A change from the usual singles released 20 years ago. This astonishing track is from one of 1998's best and most underrated albums. On 19 October 1998, The Boo Radleys released their final LP, the magnificent 'Kingsize'. Read a big article celebrating the album HERE.
Suffering from a lack of exposure, it went unnoticed by the public and only charted at number 62 in the UK albums charts. Earning much critical acclaim but very little commercial success, it contains some of the most brilliant songwriting of the era. A symphonic indie rock album peppered with interesting electronics and thrashy, fuzzy guitar, it still sounds stunning 20 years later.
After a brief vocodered hidden track in the album's pre-gap, it begins as the chime of spindly, picked acoustic notes is joined by the urgent patter of drum machines, and a quiet rising of strings. The mood calms and broods as frontman Sice's vocal gently enters, then halfway through the first line, it suddenly bursts into life with a MASSIVE kitchen sink arrangement topped with stately brass sections. A masterclass in symphonic rock delivering huge melodies, 'Blue Room In Archway' is a bombastic plea for solitude that dips and peaks with brilliant effect. As an opener, it is simply stunning. Before 'Be Here Now', when we heard that Oasis were recording with a huge orchestra, this is the sort of thing the masses wished they would come up with. Instead, The Boo Radleys did it, and it sank without a trace.
Suffering from a lack of exposure, it went unnoticed by the public and only charted at number 62 in the UK albums charts. Earning much critical acclaim but very little commercial success, it contains some of the most brilliant songwriting of the era. A symphonic indie rock album peppered with interesting electronics and thrashy, fuzzy guitar, it still sounds stunning 20 years later.
After a brief vocodered hidden track in the album's pre-gap, it begins as the chime of spindly, picked acoustic notes is joined by the urgent patter of drum machines, and a quiet rising of strings. The mood calms and broods as frontman Sice's vocal gently enters, then halfway through the first line, it suddenly bursts into life with a MASSIVE kitchen sink arrangement topped with stately brass sections. A masterclass in symphonic rock delivering huge melodies, 'Blue Room In Archway' is a bombastic plea for solitude that dips and peaks with brilliant effect. As an opener, it is simply stunning. Before 'Be Here Now', when we heard that Oasis were recording with a huge orchestra, this is the sort of thing the masses wished they would come up with. Instead, The Boo Radleys did it, and it sank without a trace.
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