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...