Producers: Brian Eno, Michael Brook, Jane Siberry.

Engineers: Michael Phillip-Wojewoda, Peter Mettler.

Recorded at Mushroom Studios, Vancouver, Canada in Summer 1991; Reaction Studios, Toronto, Canada in Autumn 1991 and January 1993; Erdyl's Studio Backstage, Switzerland in February 1991; Westside Studios, London, England in Summer 1992.

Composers: Erdal Kizilgay; Ken Myhr; Jane Siberry.

Personnel: Jane Siberry (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards, background vocals); Ken Myhr (vocals, guitar); Rebecca Campbell, Paul Douglas, David Ramsden, k.d. lang, Michael Phillip Wojewoda, Rebecca Jenkins, Holly Cole (vocals); James West (guitar, organ); Michael Brook (guitar); Ben Mink (viola); Anne Bourne (cello); Brian Eno (oboe, synthesizer); Erdal Kizilgay, Teddy Borowiecki (piano); Glenn Milchem, James Pinker (drums); Sid Wells, Graham Dickson (programming).

Recording information: Erdyl's S (02/1991-01/1993); Mushroom Studios, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada (02/1991-01/1993); Reaction Studios, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (02/1991-01/1993); Westside Studios, London, England (02/1991-01/1993).

Unknown Contributor Roles: Michael Brook; Brian Eno.

Considering the three-year delay since Jane Siberry's previous release (which reportedly saw one completed album scrapped altogether), Siberry had obviously gone through some intense soul-searching to determine where her muse was to take her next. Judging by When I Was a Boy, she ended up retreating to some neutral ground that drew on several elements of her previous work without really taking things anywhere new. This is a very personal, introspective album, its intimate textures consistent with the ambient work that production collaborators Brian Eno and Michael Brook were well known for, and even average Siberry was still better than most of what was foisted on the public as female vocalist pop circa this album's release in 1993. ~ Roch Parisien

Considering the three-year delay since Jane Siberry's previous release (which reportedly saw one completed album scrapped altogether), Siberry had obviously gone through some intense soul-searching to determine where her muse was to take her next. Judging by When I Was a Boy, she ended up retreating to some neutral ground that drew on several elements of her previous work without really taking things anywhere new. This is a very personal, introspective album, its intimate textures consistent with the ambient work that production collaborators Brian Eno and Michael Brook were well known for. Even average Siberry was still better than most of what was foisted on the public as female vocalist pop circa this album's release in 1993. It was just that one had come to expect more from her -- like surprises and wonder -- rather than the sound of treading water. ~ Roch Parisien

Jane Siberry's last album during a five-year critically-applauded but commercially-negligible tenure with Reprise Records, 1993's WHEN I WAS A BOY trades the optimistic loveliness of albums like THE WALKING and BOUND BY THE BEAUTY for a darker, occasionally bleak meditation on love and loss. Inspired by the recent death of her father, Siberry has constructed a song cycle with little of the exhibitionistic mawkishness of, say, Sinead O'Connor's I DO NOT WANT WHAT I HAVEN'T GOT.

Instead, Siberry's lyrics are more general and poetic, which makes their emotional heft that much greater. The heartbreaking "The Vigil (The Sea)" and the cathartic and uplifting "Love Is Everything"--here in two versions--are as powerful and musically breathtaking as any pop music dealing with the subject of death.