not, I like their use of the orchestral and jazz instrumentation, and their changes on the songs are kept interesting and not so predictable. I think I like the feeling this album evokes. I was never into shoegaze or emo when it was popular but of course I was around people who were. It gives me nostalgic feelings for childhood, like middle school time. But aside from that and some nice melody writing on maybe 70% of the thing, it was just sorta loud and incoherent to me (oh god that's the Weird Al lyric in his Nirvana parody). Incoherent musically, I mean. Like, the addition of brass and wind could have been neat but it seems like they just got a cat and let the person noodle over grooves that don't fit that vibe. Not even particularly good noodling, just noodling. In addition, this album is waaaaay too long. Like 20 mins too long. I could have cut it at 45 and it still may have been a tad much. I had to cut it in half because I left work and went home, came back a few hrs later. Still was a bit of a slog. But, I'm glad I did cuz I'm not sure I could have taken 64 mins of this sound. I can't tell whether this should be a high 2 or a straight 3. I think I'm gonna settle on 2 for now, may change later. **coming back later, I think straight 2 is appropriate actually.
Meh
Not my thing, but not actively offensive
A lot going on, most of which isn't that great.
Meh
Lazarus
I couldn’t finish this album
This is not bad, but it just got really boring really fast. I actually enjoyed it a bit, but it still bored the hell out of me. Also, it's way too long for what it is.
// hmm alt tilsier at jeg burde like dette, men det gjør jeg bare ikke! prøver for hardt. insists upon itself. føler meg ikke bra når jeg hører.
I think I’m discovering I’m not a shoegaze guy. This to me was pretty boring and it never really gripped me. When it would get a little more psychedelic or experimental it had me, but it would then veer back to the indie sound which I found extremely bland. It’s all produced well and the instrumentals are nice enough, but never more than that. And these types of vocals are just not for, they don’t stir any type of emotion in me. Yeah won’t be coming back to this.
Sometimes the amount of streams per song on an album are quite telling. Ignoring the singles, it starts around 177k and gradually decreases until 66k. Which perfectly reflects my opinion on the album, the album isn't even that long, but holy hell does it drag on and on and on at around the halfway point.
Coming from a period when there were so many interesting things happening in Alt Rock, this album is best described as..."competent." Maybe their earlier works were more exciting, but I'm not gonna spend any time to find out. Minus one half-star for the album title. This ain't even close to Coltrane-level music.
A decent album. An essential album? No
Too long for its own good. A lot of the songs sounded just like each other.
Not list worthy. Boring cautious light rock.
Upon 9th and Fairchild.has good bass riff, but the rest stuff is boring and annoying.
Had never heard this before but genuinely enjoyable. High 2s, almost a 3.
Definitely booables
Generic 90s indie. Bailed after a couple of songs as felt very predictable.
The inclusion of this album is a head scratcher for me. It is an excellent example of non-grunge 90s music - along with 100 other albums. I was in my 20s during that decade, so I lived through this, and the Boo Radleys - in the US at least - were completely unremarkable, and had little impact on the music scene. But great for inclusion on alternative radio, and there's really nothing wrong with this album at all. Maybe this was bigger/more important in the UK? For me its a nice reminiscence for the sound of the time and otherwise forgettable. Also, naming it after John Coltrane's absolutely epic album is, at best, a real eye roller.
non-descript 90's rock
No... just no...
Not my favorite listen. Some songs were okay but for me just a little to noisy and chaotic throughout.
Te chaotisch
I've heard of the Boo Radleys before but never really listened to them intentionally before. This album was just fine - nicely listenable and representative of early 1990s. But it didn't really do anything special for me, at least not listening decades later. - Heard before? No. - Will I listen again? No. - Does it inspire me to listen to more of this artist? Sadly, no.
It was pretty inoffensive for a while, and then I got bored of it and really struggled to finish it. Especially with the nails-on-chalkboard third from last track. It was mid at its best, but averages out to lower. Funny band name.
Mostly noise.
Shite. What on earth is it doing in this list? Beatles-ish psychedelia 25 years late. And so fucking self indulgently over long.
I bought a cheap copy of this on vinyl when it came out on the strength of reviews and was utterly disappointed. I liked some of the sounds but I thought the songs were pretty dreary on the whole. They're a bit better than I remember if I listen to this as a lavishly produced example of middling 80s style indie rather than the earth shattering groundbreaking work of genius it was billed as in 1993. I still find the vocals a bit charmless and off putting. And it outstays its welcome by about fifteen minutes. Lush jumped the rails from shoegaze to britpop but these guys were like the intersection of the two.
I thought the sound was buzzy and muddled. I was listening through Beats Studio Pro-Premium headphones.
love the name but the band sucked
Ungefähr das 27. beste Shoegaze/Britpop Album der 90er.
