Giant Steps

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.

Nějak mě to moc nechytlo a nezaujalo. Byl to jakýsi mix indie a psychadelického rocku, lowkey jazzu a orchestry? Možná mi to svým způsobem připomnělo The United States of America, ale ti mě asi bavili o něco víc. Tohle nebylo tolik experimentální, i když to mělo své momenty a lítalo to všude možně (např. Run My Way Runway, Spun Around). Ale že to je experimentální ještě neznamená, že to je dobrý. Nevím moc ani, co o tomto albu říct. Přijde mi, že se to hodně snažilo být quirky, cool a jiný než všechno ostatní, ale působilo to trochu samolibě a ve výsledku docela nudný poslech. Některé melodie byly hodně basic a nicneříkající Některý věci měly možná docela potenciál, ale tak nějak se to ztratilo v kvantu písniček. Poslechnout vše na jeden zátah bylo docela únavné a náročné. Vracet se nebudu. Nejlepší: Rodney King (víc zajímavých samples pls, i když pak už to trochu drhlo), Run My Way Runway (dekonstrukce vědomí) Nejhorší: Wish I Was Skinny, Butterfly McQueen a další, co si ani nepamatuju (moc basic, nuda, zzzzzzzz) Verdikt: 5/10 (not bad, not good)

To drawn out and distorted on some songs. When not distorted beyond belief there are some fun songs

The softness of the lyrics doesn't hit with me, but the instrumentals are a mix of soft rock and almost grunge.

Their songs are weird in a bad way, like they are trying to fail. There could be a good, melodic album here if not for the added sounds and shrieks.

For Shoegaze this was better than I expected.

On ressort de cet album avec une réelle impression de s'être fait shoegazer la gueule, ce qui n'est pas nécessairement une mauvaise chose. Par souci d'objectivité je suis malheureusement obligé d'enlever une étoile par rapport à la note que j'aurais accordée en temps normal, l'album précédent étant Kollaps d'Einstürzende Neubauten.

Les Beatles pas en super forme aujourd'hui, j'espère qu'ils ne nous couvent rien de grave,

Meh. Thought the music was pretty ordinary and the lyrics weren't captivating.

no es mi rollo pero alguna estaba bn

booooring

Definitely one of the albums on this list that isn't good or memorable, but really nails the vibe of a certain point in time. It's got this DIY edginess that's very evocative of '90s alternative, but doesnt really do muck for me bsides give a hit of nostalgia.

Play Wake Up Boo! Wait, what? Different album. Not very good

Prima 2/5

Wish I Was Skinny Lazarus

2/5 - was okay

listened 2x, not really my thing 2.4

Not hugely into this, but suspect it's a grower. Favourite tracks: Butterfly McQueen, The White Noise Revisited

Calling this mediocre might be generous.

For some reason I expected something better than this.

Fine music, at times pretty interesting, but I really don’t think this stuck with me much. Don’t think it’ll be on my rotation again. Fave track: Wish I Was Skinny

It’s kind of fun and impressive because it feels like listening to a kind of boring 90s radio station with the mishmashing and all, but even then you’re still listening to a kind of boring 90s radio station.

Fuzzy, loud/quiet music that didn’t really excite.

Run My Way Runway by itself lost this album a star. Other than that it was not good

Like a twee pop band with occasional demonic possession by Sonic Youth. And not in a good way. Their inspirations and shout-outs seemed completely random (Butterfly McQueen?) and the cuts and insertions distracted from otherwise competent (if not overly memorable) songwriting. Is this on the list of 1001 Things Not to do in the Studio?

did not really listen bc was busy but the couple songs I listened to were meh lots of brit rock on this list survived first purge day, also submitted umich, rutgers, twin cities for EA!

At first this album didn’t really bother me, and I was listening just to kind of get it done with however, towards the end, I started actively not liking it due to the singing, but I wouldn’t really consider that singing aspect, and I would say it just got progressively worse and alongside that it was on the longer side in my opinion for something that wasn’t great to begin with.

