Thursday, September 15, 2016

The Boo Radleys - Learning to Walk (1991)

Since I didn't have time to transfer any vinyl this week it's another selection from my dwindling pile of shareable CDs.  Don't think I've brought these guys up before.  Learning to Walk isn't a proper Boo Radley's album, rather a compilation of early ep tracks, which came in handy back in the twentieth century when import cd singles were $10-$12 a pop.  Uggh.  Anyway, the Rads didn't really come into their own until their blissful third album, Giant Steps arrived in 1993.  Nevertheless, I was fascinated with their nascent dream pop fixation, which played out quite well in the early '90s.  If you've ever wanted to investigate their lazy, hazy shoegazer era, Learning... and their second LP, Everything's Alright Forever, would be a good place to start (and for that matter end I suppose).  You'll find some sublime tunes here - "Kaleidoscope," "Sometime Soon She Said," and even a distortion-savvy rendition of Love's "Alone Again Or."

01. Kaleidoscope
02. How I Feel
03. Aldous
04. Swansong
05. The Finest Kiss
06. Tortoiseshell
07. Bluebird
08. Naomi
09. Alone Again Or
10. Everybird
11. Sometime Soon She Said
12. Foster's Van
13. Song For Up!
14. Boo! Faith

Hear

2 comments:

abramson said...

certainly a correzct title for the album, as much better was to come with again the aptly titled giant steps which included the majestic classic lazurus, probably the most powerful song I've ever witnessed live, and having worked in the industry I've seen more than my fair share. Truly one of the great bands just a shame they were overeshadowed and sidetracked by boring brit pop. Great bunch of guys as well....memories of drunken nights with them.

draftervoi said...

Hey! Thanks for this one! I'm looking forward to hearing their version of Love's "Alone Again Or." (That Love single charted about #120 on Billboard but was in the mid-20s on KFRC in San Francisco).