Giant Steps [Import]

Boo Radleys | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 22, 2001)
• Original Release Date: 2001
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Sony/Bmg Int'l
• ASIN: B0000240JU
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #74,751 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #71 in Music > Alternative Rock > Indie & Lo-Fi > Shoegazing

Editorial Reviews

Digitally remastered and expanded three CD edition of the Britpop band's 1993 album including all of their b-sides and singles released around the time of the album. Giant Steps was the third album by the Boo Radleys. NME and Select named it as Album Of The Year. It reached the UK Top 20, but did not spawn a Top 40 single. The Boo Radleys were never comfortable fitting into any of the easily defined categories that pigeonholed so many British bands in the early 1990s. Living up to its title, the album is indeed a step above and away both from what their peers were doing and what was expected of the band themselves. The album is a cornucopia of varying influences, from the Smiths-y 'Wish I Was Skinny' to the lovely brass arrangement in 'Lazarus'. This re-issue brings together all the b-sides and singles from around the time into one great triple CD. Cherry Red --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ONE REVIEW?!!?? ONLY ONE?????, March 22, 2007

By 

moody blue "strummerhead" (Redding, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Giant Steps (Audio CD)

You have got to be kidding me! I NEVER write reviews on AMAZON, but seeing this album with only one supporter, well, I just had to get my 2-cents in.
For you aging sixties hipsters, remember the first time you heard Pet Sounds? Or perhaps LOVE's Forever Changes? How 'bout Tommy?
For you seventies burn-outs, remember Led Zep IV? Wish You Were Here? Bowie's LOW?
How about all you eighties 'wavers' (including myself!), do YOU remember the first time you heard Joy Division's Closer, Pornography by the CURE, or Laibach's Opus Dei?
In the early nineties, you had Screamadelica by Primal Scream, which drastically changed the sonic landscape by melding stonsey-type rockers with house and ambient music.
And you had the Boo Radleys GIANT STEPS, which combined the shoegazing sonics of My Bloody Valentine with Brian Wilson style harmonies. But that was not all. One listen to Lazarus (in an abbreviated version here, unfortunately) and you will become a fan. As my brother would say, "it's a dubtastic psychedelic trip, maaaaaan!"
Every track is a psychedelic standout, the best of the best being the afore mentioned Lazarus, Rodney King, Butterfly McQueen and Best Lose the Fear.
If you buy this album and have never heard it before, your first listen should be on high quality headphones, lest you miss the little gems of musical wonder hidden in each track.
Bottom line: everyone with even a passing interest in quality music should own this. Yes, it really is that good, it stands the test of time by sounding both nostalgic and twenty years ahead of it's time.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must in every collection, June 18, 2003

By 

Dan (Dublin Ireland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Giant Steps (Audio CD)

I was lucky enough to get this album shortly after it came out. After 2 breathless listens i was sure that eventually this band would take over the world. Its funny the way things work out. For at least 2 years after I got this slice of genius - it was played daily in my house. Now almost 10 years later i still haven't come accross an Album as good.

I've been on many web-sites and seen reviews of this album which invariably give 5 stars or 10/10. This is no fluke guys. It can reasonably be considered amongst the greatest rock albums of all time. By some freak its not sold well. 100,000 in 10 years is an estimate flying around!!!Do not be mis-led. You have the chance to join an elite few and witness 1hr 15 minuets of the greatest pop , shoegazing, alternative, reggae album. Stone Roses - pretty good , Nirvana - fair play to you lads , Beatles - where would we be without you. But Giant Steps - by the Boos , that my friends, is the standard.

"Take what you know , break it up and rearrange it"

Dan

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful album, sadly out of print in America, April 23, 2003

By 

jeu8478 "jeu8478" (Dallas, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Giant Steps (Audio CD)

The Boos' second major label album following the underwhelming Everything's Alright Forever, Giant Steps was indeed a giant step forward for the band. Led by songwriter Martin Carr, Giant Steps features a stunning variety of sounds - the Boos seem to try almost everything, from acoustic pop ("Wish I Was Skinny"), to jazz ("Leaves and Sand"), to trancey dance music ("Rodney King [Song for Lenny Bruce]"), to dub (the amazing "Lazarus"), to Oasis-style rock ("If You Want It, Take It" - recorded a year before Definitely Maybe came out) and succeed an enormous amount of the time. In fact, if the Beatles had been a 90's group, I'm tempted to say that they might have sounded more like the Boo Radleys than Oasis - the Boos had the same experimental, try-anything attitude that the Beatles had three decades prior.

The album almost sounds like a mess upon first listen, but repeated playing brings out the adventurous nature and quality of what the group did. It's very rare for a contemporary group to push limits like the Boo Radleys did, and do it with such success, but Giant Steps is just that- it's a great, well-done album from an underappreciated group (even in Britain).

Highlights include all of the aforementioned songs, plus the opener "I Hang Suspended", and the poppy "Barney (...and Me)".