This one didn't do it for me

I thought this might turn out to be a discovery but, no. Feels like half the record is not-too-bad-indie-alternative stuff and the other is someone's idea of the musical equivalent of Lloyd Christmas' "most annoying sound in the world". To quote another movie, "A bunch of jerk-offs making weird sounds". Nope.

Nothing super interesting - I found this album to be bland and generic. Most of them dragged on far too long, as did the entire album.

Bad production ideas, out of tune guitar. Some nice vocals. Generally poor songs with no direction or structure. Why does 'indie' have to be so contrary - jerky, atonal, dischordant etc just to be 'different'. I don't care about 'art', let's have some decent songs, please. Occasionally a normal tune appears, but not often enough. I couldn't listen any more after 8 tracks I'd had enough.

Bit more experimental and electronic than I was expecting, didn't really click with me

One minute I thought yes I like this… the next some awful noise happened or some hideous screeching guitar came out of nowhere…. Could have done without it

Not impressed. Lots of what sounds like songs being played backwards. Some songs were okay when they finally started singing. I enjoyed “I Hang Suspended” and “If You Want It, Take It” but that’s about it. Overrated album imo.

It’s more a 2.5 because I enjoyed some of it but some wasn’t to my taste and again, an insanely long album.

Something of a slog this one. Starts off brightly but falls over itself trying to be… well I don’t quite know what. Shoegaze? Indie? Jangle pop? Too diffuse. Inevitably, the Boo Radleys used their songwriting skills on their next album to go all-in BritPop radio friendly and make a tonne of cash with Wake Up Boo. Fair enough.

Fever dream of an album.

On paper this ticks a lot of boxes for me, shoegaze, britpop noise pop. But just feels a bit of a mess jumping between styles and jsut didn’t click after a few days of trying, better albums for each of these categories so not sure this needs to be on the list.

As far as Im concerned it wanders all over the place and its not a pleasant experience.

Pretty wide range of song genres pcked into one album. A couple songs I really liked and some that were complete misses. Probably averages to a 2.75 based on length. More I didn’t like than liked

Heard it before?: No Enjoy it?: It was ok, not very memorable Favourite song: didn’t have one

Straight garbage. Nonsensical and going on and on. The more I do this 1001 list, the more I think that the person making the list was just throwing darts on the board. Some songs are decent, but most are unlistenable. 4/10.

This definitely sounds like a mashup of many 90s things. I think they could have benefitted from some focus, because this mostly just sounds like messy noise. Again, as someone who enjoys 90s music maybe a little too much, I baseline found this to be listenable. But did it have wow factor? No. Aside from the writer of the 1001 book clearly having a strong affinity for British rock/pop, if I had to guess why this album is on here, I'd guess it's because it slightly predates mega forces like Oasis, who dominated this particular space, and is therefore kind of a progenitor of the sound. But I've had my complaints before about the author glorifying so many albums just because they were prototypal of a certain sound or movement. And the inclusion of this album feels like another instance of that. From a historical perspective, the prototypal sounds and albums are interesting, but it's always debatable whether or not such albums need to be heard "before you die". Anyway, it was okay. But nothing great.

Gisteren gedraaid, maar vandaag weet ik al niet meer wat het was en of het eigenlijk goed was. Dat zegt eigenlijk al genoeg.

Beetje achterhaald inmiddels.

I can see how this might influence shoegaze -- but to be honest, it just sounds like 90s music that I heard back then. Just more experimental -- like trying to be The Beatles but also sounding a little like Oasis. I can see how they may have been more popular in the UK then the US, for sure. The only song I liked was "Wish I Was Skinny". "Run My Way Run" just sounds like something off of Sergent Pepper or Magical Mystery Tour (which are two of my favorite Beatles Album). Sometimes it feels like this album may be trying too hard. I read somewhere that they were trying to market this band as the same musical genius as Brian Wilson -- totally different people and sounds. If anything this sounds like trying to snort 60s Beatles while rewriting an alternative White Album for the 90s. Don't hate. Don't Love it.

