Album Review: The Boo Radleys, In Spite of Everything

Best-known for the giddy throwaway pop of ‘Wake Up Boo’, Merseyside outfit The Boo Radleys’ influences spread much further, as even a cursory listen to their sprawling 1993 masterpiece, Giant Steps, will attest.

Older, wiser, and without original songwriter-in-chief Martin Carr, the Boos have been back tearing up stages for the last few years, with original members Simon ‘Sice’ Rowbottom (vocals, guitar), Tim Brown (bass) and Rob Cieka (drums) rolling back the years, alongside a couple of touring members to bring the average age down.

In Spite Of Everything finds the band doing what they do best, crossing genres without a by-your-leave as they embrace searing guitars (‘Affected / Rejected’); soaring indie pop (‘Solarcide’, ‘This Is The Place’); spaced-out, proggy shoegaze (‘Hey, I Know’); Ian Broudie-ish electro-pop (‘Bring Them Back Again’); and even funereal lament (‘Song for Natalie’), all served up with catchy hooks and gorgeous harmonies. ‘Wasn’t I Enough?’ veers from brooding to bleeding, while ‘Through the Crack In The Window’ delivers more in under three minutes than some bands manage in a career.

This is an album that was born out of tragedy, written following the loss of Tim’s eldest son. Current single ‘Living Is Easy’ deals with that all-encompassing grief: “In the ‘20s my child would fall / This for them would end it all / What could I do? Nothing at all / I couldn’t break their fall.”

A magnificent song, it also tackles some of the biggest issues and events of the last 50 years, from Woodstock to the “dirty protests” in the H-blocks, predatory paedophile Jimmy Saville, 9/11 and the rise of Trump, all delivered with a sparkling, synth-driven chorus.
Welcome back, Boo.

• Out now.