The Boy with the X-Ray Eyes

The Boy with the X-Ray Eyes
Studio album by Babylon Zoo
Released 5 February 1996
Recorded 1995
Genre Alternative rock, space rock
Length 54:47
Label EMI
Producer Jas Mann
Steve Power
Babylon Zoo chronology
The Boy with the X-Ray Eyes
(1996)		 King Kong Groover
(1999)King Kong Groover1999
Singles from The Boy with the X-Ray Eyes
  1. "Spaceman"
    Released: 15 January 1996
  2. "Animal Army"
    Released: 15 April 1996
  3. "The Boy with the X-Ray Eyes"
    Released: 23 September 1996
Alternative cover
US edition cover

The Boy with the X-Ray Eyes is the debut album by British alternative rock band Babylon Zoo, released in February 1996. It features the single, "Spaceman", which charted at number one in the UK Singles Chart after being featured in a popular Levi's jeans TV advertisement in late 1995. The album did not match the success of "Spaceman", any success and sales the album did earn was mostly lead by the popularity of the one track 'Spaceman'; it peaked at number 6 in the UK Albums Chart on 17 February.[1]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Alternative Press[3]
The Michigan Daily[4]
Select2/5[5]

An Irish Times reviewer called The Boy with the X-Ray Eyes an "outmoded melange of distorted guitars, washed out synthesisers and pseudo sociological sci fi lyrics", listening to which is "not a pleasant experience".[6] In The List, Rodger Evans portrayed the album as a "bunch of stodgy goth tunes" and "wholly uninspired".[7] Heather Phares in The Michigan Daily described its content as "bad", adding that "it's hard to tell which is worse about Babylon Zoo – the turgid music or the dogmatic lyrics".[4] Select writer Ian Harrison labelled the record as "a mime troupe unable to keep quiet".[5]

Some critics were more lenient. An Alternative Press reviewer awarded the album four stars out of five – equating to "well done" – and wrote that it "sounds like [David] Bowie's Ziggy Stardust, remixed by the guys from the Underworld".[3] Neil Strauss of The New York Times described it as "wonderful and satisfying in the short term but ultimately disposable".[8] Martin C. Strong found the album to be "mediocre".[9]

Listening retrospectively, Stephen Thomas Erlewine at AllMusic felt the record lacks discernible hooks. He wrote: "None of his songs ever gel and [Jas] Mann only sounds pretentious, not ambitious."[2] Tim Moore criticised the length of the album's tracks as excessive, and called the record "persistently tuneless, repetitive and garbled".[10]

The Boy with the X-Ray Eyes was placed at number 42 in Q magazine's 2006 list, "The 50 Worst Albums Ever!"[11] A 2016 poll of 2000 UK adults organised by online trade-in site ziffit.com ranked the album at number 31 in a list of the 50 worst albums in history.[12] Canadian music magazine Vice ranked the album as the worst "one-hit wonder" LP of all time.[13]

Commercial performance

The Boy with the X-Ray Eyes peaked at number 6 in the UK Albums Chart, cascading out of the Top 40, lasting only a further two weeks on the chart.[14] Other than the chart-topping "Spaceman", singles released from the album were "Animal Army", which reached number 17 in the UK Singles Chart, and the title track, which peaked at number 32. By the end of 1996, the album had sold around 750,000 copies worldwide, with its main markets in Europe, Japan and Australia.[15]

Track listing

All tracks written by Jas Mann.

  1. "Animal Army" – 5:55
  2. "Spaceman" – 5:41
  3. "Zodiac Sign" – 4:58
  4. "Paris Green" – 4:43
  5. "Confused Art" – 4:32
  6. "Caffeine" – 6:34
  7. "The Boy with the X-Ray Eyes" – 4:27
  8. "Don't Feed the Animals" – 1:38
  9. "Fire Guided Light" – 6:43
  10. "Is Your Soul for Sale?" – 5:52
  11. "I'm Cracking Up I Need a Pill" – 3:46
  • A CD promo sampler was also issued that includes the tracks "Spaceman", "Zodiac Sign", "Animal Army" and "I'm Cracking Up I Need a Pill".

Charts

Chart Position
Australian Albums Chart[16] 28
UK Albums Chart[17] 6

References

  1. ↑ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 38. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  2. 1 2 Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. The Boy with the X-Ray Eyes - AllMusic review AllMusic
  3. 1 2 The Boy with the X-Ray Eyes review. Alternative Press. June 1996. p.69.
  4. 1 2 Phares, Heather (22 April 1996). "Babylon Zoo: The Boy With the X-Ray Eyes". The Michigan Daily. Google Books. p. 9A. Retrieved 27 May 2013.
  5. 1 2 Harrison, Ian (February 1996). "New Albums". Select. p. 89. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
  6. ↑ "Rock". The Irish Times. 9 February 1996. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
  7. ↑ Evans, Rodger (23 February 1996). "Babylon Zoo: The Boy with the X-Ray Eyes". The List (273): 46. Retrieved 6 June 2017.
  8. ↑ Strauss, Neil (26 March 1996). "CRITIC'S CHOICE/Pop CD's;Pushing Beyond Grunge". The New York Times.
  9. ↑ Strong, Martin C (1996). The Wee Rock Discography. Canongate. p. 18. ISBN 978-0862416218.
  10. ↑ Moore, Tim (2012). You are Awful (but I Like You): Travels Through Unloved Britain. Vintage. p. 157–158. ISBN 0-224-09011-9.
  11. ↑ "The 50 Worst Albums Ever!". Q. Bauer Media Group (238). May 2006.
  12. ↑ MacDonald, Jess (8 September 2016). "Top 50 Worst Albums Ever". The Mirror. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  13. ↑ Jones, Daisy (9 May 2017). "A Complete Ranking of 15 One-Hit Wonder Albums from Worst to Best". Vice. Retrieved 10 June 2017.
  14. ↑ "1996 Top 40 Official UK Albums Archive - 9th March 1996". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 22 June 2013.
  15. ↑ Sinclair, David (22 February 1997). "UK Brits Around the World" (PDF). Billboard. Retrieved 21 December 2016.
  16. ↑ "australian-charts.com > Discography Babylon Zoo". Hung Medien. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
  17. ↑ http://www.officialcharts.com/artist/32407/babylon%20zoo/
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