This isn’t bad but I need some context why this album is on the list when I could just listen to Failure
Interesting
Boooorrriiiing. And overly long.
Tut gar nix für mich. Klingt wie ne schlechte Version von New Radicals
A couple straight up bangers but the whole album felt really unfocused. Extra point off for how cringe it is to name a song “Rodney King (Song for Lenny Bruce)” and have it be the softest song
meh…
Interesting… but doesn’t really keep my interest. Maybe another listen down the road will give me a different impression.
Pretty typical early '90's alternative. Nothing earth shaking. I hear influences from or on from a lot of groups from that time: Pearl Jam, Sublime, STP, Live, etc. The vocals and lyrics were really dull, and the rest of the mixing wasn't great either. Seemed really unpolished.
I’ve seen this band’s name on all kinds of shoegaze laundry lists but despite being a fan of the genre I’ve never listened to them. Wiki says this is supposed to be the album they transcend the shoegaze genre. I didn’t listen to their earlier stuff for reference but this is very much shoegaze, kinda reminiscent of Lush. It’s fine I guess. The writing is kinda disjoint and the spots where they try to be not-shoegaze are painfully obvious and don’t really transcend anything. I mean just because you worked in a trumpet doesn’t make it jazz. The presumption of the album title is so bad. Anyway ok shoegaze album. Not top 10 of the genre or even of the genre in the nineties. Two stars.
Unmemorable. Sunny Day Real Estate did it MUCH better.
Good enough to be on the list? Maybe for some. but not for me.
First shoegaze album I've listened to. There were some pretty neat songs, but there was too much trudging in between them and the album was too long. I loved the sudden guitar shredding in "Leaves and Sand," and the intervals of quietness and loudness. But the album melded together after a few tracks. By the end of "Spun Around," the noisepop elements started to get too absurd and annoying. 4/10, 2/5
4/10
Nothing outstanding
The single best thing about this album is the band's name. Shoegaze is for people who want to be in a band but cannot play guitar.
picks: upon 9th and fairchild, lazarus
Tonal Whiplash—the album. Definitely interesting, but way too long and inconsistent.
All the mush and inferiority of Thom Yorke's vocals with none of the artistic elitism. All the alternative with none of the rock. All the britpop with none of the pop. ALL OF THE LEAD GUITAR with none of the mix balanced. An identity crisis in a 64-minute package. At least it also fails to be abjectly terrible, so you get a star for somehow avoiding making me actively hate it.
This just felt like they were trying to be the Beatles and go in a different direction that just didn’t pan out.
Dated production, esp on the rough-hewn vocals and the scratchy, borderline annoying guitar tone. Despite some good tracks (Wish I Was Skinny, Thinking of Ways) the entire thing is too long and mixed so poorly (way too loud) that I did not like it overall.
I disliked more than I liked and wouldn't revisit this.
Not the kind of Boo I was hoping to get on Halloweek (2.5/5)
I like the atmospheric wall of sound style but after a 1h04 it just sounds annoying and pretentious
What is this shit dawg. A third is pretty good britpop and the rest was just....random stuff. Some was okay most was...not.
What was going on with the mixing or mastering or something on this album. The volume level was all over from one track to the next. Overall I guess there was a reason I'd never heard of these guys as it was way to long with not much of interest
If Boo Radley were real, he would approve
# Album Name: Giant Steps # Artist: The boo Radleys # Rating: 2/5 # Comments: more like the poo radleys. Such generic rock pop. # Top Tunes: # Would I listen to it again?
Wacky. Marginally more palatable than everything else we've had this week, but that's not saying much he said wearily.
Another shoite album. These albums are so dull
2 - not the best
Not a fan of 'wake up boo', so didn't expect much from this. Sounded alright though, early 90s inoffensive indie pop, what's not to like. Nothing overly memorable, but ok for an hour.
All over the place with a few decent moments, but mostly just Barney pop. Unique but not influential since I've never heard another album like it. Far better and more influential albums in 1993 that were not picked. Primus' Pork Soda is one example
Every song has an amazingly experimental start, a very delicate & exquisite finish, and a very, very mediocre middle.
Non mi dispiace il sound grunge anni 90, ma un po’ troppo tristini per i miei gusti
Whiny vocals, wimpy lyrics, and irritating non-triumphant guitar noises. I can see how this may have influenced the oncoming wave of indie rock (I especially hear death cab in the vocals), but I doubt I’ll listen to this in full again.
Noisy, but not necessarily good. Not as bad as Oasis, but close.
