REVIEW: Boo Radleys, Wake Up! - Tim Kenned

The Boo Radleys previous album, 1994's Giant Steps was critically hailed in the UK for its 60s-based eclecticism with some people hailing Martin Carr, their songwriter, as a Brian Wilson of the 90s. Strong praise indeed. However despite this critical acclaim, the public thought otherwise and it only sold to the converted few. Maybe seventeen tracks was too many - after all Blur's Modern Life Is Rubbish is easily better value than Parklife but it was the briefer, more focused of the two that finally broke big.

Wake Up! is the gospel of the sixties as received on tablets of acid via the scouse psychedelic prophets of the early eighties. Although echoes of the Beach Boys'Smile and the Beatles' The White Album and Sergeant Pepper haunt this album, the Teardrop Explodes are also forefathers of Wake Up! as are Echo and The Bunnymen (who also recorded in the Rockfield Studios where this music was made).

As with the preceding album, the band have used strings, brass, glockenspiels piano and much more to achieve their effect. A variety of styles are tackled within, even within the body of individual songs.

The subject matter relates mostly to the songwriter Martin Carr's exile to the dour northwestern English mill town of Preston, where his partner had found a job. The band hail from Merseyside (Martin and singer Sice were childhood friends) but had set up camp in Camden, London for sometime before Martin's move which he clearly hasn't enjoyed, being separated from his mates in London. He bounces between guilt over his behaviour toward Rebecca his partner and his frustration at being away from his drinking buddies.

Zany acapella elements that figure throughout this material bring to mind the Beach Boys tracks that were to have figured on 1967's Smile, such as "She's Goin' Bald" and "Vegetables". Elements of this can be found in the intro to "Wake Up Boo", the intro to "It's Lulu", the strange swirling coda to "Charles Bukowski Is Dead', to "4AM Conversation" and "Wilder". The soft intro to "Martin, Doom! It's Seven O'Clock" reminds one of the gentle vocal styling that was to be on Smile, such as on the final sections of "Vegetables" and "Wind Chimes" respectively.

Also close in spirit to Brian Wilson's original concept of the ill-fated Smile are the variety of random sound effects employed throughout - e.g. "Martin, Doom! It's Seven O'Clock", "Charles Bukowski Is Dead" and in "Wilder'". Amongst the effects are a collection of clocks, bells and spoken word samples and a bugle. One might point to the theme of staying in bed as another Wilsonian element here.

The single "Wake Up Boo" has been the standout UK chart hit of the spring, having a 60's Detroit soul driving beat and horns, and a tune to set milkmen everywhere a-whistling. This has brought our seemingly obscurist friends to the attentions of those who might normally be expected to buy Take That. But the band have always at least aspired to this kind of fame, if one is to believe their interviews.

Other songs here are more in the indie guitar mould - "Fairfax Scene" for example is a gentle guitar ballad - albeit with a Love-esque lilt to it. Blueswailing harp opens the song "Stuck on Amber" but its steady, doomy verses - great tune and a rousing chorus point to the excellent work done in the past by this group and peers such as the Pale Saints - weird, distorted (yet unmistakable) indie pop tunesmiths. "Stuck On Amber" also boasts a rather fine overblown finale. "It's Lulu" has also got a heart of indie guitar pop.

Teardrop Explodes are a major reference point - "Wilder" being also the title of the second Teardrop Explodes lp back in 1982. The horns at the ending of "Twinside" and "It's Lulu" owe a lot to the brass-drenched, footstomping Kilimanjaro album of 1980. The same goes for the weird-out horns on 4AM Conversation. Oddly "Twinside" recalls the Batman theme at its conclusion.

The band have long been open admirers of the Beatles and different periods in the Fabs' career turn up constantly; such as "Twinside", "4AM Conversation" (strings a la "Eleanor Rigby") whereas "Wilder" relates to the end of the Beatles career, circa Abbey Road a piano ballad - "Golden Slumber" style. The Beatles' (and Wilson's) building up songs from disparate elements is practiced widely - notably on the song "Joel". A weird psychedelic heaviness pervades "Joel" - at first it is part-mantra, then it becomes successively funky/indie rock/Lennon in whimsical mode. All the while the song is interspersed with odd, vague sound effects.

Elsewhere the influence of the sixties continues unabated. "Find The Answer Within" is a Turtlesy pop anthem recast in '90s indie guitar terms. The end section of the song features extended backmasked vocals to weird effect. "Reaching Out From Here" is a magical excursion - 60s San Francisco meets Bacharach-David. The middle of "Martin, Doom!..." contains a flugel horn passage that would break the great Burt's heart.

This is a CD which picks up strands from a glorious past and seamlessly co-opts them into an indie guitar present. You don't need to know the influences to spot the charm and the sheer class bursting out of this album. All you need is love, as somebody once said...

This album is slated to be released in the United States this summer.