Giant Steps
Studio album by
the Boo Radleys
Released16 August 1993
RecordedFebruary – March 1993
StudioFirst Protocol, London
Genre
Length64:11
LabelCreation
Producer
The Boo Radleys chronology
Learning to Walk
(1992)		 Giant Steps
(1993)		 Wake Up!
(1995)

Giant Steps is the third studio album by the Boo Radleys, released in 1993. The title is inspired by John Coltrane's album of the same name, and the record features an assortment of influences — their previous shoegazing sound backed by pop, reggae, noise pop and orchestral sounds.

Background

The Boo Radleys released their second studio Everything's Alright Forever (1992) through Creation Records. It reached number 55 on the UK Albums Chart, and gave the band their first hit in that territory with "Does This Hurt", which peaked at number 67 on the Singles Chart. With frequent live performances, and attention from the press, the band's profile rose. Following a US tour with Sugar, the Boo Radleys began working on their next release.[2]

Guitarist Martin Carr had wanted to make an album that was more musically ambitious than the shoegaze sound they were known for. He said the rest of the band felt that no other act on the Creation Records roster were as competent as them. Journalist David Cavanagh said the band used the studio as an instrument, "push[ing] back the boundaries" of music as Screamadelica (1991) by Primal Scream had previously done, "crashing from genre to genre" as if the Boo Radleys were making their own iteration of the White album (1968) by the Beatles.[3]

Release

Assistant press officer Andy Saunders was enamoured with the album. He and label co-founder Dick Green told marketing consultant Tim Abbot to "chuck everything at it" in terms of promotional efforts. While label co-founder Alan McGee liked "Lazarus", he thought the rest of it was too avant-garde. Carr was not worried by this response as McGee had taken some time to change his similar opinion on Everything's Alright Forever. "Lazarus" was released was the album's lead single in November 1992.[3] McGee understood the change in the band's sound, but informed them the label would be focusing its efforts on Mezcal Head (1993) by labelmates Swervedriver, who had the chance of becoming bigger in the US.[4] To help aid the album's promotion, Saunders wanted Carr to be perceived by the press as a musical genius akin to Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys or Kevin Shields from former Creation group My Bloody Valentine.[5] Alongside this, the band performed at Sound City festival in Glasgow.[6] "Lazarus" was gaining traction in the US, and subsequently, the Boo Radleys became a popular act during the 1994 Lollapalooza touring festival.[2]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[7]
Calgary HeraldB+[8]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[9]
Mojo[10]
Music Week[11]
NME9/10[12]
Q[13]
Record Collector[14]
Select4/5[15]

Giant Steps received favourable reviews upon its release.[5] It had sold 60,000 copies in 1993, becoming Creation Records' best selling release of the year.[16] It reached the UK Top 20;[17] "Lazarus" reached number 76 in the UK.[3]

NME[18] and Select[19] named it as album of the year, and it was ranked as #1 in Fanning's Fab Fifty for that year. Reviewing the album's rerelease in 2008, Sic Magazine wrote, "For 64 minutes they were the greatest band on the planet."[20]

The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[21] Author Dave Thompson, in his book Alternative Rock (2000), praised the variety of styles, noting that "those perfect pop harmonies keep somersaulting overheard."[2]

In 2016, Pitchfork ranked the album at number 25 in its list of "The 50 Best Shoegaze Albums of All Time", with critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine writing:

The Boo Radleys' songwriter/guitarist, Martin Carr, named his band's 1993 album after John Coltrane's 1959 LP, but Giant Steps also is a winking acknowledgment of another kind: He's the first to know that the Liverpool quartet has taken a huge leap forward. Although they hardly renounce the thunderous swirl and delicate suspension of 1992's Everything's Alright Forever, the Boo Radleys treat that candied rush as an absorbed language, with Carr choosing to pursue a grand vision that unifies psychedelia, British guitar-pop, jazz, and dub. Part of the appeal of Giant Steps is that the Boo Radleys' enthusiasm leads them to attempt fusions that would scare away other bands: Witness "Lazarus," which begins with an elastic reggae beat before becoming consumed by sheets of guitars, wispy harmonies, and stabs of brass. "Lazarus" is essentially Giant Steps in microcosm, but the album gains strength through its own untrammeled ambition. At the dawn of britpop, the Boo Radleys chose expanding consciousness over provincial patriotism, and the results are still majestic."[22]

The following year, Pitchfork also ranked it at number 40 on its list of "The 50 Best Britpop Albums".[23]

Track listing

All songs and lyrics written by Martin Carr.

Original release

No.TitleLength
1."I Hang Suspended"3:57
2."Upon 9th and Fairchild"4:50
3."Wish I Was Skinny"3:37
4."Leaves and Sand"4:25
5."Butterfly McQueen"3:28
6."Rodney King (Song for Lenny Bruce)"2:45
7."Thinking of Ways"3:48
8."Barney (...and Me)"4:42
9."Spun Around"2:31
10."If You Want It, Take It"2:47
11."Best Lose the Fear"4:12
12."Take the Time Around"4:07
13."Lazarus"4:38
14."One Is For"1:36
15."Run My Way Runway"2:20
16."I've Lost The Reason"5:17
17."The White Noise Revisited"5:02
Total length:64:14

2010 expanded edition

CD1 – Giant Steps

CD2 – Bonus disc 1

  1. "Lazy Day"
  2. "Vegas"
  3. "Feels Like Tomorrow"
  4. "Whiplashed"
  5. "Does This Hurt? - Edit"
  6. "Boo! Forever"
  7. "Buffalo Bill"
  8. "Sunfly II (Walking With The Kings)"
  9. "Rodney King (St Etienne Remix)"
  10. "As Bound As Tomorrow"
  11. "I Will Always Ask You Where You've Been Even Though I Know The Answer"
  12. "Peachy Keen"
  13. "Further"
  14. "Crow Eye"
  • 1 – 4 taken from the Adrenalin EP.
  • 5 – 8 taken from the Boo! Forever EP.
  • 9 – 11 taken from the "I Hang Suspended" single.
  • 12 – 14 taken from the "Wish I Was Skinny" single.