I found the tracks too similar and mainly dull. Could just be my mood currently so it might be harsh 2*

It was OK but nothing jumped out at me as remotely interesting either.

There were some interesting moments, but most of this album just really didn’t do anything for me.

One or two alright moments, but a bit of a mess really. Way too long.

A giant step into mediocrity, never settles on a good sound beyond a few solid tracks (the noisier ones towards the start of the record).

Not unlistenable, but it's quite bad. No idea how it made it into this list.

The definition of throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks. A complete mess of 90s genres, musical cliches, and melodic fads messily glued together in an attempt at relevance - there's no sense of coherent personality here whatsoever, and I'm left at a loss as to what genre the Boo Radleys actually are given how poorly they sample across a wide swath of unnecessary genres here.

A bit wanky and dull. Stinks of an overly pretentious band who think they're reinventing the wheel

I'm getting a lot of recommendations for 90s britpop psychadelic-style bands and I'm not liking it. This cleanly falls into the genre and again does nothing for me.

Third time hearing this one. First time, I said "It's Alright", second time, I said "It's Fine"...now I'm listening again and thinking how do I say the same thing again without saying the same thing? It just seems like an ok listen. Not bad, but nothing exciting. Yeah, I think that will be my quote this time, "Not bad, but nothing exciting". 2.5/5

Solid album but awful ending of the songs

Wish I was skinny is good but the rest doesn't really resonate with me

Puzzling how Dimery's list singled out an album whose title was borrowed from a jazz masterpiece by another artist without including said masterpiece in the selection. Add to this the fact that The Boo Radleys are such a *strange* band, and it feels like the "1001 albums..." book got its priorities all wrong, once again... "Strange" is not necessarily a flaw in the case of The Boo Radleys, by the way. You can't blame them for constantly trying to think out of the box so as to offer something truly *original*. There are not many notable records from music history that mix shoegaze, psychedelic rock and britpop with reaggae/dub in any relatively cohesive way, and I imagine that this mix of genres, along with the ambition displayed in *Giant Steps*, is what impressed music critics at the time. Yet this record is far from being *flawless*. First, it's too long. A little self-editing would have probably been welcomed here. At more than an hour of running time, ambition becomes sheer hubris in many parts of this LP. Secondly, Martin Carr sometimes has nice ideas when it comes to pure songwriting shenanigans (at least in terms of concept--see the My Bloody Valentine-inspired "Spun Around", for instance, or closer "The White Noise Revisited"). But unfortunately Carr is no Brian Wilson, contrary to what his PR agents would have you believe when this record came out. As a consequence, memorable hooks, choruses and melodies are not numerous enough, and I can't help shake the feeling that sophisticated arrangements were mostly used to hide such an obvious flaw. And all of this gives the impression that The Boo Radleys were a little pretentious at the time, maybe... Finally, Sice's lead vocals are too timid and understated to seal the deal for me. When your band is bent on making such a grand statement, you need a little more conviction, even if said band is partly self-deluded about the whole thing... Ironically, the vocals would improve a lot on the next album, *Wake Up Boo!*. Too bad the latter reconciled with simpler, more straighforward ideas mostly through a derivative, major-chord and horn-section driven cheesefest. The timing is always wrong with this act. Or is it with me? 🙃 Speaking of other Boo Radleys albums, it seems to me that the band sounded far more "natural" for their debut LP than in anything that followed it. Yes, *Everything's Alright Forever* was more "classic" shoegaze. But at least Carr's reach didn't exceed his grasp there. As a matter of fact, it is a very nice listen, and I'm even tempted to buy it. In a similar genre, that debut album might even beat Ride's *Nowhere* out of the park for me--and yes I know the latter is considered as a "masterpiece". But sometimes, "professional critics" get it all wrong, don't they? Number of albums left to review: 618 Number of albums from the list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 186 Albums from the list I *might* include in mine later on: 86 Albums from the list I will certainly *not* include in mine (many others are more essential to me): 117 (including this one)

Standard 90s prog-pop-rock. Nothing terrible, nothing noteworthy.

