The Boo Radleys - Lazarus

"When I start to look back, I feel I've spent my whole life just kicking around."

Album: Giant Steps [3rd album]
Genre: Rock, Neo-Psychedelia, Indie Rock
Recorded:  London, England
Album Release: August 16th 1993
Single Release: November 16th 1992 [lead single]
Length: 4:38
Producer: The Boo Radleys & Andy Wilkinson
Vocalist: Martin Carr
Label: Creation Records

Music Video [Radio Edit]


Full Version

Charts, Streams & Sales

Spotify: Over 900 thousand
YouTube Music: Over 220 thousand
NME Album of the Year Runner-Up 1993 [losing to Bjork]
Select Album of the Year Winner 1993

Instruments

Bass, cello, drums, guitar [x2], trumpet

Details

• 'Lazarus' is an interesting blend of styles that mixes psychedelia with britpop, dub, brass and alternative dance. The Boo Radleys started off as a shoegaze outfit but quickly evolved their sound as the nineties moved on and it became a case of change or die. The genre-bending approach was inspired by 1991's 'Screamadelica' by Primal Scream but was, perhaps, even more adventurous.
  
  The album was more direct lyrically than their previous efforts, singer Martin Carr said he decided to no longer shroud his true meaning in metaphors. This change in direction suits the change from shoegaze into what the Radleys became. In shoegaze, the words get lost in the effects and don't mean much beside sound, while here it feels like a man sitting down with his heart and a pen.
  
  The songwriting is vaguely confessional, however still affected by the drunk poet Charles Bukowski "because I'm starting to lose all my faith, while those around me are beaten down each day." The tone is markedly more introspective than the coming britpop as well as the shoegaze that came before it, which is a dichotomy that encapsulates The Boo Radleys, a band caught between era's.
  
  Carr talks about his reclusive life "you know I never go out" and later revealed in interviews he would sit in all day playing computer games and smoking weed. He knows he needs a change and just like the biblical figure Lazarus, who the song is named after, he will rise from the dead because in his nineties nonchalance Carr perceives going outside as the difference between living and dying.
  
  
• Boo Radley is a character from the novel 'How to Kill a Mockingbird'. He's the weird, slow kid on the street who can't help but get into trouble yet somehow comes good.
  
  
• The band were an influence on the American indie group Interpol. 
  
  
• Bassist Tim Brown became an IT teacher after leaving the band. I imagine some snot-nosed kid saying to him "what do you know about music, old man?" Before Mr. Brown kicks over a PC, pulls out its power lead, plugs it into a guitar he somehow has, and starts to shred.
  
  Meanwhile, the kids are going berserk and giving each other mohicans. Some time later, the headmaster walks in to complete silence. After a second or two, he takes off his shirt to reveal a tattoo, 'Glasto 86', he starts to grin. Chaos ensues and the whole school is engulfed in the furious flames of rock and roll.
  
  Mrs. Stickler, the geography teacher, is gyrating on a table, while the dinner ladies are having a food fight. Stern-faced parents look on from outside the school gates as a news helicopter crashes into the main building. From the rubble, it's Mr. Brown's hand, and he's holding his guitar. He starts to strum ... and then strum some more.
  
  
• Any indie band with a black guy automatically gets two cool points. 
  
  
• Creation Records is an iconic British indie label that came into prominence in the 80's and 90's on the backs of shoegaze, acid house and britpop. They were formed in 1983 by Alan McGee using a bank loan of £1000. Releases from Creation include:
  
  
• My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
• Primal Scream - Screamadelica / XTRMNTR
  
• Slowdive - Souvlaki
• Teenage Fanclub - Bandwagonesque
• Oasis - Definitely Maybe / What's the Story (Morning Glory)
  
• Super Furry Animals - Fuzzy Logic
  

Artwork