THE BOO RADLEYS: LEARNING TO WALK (1993)
1) Kaleidoscope; 2) How I
Feel; 3) Aldous; 4) Swansong; 5) The Finest Kiss; 6) Tortoiseshell; 7)
Bluebird; 8) Naomi; 9) Alone Again Or; 10) Everybird; 11) Sometime Soon She
Said; 12) Foster's Van; 13) Song For Up!; 14) Boo! Faith.
Formally this is a compilation, but it feels
logical to discuss it right after Everything's
Alright Forever, since it neatly summarizes and closes the door on the
first part of the Boo Radleys' career. This one puts together three separate
EPs that the band put out in 1990 and 1991: Kaleidoscope, Every Heaven,
and Boo! Up, and throws in two
covers for good measure — a Boo Radleys-style transformation of Love's classic ʽAlone
Again Orʼ, and a similar re-construction of New Order's ʽTrue Faithʼ (whose
title is mutated to ʽBoo! Faithʼ).
The first track, ʽKaleidoscopeʼ, is somewhat
symbolic — it is a re-recording of one of the tracks from the unfortunate Ichabod, longer, denser, and in much better sound quality, showing how
much the band really cared about «going professional» in those early days. Not
only is more and better emphasis placed on Sice's «tragic hero» vocals, but the
guitars are brighter and janglier as well, with several «noise patterns»
intersecting with each other and genuinely attempting to create a kaleidoscopic
feeling.
However, after that there is really very little
development: most of the songs on these three EPs sound very much alike, and all
the standard complaints about their brand of noise-pop apply here in equal
measure, even if repeated listens eventually bring out the occasional flash of psychedelic
beauty in the vocal hooks of ʽSwansongʼ or ʽBluebirdʼ. And even so, they make a
big mistake by following those two
early EPs up with the cover of ʽAlone Again Orʼ — this is one of Arthur Lee's
best songs ever, and the tearful gorgeousness of its romantic vocal melody
immediately exposes the Boos as incapable mediocrities in comparison. The
cover is actually quite good — the noise-pop arrangement still preserves the
original's melodicity, and Sice's style is ideally suited to imitating and recreating
Lee's «plaintive» attitudes. But when the cover is so much better than the
originals... well, you know.
A few first seeds of upcoming changes can be
spotted on the third EP, Boo! Up. ʽEverybirdʼ
places its bets not so much on the predictable noise sections as it does on the
quieter, acoustic parts where they sound not unlike Pink Floyd in their
post-Barrett / pre-Dark Side days;
ʽSometime Soon She Saidʼ has their tightest rhythm section up to date, with
drummer Rob Cieka kicking those skins so loudly and precisely that he just might
steal your audio-attention away from all the feedback; and ʽSong For Up!ʼ has a
quirky instrumental section where the band's patented noisy jam schtick gradually emerges from a softer,
dronier, maybe even jazzier passage. In other words, they are beginning to
build up on their original foundation, cautiously testing different possible
outlets — still only very cautiously, though.
On the whole, thanks to its chronologically
diverse nature, Learning To Walk is
a less difficult record to assimilate than Everything's
Alright Forever, and it may give a slightly more favorable impression of
the band — on the other hand, it still does not prepare you for the artistic
transformation that they would very soon go through, and I can only heartily
recommend it for all those who love their pop standards to be burnt to a crisp
in carcinogenic feedback, and decline to take 'em any other way.
I think Alone Again was written by Bryan Maclean, that's what your old website says. Anyway, this description reminds me of my experiences listening to Bauhaus where I liked the sound of the band but I thought their covers of Bowie / T.Rex material were so superior to the band's own songs it made me think less of the band.
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