More like a strong 2.5
Kind of exchangable. Did not catch me,
not the worst but very forgettable
Too long and I am not a britpop fan
2.5 ?
eh
Entirely unremarkable. Fuck britpop, fuck shoegaze & fuck indie. 1.65
The Boo Radleys, while forming in 1988, never found any comercial success in the UK or US until this album. Wake Up Boo! topped the charts peaking at #9 solidifying them as a one hit wonder (if that,) before their eventual split in 1999. Having to contend with bands like Pulp, Blur, James, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Crowded House and Oasis, they never found their footing amid the Britpop or shoegaze scenes they were trying to wedge themselves into in the UK or the US. Giant Steps was awarded 9/10 by the UK music magazine NME, which stated, "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". Reviewing the album's re-release in 2008, Sic Magazine wrote, "For 64 minutes they were the greatest band on the planet." As time has gone on, this forgettable album by a flash in the pan band does not stand the test of time. If you are a fan of Pavement, Dinosaur Jr., Lush, or Slowdive, then this album may be for you. Or you could just listen to any of the albums from those stalwart bands instead. With its time capsule sound and its dated song titles such as Rodney King - Song For Lenny Bruce The Boo Radleys sound like so many other bands and groups of the time who did it better and are still putting out great music today.
I've heard of them but never listened to them. I mean I don't regret listening to this album. It's forgettable and not my thing.
I wasn’t impressed. The albums I don’t like I understand there are genres out there I don’t love but understand those albums are extraordinary, don’t know how this album made the list.
Not sure why this album is on here. Not bad, but very forgettable. Kind of band you’d see at a college party in the late 90s.
Boo, it wasn't radley. Far from. I am perplexed what everyone else is hearing in this. All I hear is genre smashing for the sake of genre smashing and none of it feels like it works. It just makes me want to go seek out the masters of the individual genres these guys were desperately trying to ape.
Never listened to the Boo Radleys before and I can’t say I have been missing out all this time. This has some good aspects to it and they sound reasonably talented. I also like some of the distortion they used throughout and this is somewhat similar to other stuff I like. The problem with this is that basically every song devolves into an instrumental ending full of the same notes over and over again. This happens right from the jump with I Hang Suspended and is a running theme throughout the album. It’s almost like they had no clue how to finish songs. For that reason alone, this gets a major downgrade for me.
not for me.
Why is this on the list?
Boring, too long, dnf
This album was nowhere near good enough to justify the length. They just kept making songs, not a phan of that decision. 2/5
Really cool industrial-ish opener, then the rest was like baby's first time playing with the "wheeeooooo-WAAAAAAAAAHNNNNNN" knobs. Wish it was a bit shorter also, some songs dragged on for so damn long. Favorite Track: I Hang Suspended
yeah, its alright. i'd like it more if it wasn't called giant steps.
Liian pitkä brittisekoilu. Seassa ihan ok matskua mut miksi tämä on listalla (no tietty koska UK)
Listened to a few songs so I won’t shit on it. But it was forgettable
Mostly passed me by whilst listening to this
It’s okay - I don’t think it has that thing that makes it interesting or makes me want to listen again and again. Plus, it’s more than an hour long! Come on… it should have been 35 minutes at the most
I was away for a week and when I returned and saw this album in my backlog I was looking forward to listening to it. However, it failed to live up to expectations. It wasn't bad, it was just boring, run-of-the-mill 90's britpop. I made it all the way through, even though a couple of tracks had me considering whether I should persist, so it's 2 stars from me.
boring
This one was kinda boring.
Its ok nothing that surprised me
Another middling Brit bias pick on this 1001 Albums list that you definitely don’t need to hear before you die.About halfway through I accidentally stopped playback, and decided it was for the best and moved on.
Wish this was interesting.....it's pretty generic pop trash.
Nondescript to me. I see why not as popular in the States.
I don't know. It was weird, noisy, inconsistent in both speed and rhythm. Clearly they are the spirit of psychedelic.
It was a mixed bag of sounds. Sometimes it was good, sometimes it was acoustically designed to pierce my eardrums with no warning. I liked the vibe that this music was going for, and there were standout songs. Overall a disappointing album and confusing addition to the list.
was okay. some weird alternative pop mesh. i don’t think i finished this. would probably rate a 2/5 just because i didn’t care for it. objectively not bad.
Overall not that good…wasn’t bad either
Rock, Pop, 1993 -> 2
It’s like the Pixies went pop. The shoegaze genre can go two directions 1.consistent, well thought out and simple composition. Or more often 2.a heap of noise that resembles no consolidated idea. It’s like jazz without the talent. The singing here is decent, but too much is going. Oh and then there’s reggae out of nowhere.
Kinda blah.
I had no idea what to expect but I was thinking it was going to be something jazzier? But then it ended up just being a mess of a bunch of different sounds all coated in that classic 90s sound. Listen, I love albums that mesh genres and styles but this album did not do a very good job at it. It didn't feel very cohesive and was mostly whiplash.