I think I only like shoegaze that's drenched in fuzzy wall of sound guitars, this just wasn't holding my attention.

A funny band name and an album full of 90s sounds that goes on a bit too long. It has a punk alternative sound that’s similar to the smashing pumpkins but it becomes a bit of mess throughout that doesn’t have any direction. I didn’t hate it but it was nothing special or worth revisiting. 4.7/10

This was terrible

decent shoegazey alt rock

Oh look another nineties britpop record! Well that certainly didn't sound like an album I MUST HEAR BEFORE I DIE, like, say "Giant Steps" by John Coltrane (which of course didn't make the list). 2/5: not offensive enough to turn off if it came on & not good enough to voluntarily listen to.

This album felt like a knock off of smashing pumpkins and the cure mixed. Vocally pumpkins and also tonally but some pieces sounded like the cure too. Makes it very hard to enjoy when nothing grabs your attention. You’d think people would have warned them they sounded like other people but oh well.

Pretty generic. I was expecting with a name like the Boo Radleys that we'd at least get something interesting, if not some crazy punk or political group. But no, it's a British rock band. Leave it to the Brits to co-opt the Boo Radley name in the most boring of fashions. One of those classic "not bad, but not good either" type of albums for me. Favorite tracks: Butterfly McQueen, Best Lose the Fear. Album art: The most interesting thing about this album. A cool multicolored drawing of...I don't even know, a giant ball sitting in a track? It's ornate, it's mysterious, and it's better than the music. 2.5/5

I really dig all the guitar pedal use. But I don't hear this genre crossing band that people are talking about. This album is standard shoegaze. Acoustic guitars followed by fuzz. Sure there's a little horn here and there or the odd piano. But that was also normal at the time. Something else super normal at the time? Limp wispy vocals. Which this album has a LOT of. And I hate it.

Too much. No cohesion, nothing to grab but noise and repetition.

I don't get on with Shoegaze but this was OK.

Album was basically background noise for me. Favorite track: Lazarus

There were some highs and lows on this album but ultimately nothing stuck with me between listenings and it was WAY too long for what it was

This was way too boring and way too long. There is no reason for this to be on this list and the listen counts agree with me.

Original but not enough interesting

p721. 1993. 2 stars. Average early 90s Brit rock wannabees, stuck between the Stone Roses and The Lightning Seeds but without the tunes or the talent. Strays into "just noise" far too often and outstays its welcome big time. Not essential listening.

Not bad, but not all that good. the song order could have been better, lots of disjointed transition from track to track. Some interesting stuff but nothing that especially stood out.

Didn’t like very much of this at all. 4/10

Não funcionou corretamente para explorar mais o som relacionado ao shoegazing.

3/17, 18%

Meni vähän ohi eikä jääny erityisesti mieleen. Ei kuitenkaan missään vaiheessa ärsyttänyt

can't be bothered

Meh. Finns bättre band för samtliga låtkategorier.

Meh not my thing

Barney (... and Me)-introen e jo reint plagiat av Just Like Heaven. Ut over da e eg ikkje så shoegazete av meg, og vokalen va kje heilt for meg

It’s alright. 2.5/5

This album is painstakingly long. They are a good band, but seems like they are trying too hard to be unique

Who? What is this? Meh...

Barely noticed at the time. Long forgotten

It had its moments, but it sure did go on. It would've been a 3 but the run time was way too indulgent.

Je sais pas trop quoi en penser, j'étais peut-être vraiment pas dans le mood mais j'Avais hâte que ca finisse....Un peu all over the place 2.25

This turned out better than I expected it to be. There is a lot of quite interesting stuff going on musically. It rocks more than I thought the band were capable. I am big on voices though, if a voice isn't right then I find it difficult to enjoy the music at all. This guy's voice is really quite irritating. A shame, it could have been so much better.

