The Boo Radleys – Wake Up!
(Note: This article was written in 2008 for an old Blogspot music blog that I managed (flyingairplane.blogspot.com); meaning, I was 18 years old when I wrote this. The blog's format was such that each article contained a short “review” of an album and a download link to the full album (usually through Mediafire). Blogspot was a go-to source for obscure music back in 2008, with many blogs like this popping up with download links, and I wanted to be part of the illegal-music-download literati myself. Unfortunately, this blatant violation of copyright eventually caught up with the blog (and most others of its ilk) and got it removed from the Blogspot service entirely; however, the first page of the blog remains archived through the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine.)
The Boo Radleys fourth album Wake Up! gave the band huge commercial success... which means that this is their most user friendly album. It's possible to fall in love with the first six tracks or so on your first listen, but the second half of the album takes a few listens to fall for. The Radleys' fuzzbox fed guitars found on their previous albums are toned down a bit this time around and replaced with softer more pop friendly sounds. With that being said, this is by far their most poppy album. Wake Up Boo, It's LuLu, and Find the Answers Within are instantly lovable pop songs, mixing somewhat fuzzy guitars with horns and wonderfully crafted melodies. It's safe to say that this album was the bridge that connected The Boo Radleys to commercial success and a larger fanbase, and rightly so.