I know this band for their horrific wake up boo song in the 90s. That song isn’t even on this album. It’s a none hit wonder
I remember this being promoted with the notion that Martin Carr was a musical genius on the level of Brian Wilson. This is not, in fact, true. This album is a mish-mash of ideas, with some catchy tunes here and there, but nothing at all of any stature or substance. Frequent switches of style or genre within a song are not an indication of genius. Also, it is far too long - 17 songs, 64 minutes - with a feeling of "Never mind the quality, feel the width." Third rate, at best.
Another obscure britpop band for the pile.
Kind of jam band like. It could’ve been worse 2.5 stars
Ihan on musiikkia, mutta ei mitään sellaista, jota itse haluaisi kuunnella toistamiseen.
Shrug emoji. Disappointed that there is no Squeeze on this fucking list emoji.
My non-musician scoring system. 5 - Love it. Would play anytime, buy, see live… 4 - Good music. 3 - Average playlist. Depends on time and setting. 2 - I can’t listen to whole songs. 1 - No.
There’s some formula about the better the name the worse the band. Certainly it applies here. It sounds like every other indie edgy band. Yes I’ve heard the clash and the smiths. You’re trying but you’re not there. In fact the lessons of those bands is not ‘copy us’ but ‘find your own sound’. It took jazz 35 years to learn that from Miles Davis. I suspect indie rock will take longer. Meanwhile this is 2.5 stars rounded down. I should take a point off for the album title.
Maybe harsh but so unmerable
Meh
The opening tracks were not bad, but it started to lose me as it went along. Too much random noise and noodling.
I don't know. ok i guess. 2.5
This felt messy. Songs were okay individually but it was doing too many things
This could be the final JBZ alert!!!! This album vacillates between weak 90s soft alternative and something better with a harder edge. At 64 minutes, I have to round down. This is too long.
not for me
Not for me.
Nothing stands out. Much of the album has the same saccharine jangly sound. At just over an hour, it’s just a lil too much.
Why is this the Giant Steps album they included? It wasn't a bad listen, but I'd be lying to myself if I said I was gonna listen to it again. Inoffensive boring Indie Rock with only a few moments of interest. There's a blend of a lot of different things here, all better done elsewhere. I'd probably give it a 3 on a good day, but a good day this is not.
17 songs and a run time of 1 hour and 4 minutes and not a single song stuck out.
This album is the audio version of opening ten tabs and not knowing where the music is coming from. A little dreamy here, a little poppy there, then suddenly saxophone?? It’s like a sonic identity crisis dressed in baggy jeans and optimism. Some parts almost work, but they never quite stick the landing. Maybe it’s meant to be clever, but mostly it feels like filler with reverb. Spins: 1 Playlist Additions: - Wish I Was Skinny
Mediocre.
I don’t know if this deserves to be on this list. I DO know it didn’t need to be over an hour long. Lots of fat to be trimmed
This was nice nothing incredible just fun wacky songs. main problem is it's way too long over an hour with 17 tracks.
sounds like 90s indie rock. never heard of this band before but I've definitely heard a dozen bands that sound just like this.
I liked the shoegaze elements of this - unfortunately they were few and far between. Was far more underwhelming Britpop than anything else.
Dad rock for dads who hit their prime in the 90s.
2.75
Jangly British landfill indie, if I had to classify it. Not quite terrible, but very unremarkable. Really, I have quite broad taste in music, and have heard a lot more that I don't like too. I'm over 50 years old, and in the last 30 years no one I know hads mentioned or recommended the Boo Radleys. There's a reason. This is tedious. I'm going to listen to Pavement. Still better than Morrissey, but save your ears. Two stars.
Not so innovative as Coltrane's Giant Steps. Not so catchy as the Monkees' Giant Step. Unlike the Great Leap Forward, completely bloodless. But, like Neil Armstrong's Giant Leap, it is airless. And, somehow, not even the sum of all these parts. Not a giant step, but a small feat. 1.5 What if perfectly pleasant pop tunes were as sonically interesting as experimental music? If this question was well answered more than a quarter of a century before the Boo Radleys’ Giant Steps no one told the Boo Radleys! There is a palpable sense throughout of the dullest man at the party inciting everyone to prepare to have their minds blown while he fumbles at the cd player with a copy of Revolver in his hands. Giant steps isn’t sonically interesting. The funny noises aren’t funny enough. The tunes are pleasant but forgettable. The singing utterly inoffensive. The drums and guitars sound shite, which is perhaps the most genuinely forward-looking part of this record; Oasis slouched towards Creation Records to be born. 1.5/5
This one was a little hit and miss for me, well mostly miss I guess. I didn’t mind Upon 9th and Fairchild, the first time I heard it, however after going back and listening to it again it wasn’t as good as I thought.
