Giant Steps (Dinked Archive Edition #14)

The Boo Radleys reveal a vinyl reissue to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their nineties genre-hopping masterpiece “Giant Steps”.

NME’s 1993 Album Of The Year, named in the Top 20 of Pitchfork’s The 50 Best Shoegaze Albums of All Time and lauded as one of 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, The Boo Radleys’ classic album, Giant Steps will be reissued, on special remastered vinyl almost 30 years to the day since its original release. The band’s genre-ambiguous and widely-acclaimed masterpiece will become available to fans old and new. 

Only the second of their five albums to be released on the legendary Creation Records, at a time when label mates including Slowdive, Teenage Fanclub and Ride were also casting long shadows across the indie landscape, pre-the Oasis hurricane making landfall at the label, Giant Steps broke into the canon of great, experimental rock albums soon after its release. It’s first single, Lazarus, issued as a standalone release in November 1992, its blend of brass and guitar-squall and acutely introspective lyrics, gave a hint of what was to come and remains lodged in the band’s most-loved and best-known songs. For the 2023 reissue, Lazarus’ 12” version appears on the all-formats track listing for the first time. 

Recorded at London’s Protocol Studios, where Carr and Brown took on self-production duties with support from engineer, Andy Wilkinson, The Boo Radleys set about responding to their shared sense of dissatisfaction with their 1992 album, Everything’s Alright Forever. Free to do as they please, they set about making a record of complete artistic freedom, bringing in reggae (Upon 9th And Fairchild), dance (Rodney King) and irresistible, warped indie pop (Barney And Me) influences into the studio and, without limitation, weaved them into the satisfyingly complex fabric of Giant Steps. Snapshot incidentals, intermissions and between-radio-station static intro/outros added to the sense of unrestrained exploration. 

Writing about the album, drummer, Cieka reflected on Giant Steps, stating: “Creation loved it, people's reactions seemed really positive. I do listen to it from time to time and still find great moments I’d forgotten about. I think it stands up pretty well today. I'm always left feeling happy to have been a part of the record.”

"Wow, now THIS is what music can be!" – The Quietus on Giant Steps

“It deserved the accolades and praise heaped on its shoulders.” – The Line of Best Fit

“A masterwork...” – Pitchfork

Side A

A1 I Hang Suspended
A2 Upon 9th & Fairchild
A3 Wish I Was Skinny
A4 Leaves And Sand

Side B

B1 Butterfly McQueen
B2 Rodney King (Song For Lenny Bruce)
B3 Thinking Of Ways
B4 Barney (...And Me)

Side C

C1 Spun Around
C2 If You Want It, Take It
C3 Best Lose The Fear
C4 Take The Time Around
C5 Lazarus

Side D

D1 One Is For
D2 Run My Way Runway
D3 I've Lost The Reason
D4 The White Noise Revisited

Bonus 12” Tracklisting

E1: Lazarus (Saint Etienne Remix)

E2: Lazurus (7” Version) 

F1: Rodney King (Saint Etienne Remix)

F2: Peachy Keen