"C'mon Kids"is their most dense,heavy and arguably best effort.It's not as accessible as "Wake Up!"since it's much more complex,quite simply the hooks instead of being blatant and obvious are lurking beneath guitar fuzz or some other cool trickery.

Even if their combination of Beach Boys/Big Star melodies with punk energy,Julian Cope-styled embelishments and just about anything that comes around looking good isn't always focused or song-structure respecting you can't condemn Martin Carr for trying to be original.

The Boo's Rock Out (again)
After the bit of a lull decibels that is Wake Up! The Boo Radleys returned to the strange but thoroughly enjoyable pop-rock that only they could produce with this '96 release. This album is full of attitude not seen before from the group (there are even swears in the lyrics), but you have to love it. 'C'Mon Kids' is a call to their die-hard fans after what may have been a bit of a disappointment from the sometimes geek pop on Wake Up!. 'Meltin's Worm' is a strange beyond description but has plenty to love about it. 'Melodies For The Deaf (Colours For The Blind)' conveys just what the title implies. 'Get On The Bus' opens quietly but bursts into slashing, howling guitars before quieting down again to close. 'Everything Is Sorrow' has such beatiful but anguished tunefulness it may make you cry. 'Bullfrog Green' and 'What's In The Box' are weird rockers with melody and rhythm that few other bands have ever been capable of pulling off. If they don't get at least your feet tapping you must be dead. Then 'Four Saints' creeps up on you with a powerful message delivered with a wash of crawling techno beats, fuzz and classic shoegazer guitars. 'New Brighton Promenade' reminds you that this group was fully capable of writing a pretty, radio-friendly pop tune without compromising their artistry. 'Fortunate Sons' is a slow, dirty-sounding saunter into dub that seems to be a jab at the brats in Oasis but somewhat fails to keep up with the rest of the album. 'Shelter' rocks with a steady beat before accelerating into brief onslaught to close out the song. 'Ride The Tiger' is a Boo Radleys classic full of peculiar, yet moving lyrics and soaring music. 'One Last Hurrah' is the type of song every band wishes it had to close out an album. From beginning to end this album keeps you pulled in and wanting more. It ranks second only to Giant Steps as Boo's masterpieces. Fans of everyone from The Beatles to Pink Floyd to this years' crop of punk rockers (The Hives, The White Stripes) will appreciate its adventurous musicianship and hard-rocking attitude.

A dazzling, very rewarding experience
I remember being very disappointed when I bought this CD when it was released way back in 1996. The reason was that I had expected it to be similar in sound to the great "Wake up!" from 1995. I wanted it to be sunny and cheerful poptunes with lots of 60's sounding guitars and the great special Boo-refrains. But instead I put on "C'Mon Kids" and was scared away pretty fast. Because the guitars were LOUD, the songstrucutres were COMPLEX and difficult, and I couldnt get any grip of the album at all. This album isnt quick or easy listening. You have to hear it many times before the smart and carefully arranged songstructures reveal themselves. I put the CD away for a while and gave it another try some time later. And one after one, I got to "know" the songs, the clever breaks, the daring effects and the gorgeous melodies that are hidden deep in under all the loudness and complexity. This album really is a challenge to listen to from start to end, because you dont know what to expect the next moment. I find it to be THE masterpiece of Martin Carr and the Boo Radleys. They could have chosen the easy way and just put together an album filled with happy poptunes like "Wake up!" but instead they make an album like this. An album that for sure will keep amaze listeners once they get passed the first shock of the loud and aggressive guitars and the experimental touch within every song here. I really dont have any favourite here since I feel that every song provides that little extra which makes it different and outstanding. The loud and heavy opening titeltrack, the eerie "Meltin's worm", the light and melancholic "New Brighton promenade". They took the psychedelic feeling for exploring melodies deeper from the album "Giant Steps"(1993) and mixed it with the catchy refrains from "Wake up!" and completely drenched it all and took it one step further with this loud, introspective collage of music. Because it ressembles a collage, a big pattern of different sounds put together to create little masterpieces that twist and turn. One last hurrah for the Boo's!

buy it buy it buy it!!!!!!!!!
Finally, the Boo Radleys achieved the perfect combination of sweet melodic pop with the experimental tendencies of previous records. Plus, the songs are infinitely better than most of the tracks on the overrated Giant Steps and Wake Up! This is an album that you can listen to endlessly, for the rest of your life and not get tired of. Every song just bursts with life and creativity. There is not a single cd I own that fills me with more joy than this one. You simply must buy it.

Consistently imaginative
This album reveals at least one clever hook or twist in every track. Returning to the spirit of "Giant Steps" a screeching wall-of-guitar noise dominates the title track, which leads into increasingly strange subject matter and fresh musical ideas troughout. Overall a highly uncommercial album, it nevertheless restored the band's repution as inspired pop expirementers.
The Boo Radleys shoulda been contenders. Of all the bands on England's legendary Creation Records roster devoted to reinterpreting the psychedelic '60s in the '90s, Martin Carr and company had the goods. More forward-looking than Ride, more danceable than Primal Scream, nearly as challenging and creative as My Bloody Valentine but as pop-oriented as Oasis, the Boos had something for everyone. But while Oasis grabbed the brass ring in the U.S. with Definitely Maybe, Wake Up!-the Boos' jaunty, horn-driven fourth effort and a much better album-mostly fell on deaf ears. It may have all worked out for the best, since the Boos switched labels in the States, regrouped at Rockfield Studios in Wales, and produced their most ambitious, least commercial, and most inspired album yet. C'Mon Kids is a spirited invitation to join in a truly modern vision of psychedelic rock, recognizing that a geeky Englishman like Sice can rap his heart out on a tune like "Fortunate Sons" while Valentines-style chaotic guitars can be effectively paired with hip-hop rhythms on "What's In the Box" or "Get On the Bus." That's bus as in the indie-rock tour van, not Ken Kesey's, but to the Boos, there's not much difference. Their take on the psychedelic wall of sound is grungier and more gleeful than anyone besides the fabulous Flaming Lips. Acoustic guitars butt up against orchestras of fuzz guitar; theremins swoop and synthesizers swirl; demonic voices whisper in your ear, and your mind is blown but you find yourself cheerfully humming along. Jim Derogatis
No U.S. is scheduled for their new album featur- ing the single 'What's In The Box' and 12 other new tracks.