If I wanted to hear Oasis or the Beatles, I’d just put on Rubber Soul, Revolver or Definitely Maybe.
I am not really fan overall. The vocalist(s) washes out the overall sounds by being mostly too either monotone or subtle/breathy/thin. In my opinion band needs a different vocal sound to be a complete band. Sounds like Oasis to me— which is not a compliment. Best song that I can remember “Lazarus” but only the parts without singing…
Pretty unremarkable
In a nutshell: a big old mess. You know when you’re cooking a meal, and you get carried away with “adding a bit more of this” or “let’s try a bit of that”? This is the product of that experimentation. I can hear Stone Roses, Suede and My Bloody Valentine. There are genre mashups here that could work but don't quite. It's messy and not in an endearing way. Overall: 3/10
2.5? Meh
Some interesting ideas here, but it seems like that's all it is: ideas experimented with and then quickly abandoned in pursuit of other ideas; attractive moments of pleasant melodies interrupted by unnecessary noise. I would describe this as a dirt-encrusted gem found lying in the woods somewhere. There's beauty here, and you might even see a twinkle if you tilt it the right way, but the caked-on dirt prevents you from really enjoying it - not to mention, the dirt adds an additional 50%-75% weight (in this case length) that makes you put it back down and look for more easily-accessible sparkle elsewhere. Shame.
There were certainly more ideas for this album. Too many of them, and I don’t think any of them were well executed. Nothing on this album was terribly painful to listen to. Nothing was really noteworthy either.
Did not enjoy this one
it could be a 3 but it’s too long
I didn't hate it, but it didn't really do much for me.
Kinda mid jangly semi acoustic rock. Nothing really stood out
Þetta var ekki gott
This album is all over the place. There's not a consistent sound through most of it. There is 60's folk, Brit-pop and some other stuff that I can't really name. I think some of these ideas were more interesting in theory than in reality. I am sure smarter people than I will listen to this and think it is brilliant. I see no reason to have it in the book other than to show just how much the editors know about music that misses the feeble knowledge of the general public.
I feel like it droned on for too long and that the songs were difficult to get through. I was looking forward to the album being over and had to take breaks. I can't quite put it at a 1 because there were some decent parts to some of the songs and this one doesn't give me the feelings that my 1 star albums do, but if I never hear this again it'd be too soon. 2/5.
That was a tough one for me. Felt like a slog to get through it.
"Shoegaze" if prancing Britpop found it 5 years late and Yes decided to play it.
A total unknown, aside from a passing familiarity with the name! Screaming guitars, swinging drums, big vocals, tasty bass and plenty of twists between genres/vibes. Started out very promisingly, got boring by the middle and kept on bloody going - would have been way cooler around 45mins. Does the list have any Wildhearts? Favourite tracks: Upon 9th and Fairchild, Wish I Was Skinny, Lazarus
Interesting but a bunch of songs are grating, noisy messes. A few worth potentially high-grading, but as a full album, probably not really worth the time.
Longest 64 minutes of my LIFE
A but boring 90s alternative with not a single in site
I wanted to like this, but honestly it was kind of a diddling mess. The styles throughout the album didn't meld well, and it sounded like uninteresting musical charcuterie. The vocals were soaked in reverb which didn't help. Some impressive instrumental work, and I like the elements of shoegaze and prog that are mixed in, but overall a negative experience. 2/5
Some people might say that their reliance on effects is a musical crutch, but I think that’s unfair. A crutch is supposed to actually help; these guys seemed to have been so focussed on sound that they forgot the music part completely. Almost imperceptible vocals followed by deafening guitar screeches do not make for pleasant listening
Okay, nothing special
A few songs they went after it and I thought they were solid. But tried to hard to be avant garde in several songs.
This feels like it's all over the place and requires a great effort from me just to figure out which music brain to apply to it—not happening.
Not special in the least
I think I thought that the Boo Radleys were like The Rembrandts, or Deep Blue Something, or Del Amitri. This is not right. These guys are British, and aimed for something a little higher. I applaud the effort, but they didn't hit the target.
Kind of long, but some good tracks early on.
I'm not into this and the lead singer is the main reason. I don't find him very charismatic and his voice has a thin, almost whiny quality. The music is ambitious -- Britpop with a lot of different genres and styles mixed in, particularly psychedelic rock. But the songwriting doesn't grab me and there were a handful of moments when I felt the mix of styles didn't gel together.
Its best moments are like second tier Pixies tracks. This album is easily 30 minutes too long. All the meandering, “let’s put all the styles together” tracks just blend into one long, second half slog where you really struggle to differentiate anything. I found myself occasionally checking in to make sure it didn’t sneakily end on me and I was now listening to some other band going on and on and on, but that wasn’t the case. What a chore to listen to.
