Here is a review of two very different LP’s, both of which were number one albums, by different classifications. One of them topped the reader’s polls in the NME and was named Select magazine’s album of the year in 1993. The other outsold its competitors to reach the number one position in the album charts in 1995. So both of them were acclaimed, but in very different ways – one of them critically, and the other commercially. Giant Steps, the third album from Merseyside band The Boo Radleys, is the critical success, a dazzling sprawling multi-facetted collection of songs and styles. Wake Up!, on the other hand, is unjustly considered in some respects to be the lesser album, possibly because of one particular song.

Starting life as a droning, shoegazing outfit, The Boo Radleys signed to Creation Records in 1992, releasing their second album on the label that actively encouraged bands to find their own pace. Even so, they were considered by many to be just another Creation band, songwriter Martin Carr not considered anything other than an adequate composer. That changed with the release of Giant Steps, a hugely ambitious collection of songs, often infuriatingly so in its spread of styles that hops from rock, to dub reggae, to dance and Beach Boysesque pop harmonies. It almost seems as if they looked at how long a CD could be and thought from the offset ‘let’s fill it’, without any real idea of what they were going to fill it with. It’s a Bagpuss of an album – baggy, and a bit loose at the seams, but with much to love.

Consequently, it feels like you are listening to three of four different albums on shuffle. Opening number ‘I Hang Suspended’ is breathtaking, the soft waves of noise that burst into crackles of drums and wailing, driving guitar, a crystal clear vocal from Sice. The songs conclusion is awe-inspiring, feedback squalling into the dub bass of ‘Upon 9th and Fairchild’. The natural bedfellow of the opener is ‘Barney (…and Me)’, almost its equal, the extended outro cracks with energy, layer upon layer of remarkable melody fizzing to a halting finish. The highlight though, in all its shimmering beauty, is the audacious ‘Lazarus’, from the haltering dub intro to the cascade of building guitar surges and noise. There is no chorus, just a strident trumpet melody undercut with the drone of feedback, sweeping and thundering.

It’s a shame in some respects that the album did not end on this note, as there is little after that comes close, the plodding ‘White Noise Revisited’ a rather dull conclusion compared the final flourish of guitar that ends ‘Lazarus’. There is a boldness though to this album, an ambition that surprised most, that what seemed like such an ordinary band could be capable of such a wide musical palette. It deserved the accolades and praised heaped on its shoulders, and it was indeed something that would be very hard to live up to on their next release.

They bridged the albums with a single, ‘From the Bench at Belvedere’, a sweet, simplistic pop-song that gave little indication as to the direction they were going to take. But then, breakfast DJ’s the length of the land gave a collective cheer, as they heard the first strident trumpet chords of…hang on a second. Lets take a moment, before we give it the traditional kicking, to say that ‘Wake Up Boo!’ is actually a really good song. Its insanely catchy, which maybe is its downfall, but it is so full of life, and preposterous amounts of energy. Maybe it is true that familiarity breeds contempt, because at the time this song was everywhere, but taken under its own merits it deserved the success it received and not all of the criticism that followed.

Many bought the album, maybe a fair proportion hoping for a brace of equally zappy pop numbers, and if that were the case then sadly they would be disappointed. Over the years eBay has been groaning with second hand copies, which is a shame as in some ways Wake Up is equally as inventive as Giant Steps. The zing of ‘Wake Up Boo!’ drifts into the gentle strum of ‘Fairfax Scene’, and then back to the zing with ‘It’s Lulu’, and more glorious guitars, trumpets and handclaps. “The ones who understand are the posters on the wall, she finds her favourite tape and puts it on”. Lyrics this pop seldom have groaning guitar solos, which maybe is somewhat of a shame.

The three singles sit together very closely, ‘Find The Answer Within’ also resplendent with trumpets, a hook and a massive chorus. But the rest of the album is very different, far more attuned to the inventiveness of Giant Steps, ‘Martin, Doom! It’s Seven O’Clock’ in particular with its conga drum and close patterned harmonies. ‘Charles Bukowski Is Dead’ sees Sice allowing his scouse to rise, despite singing a Camden song about the 90’s to its repetitive finish. Its ends majestically, with the incredible ‘Wilder’, its melancholy, sometimes wise lyrics a fitting conclusion. The whole album seems to find The Boo Radleys in conflict, almost as if they were wishing to be pop, but not being able to fully commit themselves, not by an act of subversion but through an inability to fully embrace the normality of pop music at the time.

Whether consciously or not, the next album C’mon Kids could not have been clearer in the direction they wished to take. Whilst wonderful, it’s hard not to listen to ‘What’s In The Box (See Whatcha Got)’ without thinking “they made this the lead single”. It is a fine, though strange album, containing possibly their finest song, the sadness drenched ‘Everything Is Sorrow’. They did it again with Kingsize, going with daft ‘Free Huey’ instead of the sublime title track. Hopefully in time, these albums will also be reissued.

Both these albums come with two further CD’s of extra tracks. Giant Steps has the best bonus material, particularly the second CD, but said that the extra tracks on Wake Up are far from shabby, with some fine b-sides. Both these albums are also extremely well priced, available for little more than a tenner. If you do not own Giant Steps, then I totally recommend it. It is a pre-Britpop release that has no basis in time or history, sounding as if it could have been recorded in a number of different decades. Wake Up is also worth your attention, though Giant Steps has the edge. The Boo Radleys were always a bold, inventive band, saddled with a song that speaks nothing of their wider work, and these releases are an ideal way to explore them further.