Is the story of the Boomtown Rats over?

ArrGee · Back To Boomtown

Is the story of the Boomtown Rats over?

Steve · I Don't Like Mondays

When the "Story of the boomtown rats" DVD was first mooted, I'm sure it was said on this board (around March 2004) that the DVD would be a type of documentary, showing old footage of gigs (the type that was shown on Jonathan Ross show), interviews with the band (now and then) as well as the vids.

So what changed, and if so there must still be alot of stuff still out there.

ArrGee · Back To Boomtown

Steve wrote:

So what changed, and if so there must still be a lot of stuff still out there.

There is a stuff out there, but whether it is commercially viable to release is questionable. The most likely candidate is a live CD, but aside from Don't Believe What You Hear, I'm not sure there is anything other than some radio broadcasts. I would doubt than too many stations have extensive archives. BBC is most likely, and they have broadcast one or two on BBC Radio 6 dream ticket. Some crackers in the next few days

13 Dec: David Bowie
14 Dec: Suede
15 Dec: The Smiths
19 Dec: Franz Ferdinand

Some footage that should be out there are the Revolver/Kenny Everett appearances, the Russell Harty show (which I have on VHS somewhere)

http://www.members.tripod.com/~mikeymike23uk/index-192.html

Apparently the now defunct UK Arena showed Rock Goes to College in 1999

http://plugin.org.uk/~swh/Projects/TVTimes/old/1999.06.18

19990618T233500 19990619T002500 UK Arena: The Boomtown Rats - Rock Goes to College The Boomtown Rats in concert.

http://www.vocaboly.com/forums/post-36974.html

When I was at Uni there was a TV programme called 'Rock goes to College', featuring bands playing in Student Union venues. We had a few good shows out of it - The Boomtown Rats were surprisingly good.

Mark L · Loudmouth

There's undoubtedly lots of stuff out there. 2013 and 2014 are years we never thought would be so good and we'd see, Rats-wise, so will 2015 be the year we see more DVDs and CDs? How about a new CD called 'Besides the A sides' (get it? ) with all the B sides etc.

ArrGee · Back To Boomtown

Amazing how much happened in last twelve months. Gigs, new songs, live albums. Shows how wrong I was.

ArrGee · Back To Boomtown

Mark L wrote:
...will 2015 be the year we see more DVDs and CDs? How about a new CD called 'Besides the A sides' (get it? ) with all the B sides etc.

I doubt it. It wouldn't make commercial sense. I don't know what the combined sales of Ratlife ep, Back To Boomtown and the Concert Live albums was , but I suspect it would be pretty small fry. The B-sides would probably sell far less.

As you are trawling through the archives, one thing that I thought would have been a good idea was an MP3 archive of all the material not commercially available on either of the official sites. This would have all the B-sides and any live/demo recordings. The White Stripes regularly release live shows on MP3 on their now sadly defunct site, changing the shows on a regular basis.

Not sure what will happen in 2015. In terms of the live show, 2014 looks like being a repeat of 2013 going on what happened at Volksfest and the prospect of going to towns and cities they didn't play last year. It is disappointing that they won't be playing one of the bigger festivals. An afternoon slot at Glastonbury would have a far bigger audience than all the other festivals combined.

Recording new songs for a Ratlife 2 ep would be good.

noelindublin · Loudmouth

I think the most disappointing thing is the lack of any quality new songs. I thought there would be loads to say about modern life and Geldof should have lots to get off his mind. Instead we get very insipid new songs, and so far no real ambition other than to retread the old hits. Don't get me wrong- seeing the band live again is more than a dream come true, and they have never let me down when I've seen them.

Maybe if they tour in the autumn or winter then they might come up with some great new songs to add to the catalogue. They should just stick to basic guitar and keyboards and not try to sound 'modern' or whatever the latest music fashion is. Nothing could be more pleasing than a new album which is worthy of their other affords, one which we can all agree on.

PS Ratlife was bad enough, without a sequel. On the plus side Geldof is always writing songs so we might be due a good batch with the Rats. Well we live in hope.. smile

-- Edited by noelindublin on Thursday 29th of May 2014 12:34:41 PM

ArrGee · Back To Boomtown

noelindublin wrote:
I think the most disappointing thing is the lack of any quality new songs. I thought there would be loads to say about modern life and Geldof should have lots to get off his mind. Instead we get very insipid new songs, and so far no real ambition other than to retread the old hits. Don't get me wrong- seeing the band live again is more than a dream come true, and they have never let me down when I've seen them.
Maybe if they tour in the autumn or winter then they might come up with some great new songs to add to the catalogue. They should just stick to basic guitar and keyboards and not try to sound 'modern' or whatever the latest music fashion is. Nothing could be more pleasing than a new album which is worthy of their other affords, one which we can all agree on.
PS Ratlife was bad enough, without a sequel. On the plus side Geldof is always writing songs so we might be due a good batch with the Rats. Well we live in hope..

Hopefully the sequel will be an improvement. Well I suppose it has to be cos it couldn't be any worse

I saw James last night previewing their new album. It struck me that the newer songs didn't radically contrast with the older material. Unlike the eponymous Rat song.

noelindublin · Loudmouth

It's either going to be more of the same from the Rats ie touring the same old songs, or else they will go for a new album and put the emphasis on the new album songs. I wish they'd push the boat out, so to speak and just go for new material. They have more than enough old classic songs to fall back on .

Obviously it's more of a 'problem' for anyone who goes to see the band frequently. No matter how good the songs are they become a bit overfimiliar. Anyway the funny thing is that not too long ago the very idea of the Rats playing together was fanciful. In a nutshell I think I wanted good new songs as part of the overall reunion packet, but that's the only disappointment so far. I think a lot of others a not too bothered about new songs but I always get bored easily. smile

Interestingly Simon Crowe says on the Susy Radio interview that it would be easy enough to go back and do songs in the old style, but somehow I doubt it's that easy. Songwriting seems a very mercurial thing, as slippery as a wet eel.

Jules · The biggest Geldof fan in the world, bar none!

I would welcome some new material if it was good. Not impressed so far. Also happy to enjoy the old stuff being performed after all these years. It's what I love.

.

ArrGee · Back To Boomtown

Looking back it did seem like the end in December 2005, even for Geldof solo. Never thought I would have seen the Rats in various guises nine times since.

I would be happy with different old stuff. Plenty of A Tonic for the Troops to cover, and it must be possible to get another dozen songs from Surfacing onwards.

manatthetop · In the Long Grass

I for one did not think this would ever happen in my life time. So glad Geldof seen the light of day and got back together with his old mates again. Great wee band in the 70s/80s and still a great wee band now. In my opinion never did get the credit they deserved, they are more than just about Monday's

Mark L · Loudmouth

Hear hear!

Geldof once said Mondays had become an albatross around their necks. I like it, but there's always been so much more to the Boomtown Rats than this and how amazing to be able to say in 2014 the story continues.