Really liked the first track and the bits that are experimental. Hate all the shoegazey bits. 2 stars I'll listen to a different non brit man alt rock band or the person they were influenced by
too chaotic and long for what it is. Has some decent moments but overall it starts draggin to the end. This room has not enough air.
This is a perfect example of what's wrong with shoegaze. The music is pretty, sometimes very good then there's distorted, whispered vocals that are buried under the music somewhere. If this was just an alternative pop/rock album with traditional production it might be good but it isn't so it isn't And it just keeps going like that
This was an interesting 90s alt rock album, kinda felt like it was trying to be grunge but like just gave up halfway through and decided to make things weird, was it terrible no, did I enjoy it? Not a lot but it wasn't terrible 🤷
Eh
Not as good as the Beatles
Feels like every other album on this list is some ‘90s British band. Who really cares to remember The Boo Radleys these days? What made them any more special than Super Furry Animals, the Stone Roses, Pulp? Nothing. I appreciate that they were a good band who made some nice sounding rock tunes and had some variety to them, but that describes SO MANY artists from the same place and time period. So why would I listen to this over any of the other aformentioned artists? What do they have to offer me that’s novel, unique, different or special? Seemingly nothing.
There's a little too much going on with this album and way too long. Had me a bit interested in the beginning but quickly found myself asking what the heck is going on here? Not really anything that kept me interest and kept waiting for this to end. Just not a lot here for this listener. 2
Some kinf of mixmash with shoegaze, power pop, neo-psychedelia and britpop spread across one+ hour. The ingredients are there, but the recipe just doesn't work most of the time. You'll get some good songs or at least some good moments here and there, but it's all lost in the flood of all the other uneventful songs that clogs the album.
An alright brit-pop album with some psych influences. Not a bad listen, but why should it deserve a place on this list?
It could have been great, there's a lot of nice ideas and sounds, but they just can't make it through an album that is so long winded.
Never heard of them before. And it could have stayed that way. Not a nice experience.
Not one single interesting thing happens in this album
Experimental Pop lost in the same "Whoops, too much water in my watercolours" vein.
I'm not convinced that this album truly belongs on the list. There were some nice enough tracks but it hardly felt earth-shattering. I kinda felt like I could have listened to the rather similar-styled Belle and Sebastian and probably any of their albums would have outshone.
This is one of those 90's Indie Classics(tm) that never spoke to me. Maybe I should revisit it someday because right now I just don't get the hype. It being over an hour also doesn't help, it ends up diluting what little memorable moments there may have been. Key tracks: Wish I Was Skinny
2,5
Long and annoying noises. At one point I thought “how much longer do I have to listen to this?”, checked and saw I was only halfway through, bailed. Don’t waste my time with garbage rock like this
Apparently this is one of the more 'britpop' sounding releases from this group and I must say what a shame. The more distorted shoegaze elements gave this some flavour that it desperately needed to not feel like completely boring filler. I dunno if I would be able to pick it out of a lineup of indie crap that would come later in the decade and spill into the 2000's but props for being a bit earlier to the party. While I did like the more surreal sound of this I do think the audio mixing does a bit of a disservice when the singer decides to go quiet for moments in some songs. The mood it wants to establish doesn't really work for me when I genuinely can't hear what he is saying. Lastly I think it also overstayed itself a bit too long unfortunately.
British Weezer and also bad. And boring. And too long. The English should not have been given CD recording equipment. This is like direct to video coming of age movie soundtrack bytes. Calling this album shoegaze is insulting to shoes and gays. There are like 3 good bits in this whole fucking 64 minute waste of my life. Fuck England and fuck music critics.
It's kinda crazy how ahead of its time this was given how it sounds identical to the mid overproduced indierock thay dominated the 2010s 5/10 Fav tracks - Upon 9th and Fairchild, leaves and sand, Rodney king, the white noise revisted
Now I'll admit, I didn't mind that "Wake Up Boo!" song when it came out, and that was my only exposure to Boo Radleys in any detail outwith "To Kill A Mockingbird", but, as usual, I digress.... Nothing redeemable here, generic indie shoegaze synths and horns nonsense.
Shoegaze for normies I guess. Feels like an attempt to fuse several genres together without trying to understand what makes each genre good. Not that bad, but didn't like it still
meh azarus was decent
Don't know what I was expecting from this but just seemed to be a lot of noise
Not sure what makes this one essential.
I personally wasn’t a fan but they had some good stuff in there.
Meh
Eh
It does nothing for me, once again.
At best, some smooth but forgettable easy listening. At worst, so experiments with how much irritating noise a listener might be able to tolerate.
This album started off strong, but descended very quickly into the typical indie nonsense
gitarrenrock direkt aus den späten 80ern? nein, frühe 90er mit viel verzerrer und melodie. widerspruch ja, zum hinhören. hinten im album viel füllmaterisl mit democharakter - hätte man bei vielen bands verdankenswerterweise weggelassen!
