The Boo Radleys : Giant Steps

Diverse Records announce their first ever LP reissue, marking the 20th Anniversary of this modern classic!

Giant Steps was the third album by The Boo Radleys, released in 1993. NME and Select named it as album of the year. It reached the UK Top 20, quite a mean feat for an indie band with a “difficult” concept album!
The title is inspired by John Coltrane’s album of the same name, and like its namesake was a similar watershed in popular music, challenging the indie pop scene of the time with an ambitious and progressive album with a huge array of influences.

Liverpool’s Boo Radleys were never comfortable fitting into any of the easily defined categories that Pigeon-holed so many British bands in the early 1990s. Arriving on the scene as shoe-gazing My Bloody Valentine wannabes, they signed to Alan McGee’s hip-to-the-times Creation Records, They surprised everyone by releasing Giant Steps in early ‘93. Living up to its title, the album is indeed a step above and away both from what their peers were doing and what was expected of the band themselves. The album is a cornucopia of varying influences from the Smiths-y Wish I Was Skinny to the lovely brass arrangement in Lazarus. The NME compared it to both Pet Sounds and Revolver.

Standing out at the time, the album has gone on to be considered “outstanding” with fans and critics alike, 20 years after its original release!

The original artwork has been lost to history so original sleeve designer Stephen Wood has lovingly recreated the sleeve from scratch. Stephen got the chance to make small changes to text and colour that he’s wanted to make for 20 years!

1993 Albums Of The Year #1 – Select Magazine

1993 Reader’s Poll Album Of The Year – NME