Martin Carr was lead guitarist and songwriter in a band of Dinosaur Jr enthusiasts, called the Boo Radleys. They stared out fitting in with the shoegazing sound in the UK music scene at the time. Their sound became more eclectic and experimental, culminating in the sublime Giant Steps, the name being taken from an album by jazz legend John Coltrane. By the mid nineties the predominant sound in the UK music scene had shifted to Brit-Pop. The Boo Radleys got caught up in this with the popularity of their single Wake Up Boo! The album on which this track featured, Wake Up, made it to number one in the UK charts. The inevitable 'commercial suicide' album followed and in its way C'mon Kids is every bit as fantastic as Giant Steps. A further album, Kingsize, followed. In 1999 Martin Carr disbanded the Boo Radleys because he thought that they had lost their ability to surprise.
After the split Carr began making solo music as Brave Captain, the name being taken from a fIREHOSE song. Advertisements For Myself is Carr's third solo album and is probably not something that he could have produced with the Boo Radleys, whose experimentalism was contained within the format of a four piece rock band. As Brave Captain, Carr explores more electronic influences than with his former band. He also sings lead vocals, which he did not do in the Boo Radleys, despite writing the lyrics. It is a very eclectic album, but it does suffer a bit from the tracks generally falling into one of two categories: instrumental electronic efforts and more conventional songs with vocals and guitars.
Recommended Track: Down Between
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