Long and bland
Boring.
Could only make it until "Thinking of Ways" and had to skip from track to track from there on. What a mess of an album. Its saving grace is that it's mostly boring and only sporadically annoying in its over one-hour length.
2+
There's three things that kill this album for me. First is the awful memory of the band's one big hit, "Wake up Boo!", which I remember being everywhere at the time, and is truly a dreadful song. Second is the syrupy, harmonising vocals, which I detest. Third is the length, it's over an hour long, which was pure misery. I actually think I could have enjoyed this if it had been shorter, with a different vocalist, and a different band.
What is this besides an average if not meandering 90s rock album? What am I missing here?
Opened up with a banger! Lost me with white guy reggae meets The Smiths on track 2 though. Rest of the album seems to ping pong between "Hey, this is sort of interesting" to "What the fuck is happening here?" Hard to get onboard with this.
Another album in the why the heck is it on this list category. Even for 1993 it offered nothing more than their contemporaries had done before and after and a whole lot better. Also another example that when released it was boom time for the CD so bands were filling up the available extra time with sub standard filler tracks. This album would have been better if restricted to the 35 to 40 minute mark. 2/5 8/10/24
Felt like I was listening college radio in the 90’s.
3.5/10
Quite samey
They were really trying to do the "make every track a different style" thing, but none of them were really special and it felt kind of tryhardy. Also the production was jarring, lots of big volume fluctuations
Overall pleasant but some extended ear pain here and there
#340. Before listening to this album, the only thing I had heard from the Boo Radleys was a mediocre cover of an already mid song. Now that I have listened to more of their work, I want to listen to less of their work. It's pretty terrible, if we're being honest. 2/5: please don't.
Tried too hard and ended up sounding like an even more boring Elliott Smith.
Don't really get what they're going for here, seems a bit all over the place and is a struggle to get some enjoyment out of
I heard this and thought "this must be something foundational to be on the list" but seeing it came out in '93 I'm confused. This is too long and doesn't really do a ton. Possible I missed something but I'd like this tighter or more out there.
So this was just before the Britpop explosion. Suede had probably already released their debut album in March 1993 - yeah, just checked out, this came out in August of that year - and so the Butler-esque guitars might not be as original as they might have been if they'd appeared six months earlier. And there is absolutely some early Teenage Fanclub in the vocals which I know was 1990 or so. But here is the thing. The Boo's were defined by their own hit single, 'Wake Up Boo'. Which was so fucking annoying and absolute shite. This stuff is much better. Without that massive hit they might have been taken seriously within the Brit pop circle. One songs sounds exactly like Petula Clarke's 'downtown'. Which would not have been cool in 1993. Rubbish name too. Wasn't it a character out of 'Catcher in the Rye' or something?** Again, Uriah heep - amongst others - had already played that trick. ** to kill a mockingbird. So now someone will get offended when reading this review because they did the same thing with their eldest :)
Very far from essential but not terrible. A bit of a puzzler for inclusion on this list, the 'Wake Up!' album was the one with the few hit singles on. This is jangly British Indie not completely typical though, it owes nothing to Oasis-Blur-Pulp-Suede, but it does have a bit of a sense of humour and some musical diversions. *Shrugs*
90s pop. Ok but forgettable
Holy bloated Britpop/shoegaze/indie/noise batman! Perhaps try ending your songs in different ways?
The Boo Radleys have no idea what kind of band they are. Giant Steps is all over the place and almost feels like a compilation of different genres or a random playlist. I will end on a conversation that must have taken place during recording: “Guys, this song is also kind of bland. Can we do something about it?” “You know what worked the last 11 times?” *all band members in unison* “AN OUTRO WITH NOISY GUITARS!”
Never heard them before. Ok sound
Generic boring
Another just totally fine album. Nothing remarkable or even good. Just completely decent and nothing else
I wanted to like this more than I did. Kind of flew by me without resonating any chords of pleasure. Wasn't bad. Just wasn't something I wanted to hear. Could have been mood.
It was a bit overrated...
Barely felt like I listened to it it was just not good
Pure background music that not interesting enough to merit another listen in the future. 2.4
Boring, nothing music. Sorry lads, wake up!
A lot of this hurt my ears
Not bad but not good either. Standard 90s stuff
Not bad, but not interesting either.
Uninteresting. If you want this kind of music, there are better musicians out there. It just goes on and on and on and on.
This felt fairly nondescript but had a few interesting moments
I did NOT enjoy this at all. They really just let anyone put together 10-15 songs and call it an album. I felt like none of the songs went anywhere and there was no point to it.