Giant Steps goes on for far too long and makes the likeable moments forgettable. The opening two or three tracks have an energy that doesn't last much beyond it, and it fades into generic 90s alt-pop-rock beigeness. 2/5.

I think I liked this more than most of you, but it's got some pretty big flaws. It's far too long (both some of the tracks on their own and definitely the album as a whole). Lazarus is great, and if you skip the first minute then so is the opening track. The rest of it is fine, but nothing else really stands out. 2/5.

Helt ok grunge, men mjee, inte min musikstil riktigt

A really challenging listen. It is sonically unusual and interesting... different layers and instruments for an alt rock album. However, it never gels for me and the lead singer's voice/style is irritating to me. It is muted, boring and at some point the whisper unmelodic comatose singing starts to become unpleasant. Disappointed here.

Complex, a little bizarre. Warrants a second listen.

Kinda unmemorable.

15th March 2022 Listened on a quiet day in the office then went to flight club with Douggie in Shoreditch. Some super 90s stuff in here but overall felt a bit disjointed and not really for me.

1993: Wish I Was Skinny, I Hang Suspended

The stench of early 90's Britpop is all over this album. Cooing vocals, guitars that either jangle or buzzsaw and the need of a couple of tracks to be dumped. Best Tracks: Wish I Was Skinny; Barney (...and Me); Lazarus

Couldn't make it the whole way through this one - the shoegaze and noise pop vibe isn't for me (and I'm not a Britpop fan on the best of days). 'Wish I was Skinny" was my fave track.

Britisk shoegaze, pskykedelisk rock, 90’er

This album was shoegaze. its was lame and boring.

Made no impression on me at all

Pretty meh

It's Brit pop but has a few other interesting influences. Not enough good songs ultimately

meh

Son como una mezcla de Pavement y Dinosaur Jr., ¿no? No sé, no me parece que estén haciendo algo súper innovador. Tal vez no esté en el momento correcto para escuchar esta música. Me está sonando muy normalito, no sé muy bien qué hace en el libro este disco. Molan algunos detalles, los vientos que meten a veces. Personal: 4. Con muy baja prioridad me lo volveré a escuchar, pero no está en mi lista de mejores discos definitivamente. Trascendencia: 2? Una banda de culto en UK que por eso aparece en este libro? Género: 5. Me parece que hay mejores discos en Shoegaze / Rock alternativo de esos años

Bit of a weird one

This started off with so much promise, first song was great and I thought I had found a new band to listen to.But this rest was rubbish!!!

I’m not sure you could find an album that has more of that “early 90s” sound. I also like that this music is all over the place. Tons of secondary styles. None of which particularly move me, but it was fine.

This album really took me on a journey - in the beginning I thought it was just another early 90’s alternative/indie record that at best I liked, at worst I was indifferent to, but by the end it had gone to so many weird and abstract places that I actively disliked it.

Too long for an album that has nothing standing out. I found it actually dragged on and got quite boring.

Wish I Was Skinny Barney (...and Me)

Yeah. Not bad. Some cool tunes. Not likely to come back to this one.

Not for me. Found like one song. They do a few cool sounds, almost like Real Estate and then the occasional reggae sound

Funky, psyedelic. Not great.

Este álbum são imensas merdas ao mesmo tempo que individualmente dava um álbum de 4. Mas como está, mama com 2 que já é bom.

This turned out better than I expected it to be. There is a lot of quite interesting stuff going on musically. It rocks more than I thought the band were capable. I am big on voices though, if a voice isn't right then I find it difficult to enjoy the music at all. This guy's voice is really quite irritating. A shame, it could have been so much better.

If you got rid of half the songs you might have a mediocre album. 6.4/10

absolute meh, do not like the noises that guitar makes in their songs.

Este álbum é muito semelhante, nada de novo e interessante. Contudo, é tão longo e tão chato que tenho de dar um 4. Existe uma versão estendida, está já não é comprida de mais. Nota:4/10

Not quite as bad as other albums I don't finish, but I didn't listen to more than 3.5 songs because it was too distracting during work. Seems like a mix of standard brit-pop and annoying noise.