CD3 – Bonus disc 2

  1. "Tortoiseshell"
  2. "Zoom"
  3. "Cracked Lips, Homesick"
  4. "At The Sound Of Speed"
  5. "Let Me Be Your Faith"
  6. "Petroleum"
  7. "Lazarus (7" Version)"
  8. "Lazarus (Acoustic)"
  9. "(I Wanna Be) Touchdown Jesus"
  10. "Lazarus (St Etienne Remix)"
  11. "Lazarus (Secret Knowledge Remix)"
  12. "Lazarus (Ultramarine Remix)"
  13. "Lazarus (Augustus Pablo Remix)"
  14. "Lazarus (12" Version)"
  • 1 – 3 taken from the "Barney (…and Me)" single.
  • 4 – 8 taken from the "Lazarus" single.
  • 9 – 14 taken from the "Lazarus (Remixes)" single.

Personnel

  • Sice – vocals
  • Rob Cieka – drums, percussion
  • Tim Brown – bass guitar, keyboards
  • Martin Carr – guitar, keyboards, vocals
  • Steve Kitchen – trumpet, flugel horn
  • Lindsay Johnston – cello
  • Jackie Toy – clarinet, bass clarinet
  • Meriel Barham – vocals on "Rodney King" and "One Is For"
  • Chris Moore – trumpet on "Lazarus"
  • Margaret Fiedler – cello on "Lazarus"
  • Keith Cameron – vocals on "The White Noise Revisitied"
  • Yvette Lacey – vocals on "The White Noise Revisitied"
  • Moose – handclaps on "Wish I Was Skinny", vocals on "The White Noise Revisitied"
  • Kle – vocals on "The White Noise Revisitied"
  • Laurence – vocals on "The White Noise Revisitied"
  • Nick Addison – vocals on "The White Noise Revisitied"
  • Guy Fixsen – vocals on "The White Noise Revisitied"
  • Russell – handclaps on "Wish I Was Skinny"
  • BOO! Productions (Martin Carr, Tim Brown & Andy Wilkinson) – production, remixing on "Lazarus"
  • Kevin & Barry – mastering (at Townhouse Studios)
  • Andy Wilkinson – engineering
  • Giles Hall – assistant engineering
  • Anjali Dutt – mixing (at Battery Studios, London)
  • Sarah Bedingham – assistance
  • Alan Moulder – remixing on "Lazarus"
  • Stephen A. Wood – sleeve art
  • Designland Limited – layout

References

Citations

  1. 1 2 Stylus Staff (22 March 2004). "Top 101–200 Favourite Albums Ever". Stylus Magazine. Archived from the original on 16 February 2022. Retrieved 27 April 2023. Their eclecticism might have alienated a few people—who wants to sit through a double album of psychedelic country shoegazer singalong dub anyway?—but not most.
  2. 1 2 3 Thompson 2000, p. 215
  3. 1 2 3 Cavanagh 2000, p. 404
  4. ↑ Cavanagh 2000, pp. 404–5
  5. 1 2 Cavanagh 2000, p. 405
  6. ↑ Cavanagh 2000, p. 437
  7. ↑ Raggett, Ned. "Giant Steps – The Boo Radleys". AllMusic. Retrieved 8 September 2011.
  8. ↑ Bell, Mike (12 September 1993). "Recent Releases". Calgary Herald.
  9. ↑ Larkin, Colin (2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th concise ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0-85712-595-8.
  10. ↑ "The Boo Radleys: Giant Steps". Mojo: 117. [Giant Steps] is really about exploratory glee, leavening FX-pedals with Love brass, Pet Sounds harmonies/arrangements and, on 'Upon 9th and Fairchild,' dub reggae ...
  11. ↑ Aston, Martin (7 August 1993). "Market Preview: Alternative — Pick of the Week" (PDF). Music Week. p. 12. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
  12. ↑ Moody, Paul (14 August 1993). "The Next Big Thing". NME. Retrieved 8 September 2011.
  13. ↑ "The Boo Radleys: Giant Steps". Q (86): 114. November 1993.
  14. ↑ Mansfield, Mollie (December 2013). "The Boo Radleys – Giant Steps: 20th Anniversary Edition". Record Collector (421). Retrieved 8 September 2011.
  15. ↑ Cavanagh, David (September 1993). "The Kickin' Stride". Select (39): 85.
  16. ↑ McGee 2014, p. 183
  17. ↑ "Giant Step [sic]". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 8 September 2011.
  18. ↑ "1993 NME Albums". rocklistmusic.co.uk. Retrieved 8 September 2011.
  19. ↑ "1993 Albums". Select End Of Year Lists. rocklistmusic.co.uk. Retrieved 8 September 2011.
  20. ↑ Spaceman, Brett (September 2011). "The Boo Radleys – Giant Steps, Deluxe Edition". sicmagazine.net. Retrieved 8 September 2011.
  21. ↑ Robert Dimery; Michael Lydon (23 March 2010). 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die: Revised and Updated Edition. Universe. ISBN 978-0-7893-2074-2.
  22. ↑ "The 50 Best Shoegaze Albums of All Time". Pitchfork. 24 October 2016. p. 3. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
  23. ↑ "The 50 Best Britpop Albums". Pitchfork. 29 March 2017. p. 2. Retrieved 14 May 2018.

Sources

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