Some alright tracks but overall not an amazing album
A little lost listening to this. Nothing to hang my hat on though I can tell they're talented, of course. Just not for me.
Sure was an album
Generic britpop sound, not particularly memorable.
I really wanted to like this more, but the bad tracks out balanced the good
A dull britpop-like beatles sound that trudged on through 17 allegedly distinct tracks
Was OK, had a few good tracks but got pretty weird
It’s just… dull and way too long.
Kinda good and kinda rough to listen to. It'll even out to average
Thoughts before listening: Oh look...more 90s British alt rock. For some reason I thought these guys were jazz fusion, but I realized I was wrong when I cheated a bit and looked at the Wikipedia before starting the album. I'm sure this will be fine. Review: Well, while this definitely isn't jazz fusion, they do use horns throughout many of the songs. Maybe I read a review 30 years ago that talked about the horns and they stuck with me (or maybe it was them stealing the title from Coltrane). Either way, this is definitely 90s alt rock. There are some cool songs here, but also a bunch of boring ones.
Truly thought I have heard of this artist but nope. Actually, thought this was a blues guitarist. Sounds like Radiohead and Stone Roses so far. Not my style.
Catchy I guess don’t love it though
The Boo Radleys 'Giant Steps' help confirm some biases for me: 1) Any album over one hour is not great 2) Shoegaze is terrible 2/5
Not into this at all (or maybe shoegaze generally?). I'd rather listen to the live dead album.
I'd rather listen to the Coltrane album
like 80s mixed with nirvanna. It's fine. Is the band name a TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD reference?
I would describe this as noise. I read a few reviews that gave me hope, but this was just not good. It just sounded sloppy. They tried too hard, and it sounds like it.
Ah, shoegaze. The MySpace of music genres. No one can quite believe that it was ever once a thing.
I like the instrumentals more than the vocals here. The individual songs are fairly good, but not good enough to merit a 64 minute runtime; I was ready to be done after half an hour.
Substandard mid ninetys indie dribble
Forgettable indie pop with occasional moments of interesting noise
Not a shoegaze fan
Could see myself liking this in another life but was a grind to get through
It was fine 90s alternative music but not sure how this could be considered one of 1001 albums to hear before you die. Especially jarring a day after having Born to Run to have analbum that seemingly has little impact on general culture, rather a niche has-been band. Pretty forgettable and the album was long.
I found this pretty boring. Cool album art though
A couple of interesting tracks but overall the album felt aimless
Wow another mediocre brit pop band from the 90s. 2/5
I did not enjoy this.
Pro tip for navigating this list, I call it the 4 B's rule: Imagine you're a few songs into the album, so far it's Basic, Boring and Bland. You're wondering why it's on the list. You look up the artist or band and find out they're British. Feel free to skip the rest of the album and give it the appropriate score. I'm only saying this because it's been such a common experience going through this list and more often than not, when I'm not enjoying an album, it tends to be a British artist and this rule applies. If you think I'm wrong, I want to point out that I wrote the entire paragraph above after listening to the first three tracks. Then I looked up the artist info. British. Of course. It always is. Anyways, feel free to use this rule when going through this list as I will not be patenting this system in order to help others.
I think there was potential, but almost every song is chaotic musically
First off, this album cover goes so insanely hard. This record really confused me. Some songs on here are the most drab 90’s britpop. At other times though, they’re pushing very interesting experiments. Songs that sound like a leftover Spiritualized cut. Very washed out melodic passages, like the end of Butterfly McQueen, which sound like an early Hum song. So while there are some highlights on here, I have a hard time grasping and what this albums concept or vision is.
Generic 90s rock. I like some of the slower stuff while some of this gave me a headache
Expected more. I like noise pop, but this is too much. Jarring shifts. And "noise" does not mean the volume has to increase to the point of being obnoxious. A couple good songs but most every track ends up going off the rails at some point. And just stop with the shrill saxophone please.
No he conectado absolutamente nada con este álbum. 2/5.
Too ragged and noisy to properly shoegaze and too up its own butthole to actually rock, this album was a let down on pretty much every level. There's not much more to say. It's just an hour-long let down.
This album is the capitulation of ‘Oooh This sounds like something I’d like! Oh…oh no… they've lost me… I’m bored’
The greatest band of all time! Custodians to the single greatest banger ever written. Also owners to this largely forgettable 90s indie classic. 2.4
Decent solid 2*
Pretty unoffensive and nothing special. Another band that sounds too much like Oasis from the early 90s. Was happy when that was over because it was way too long
There were some highlights, but overall I found the album boring.
I hit play. I leave my room. I return a few minutes later - by then I had already forgotten that this was playing. As I open the door, a very loud and strange sound welcomes me - it was around 0:51 of "Upon 9th and Fairchild". I was very confused for a second. This earns this album at least one more star.