Liverpool' s Boo Radleys lit up the mammoth alternative rock scene in the early to mid-'90s with their trippy blend of danceable Manchester pop and psychedelic noise rock, all of which was chronicled brilliantly on 2005's two-disc Find the Way Out collection. So how does the single-disc, generically titled Best of the Boo Radleys hold up to the latter? The answer is limply. While this strangely sequenced, 15-track exploration of all things Boo is not without its many charms, the lac...   [ read more ]

CD $11.38

With their third album, the Boo Radleys abandoned the overt noise that obscured the pop sensibilities of their early work and scaled back the ambitions of Giant Steps. The result is Wake Up!, a glorious, brightly colored gem of a pop record. From the Beach Boy harmonies and trumpet fanfares of the opening "Wake Up Boo!" to the closing epic, McCartney-styled ballad "Wilder," the group winds through many styles of British pop. Much of the darkness -- both musically and lyrically -- of th...   [ read more ]

CD $11.38

Titling an album after John Coltrane's masterpiece may well seem the height of pretension, but heck, it never stopped the Replacements from a similar move vis-a-vis the Beatles. As it is, the title is perfectly justified -- Carr, a Coltrane aficionado among many other things, here finally leads his band from the promising to the truly inspired. With the inventive, groundbreaking Lazarus EP as a touchstone (the title track is included here in an unfortunately abbreviated form), the Boos...   [ read more ]

CD $14.23