Kind of liked only one song from it

Probably didn't give it enough run throughs, but didn't excite me

Nao fede nem cheira.

It was ok, nothing really stood out to me and although there were parts that I enjoyed somewhat it was short lived for the majority of the album. 2*

I actually thought I would like this more. Was fine but nothing stood out. Think the singer didn't really connect.

Was made in the 90s but sounds like the 70s? Nope.

Very distracting

I mean, it sort of sounds like most any other alternative rock band of the 90s. It’s alright, but not really anything to write home about.

There were moments of this that I found compelling - the end of I've Lost the Reason, for example, when the distorted vocals kick in. Overall I found it dull. I liked the last couple songs. My mind could be changed about this album, but not a great first listen for me.

Iets te experimenteel voor mij, al zitten er wel wat lekkere deuntjes in

Thought it was decent, but not much jumped out at me. "Rodney King (Song for Lenny Bruce" was a stand-out

Ein generisches Rockalbum, das durch seine experimentellen Anklänge wenig aufgewertet wird. Im Gedächtnis bleibt davon- nichts. Wenn dies DAS Album des Jahres gewesen sein soll, wie einige Kritiker und Magazine schrieben, spricht das insgesamt gegen den Geschmack und Zeitgeist von 1993.

Quite bland. Nothing that really stood out to me.

Grunge-y, mostly okay

Upbeat shoegazey 90s alt-rock, not too bad but also not too good. It sounded like a band that had a lot of playing talent and access to decent recording gear... but went into a studio with two songs, determined to record an hour and 15's worth of music. In the end I turned it off halfway, which I don't do often (but was still like 40min into the album). This is the very definition of a 2.5/5.

Not for me. 1/5

this sounded superficial and lame

ui de zweit song isch 90er reggae rock irgendwie? da chunt nöd guet glaub. oook shoegaze isch scho nöd soo miis glaub? ider findis gad afoch glichzitig chli langwilig langsam aber au chli z viel? ok finds insano arsch has null checkt isch wieder öpis woni glaub eig mega sött möge aber ich hans wüüüürkli nöd chöne gnüsse fr fr null. z wenig hooks mengmol afoch chli genudel, ihr sind halt nöd d beatles sorry ich kenn eu nöd und ich verzeihs eu nöd wenner es inkohärents eistündigs album anehaued. JUAN

Commercially unsuccessful British jangle pop from the 90s: Aww, you're sweet Commercially successful British jangle pop from the 90s: Hello, human resources?

Many influences indeed, but not my cup of tea. Lazarus jumps out.

what trash

It's just boring

Dont like this album. One star

1. hang - 2 2. ninth - 1 3. zkinny - 1 4. zand - 2 5. butterfly - 1 6. king - 0 7. uuayz - 1 8. barney - 0 9. zpun - 0 10. take - 1 11. fear - 1 12. time - 1 13. lazaruz - 0 14. one - 1 15. run - 0 16. lozt - 1 17. noize - 0

Painful to my ears

Det længste album jeg nogensinde har hørt. Jeg finder aldrig nogen der elsker mig så meget som 1001 Albums elsker middelmådige britiske bands fra 90'erne

This started out promising. By the end I think I’m giving it a 1. The production is way too needlessly fussy.

Why

Hard pass, this was awful awful awful.

Meh

juuei suoraa ensimmäisen kappaleen ekoista sanoista. Pitää tietysti loppuun kuunnella, mut ei kyllä tämä ei sitten lähde ollenkaan. En ole mikään suurin country fani muutenkaan, ja tää on sit aivan täyttä countryä. Liian hidastas, laulutyyli ärsyttää ja muutenkin vaan huonoa musiikkia. Tässä nyt vaan kärsitään albumi loppuun saakka. 1/5

Niet voor mij. Teveel gitaar / alternatief.

Terrible production. Boring songs