Staff Reviews

Steve Mason - Boys Outside

Review by Kelvin Goodson

Boys Outside is not an attempt to escape or outdo Mason's escapades with The Beta Band.»

User reviews

• 9/10 by chad-valley

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special limited edition packaging on cd, solid black plastic front cover, white plastic back cover and split jewel case. steve mason is one of the britpop generation's few genuinely brilliant and original song smiths, best known for his role as singer and one of the founding members of the beta band, and more specifically for 'the 3 ep's, the masterpiece which introduced his extraordinary talent to the world. the groundbreaking recordings on 'the three ep's, which were compiled 12 years ago from mason's very first releases, had a massive impact on the uk pop landscape and beyond, quite literally altering the way music was made, bringing a fresh, playful, genre-busting spirit to the deployment of new technology and traditional instruments.
thereafter, the beta band, led by mason, struggled manfully beneath the weight of expectation. after they split up in '04, steve went to ground in his native fife, firing off wonderfully unconventional records under a series of pseudonyms - most prominently, king biscuit time and black affair. in a mike yarwood 'and this is me...' type development, however, steve's latest album, 'boys outside' appears under his own name, because, he says, he' had enough of all the aliases, and because, more than ever in his life, he's comfortable in his own skin. also, he's proud of these ten songs, whose sparse, haunting arrangements bespeak economy, maturity and focus. 'boys outside' is fully the equal of 'the three ep's', packed with inventively sculpted sounds. the album was produced by steve mason and the ever impressive richard x.
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