Badly Drawn Boy
REVIEWS
THE HOUR OF BEWILDER BEAST, 2000
Rating: 8.5
Best Songs- Disillusion
Worst Song- Can’t decide, sorry
Written by Ruth McNerlan
With his long hair, bushy beard and a dirty-looking woolly hat permanently attached to his head, it is difficult to imagine Badly Drawn Boy, aka British singer-songwriter Damon Gough, writing music as beautiful and emotionally evocative as this. His name and appearance conjures up images of cheeky cartoon characters, but his music makes you think of the first time you were in love, of nature and dreams and heavenly beings. O.K., so maybe that’s overdoing it slightly, but ‘The Hour of Bewilder Beast’ really is a truly beautiful creation that includes some absolutely stunning instrumental solos and orchestration. This first album was a long time coming. Recorded over a period of 12 months, Gough honed it to perfection, paying attention to every detail before he would let it be released; and his hard work definitely paid off as the album gained critical acclaim and won the 2000 Mercury Music Prize. Playing most of the instruments himself, including electric, acoustic and bass guitars, piano, organ, keyboards and percussion and arranging much of the orchestration, Gough proves himself to be an accomplished musician and talented songwriter.
‘The Shinning’ opens the album perfectly with
its long instrumental introduction. A lone cello begins only to be joined
a few seconds later by very sombre sounding French horn creating an intense,
haunting effect that lasts for more than one minute, then the vocals and guitar
come in producing a delicate, melancholic track that is utterly beautiful.
The more upbeat ‘Everybody’s Stalking’ follows and although
it sounds completely different from the first track, the two blend together
perfectly. ‘Disillusion’ was the first Badly Drawn Boy song I
ever heard. Released as a single with a wonderful video where Gough pretends
to be a New York Taxi giving people piggy backs all over the city only to
be clamped for illegal parking, it provided a great introduction to an artist
whose music is delicate and beautiful yet possesses a certain humour and irony.
Disillusion is a jazzy, upbeat track with a strong wurlitzer organ, string
arrangement and hand clapping; it is a track that makes me want to dance around
the room not caring if anyone can see. ‘Pissing in the Wind’ was
also released as a single with the title being changed to ‘Spitting
in the Wind’; and featured Joan Collins in the video, displaying Badly
Drawn Boy’s rapidly growing profile. But the album version is a million
times better. Gough’s vocals are raw, almost strained at times, complimenting
the introspective lyrics perfectly. Another highlight is ‘This Song’
a track inspired by Simon and Garfunkel with its strong harmonies and unaccompanied
acoustic guitar. With 18 tracks, ‘The Hour of Bewilder Beast’
is a very ambitious debut album, but unlike many albums with so many tracks
it actually manages to appear as a cohesive entity rather than just a collection
of songs. Gough uses repetition in a very effective way with many similar
sounding melodies and orchestral arrangements reoccurring throughout the album,
and this combined with the fact that several of the tracks are merely short
instrumental interludes makes the whole thing comes across like one long musical
piece rather than 18 separate tracks. And this seems to have been Gough’s
intention, to create the score to an imaginary film or play, to draw the listener
in right from the very first second and hold them there right to the very
end, leaving you feeling fulfilled and content at its closure. And if this
really was his intention, he has definitely succeeded.
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ABOUT A BOY , (2002)
Overall Rating: 7
Best song: Silent Sigh
Worst Song: S.P.A.T.
Written by Ruth McNerlan
If his first album had the style and feel of a musical score, then it seems that the ideal second project for Badly Drawn Boy would be to compose an actual soundtrack to a film. The film in question was ‘About A Boy’, the screen adaptation of Nick Hornby’s novel. In a way this would seem an ideal opportunity to widen his fan base, as Hornby is an acclaimed writer and the film versions of ‘High Fidelity’ and ‘Fever Pitch’ were widely received. But it was unnecessary. ‘Badly Drawn Boy’s first album had already gained him a legion of fans, and after two years it would have been wiser to have made a proper follow up to ‘The Hour of Bewilder Beast’; but Gough was quick to state that this was not his second proper album and should not be seen as such.. Using the same format as the first album, with 16 short, punchy tracks that utilise a diverse range of instrumentation and orchestration, and containing several instrumental interludes, it is similar to the first album, but nowhere near as accomplished. In many ways it is like a second rate version of ‘The Hour of Bewilder Beast’. It doesn’t have the same quality; the beauty, emotion and intensity is not there, and the whole thing is merely ordinary and slightly dull in places.
But despite that, there are a few moments of quality song writing that shine through. ‘Silent Sigh’ is a great track with a bouncy melody and acoustic guitar, and has a real uplifting feel to it. ‘A Minor Incident’ is another highlight with a good harmonica and sincere, tender lyrics, and ‘Above you, Below Me’ is a gorgeous song with its full orchestral accompaniment that adds depth and emotion. ‘Something To Talk About’ was the first single to be released and has lyrics that fit in well with the film and a good catchy melody that ensured airplay. But ‘About A Boy’ doesn’t flow as well as the first album. There seems to be too much going on, too many different styles that don’t quite fit well together. Some tracks have luscious string arrangements while others are dominated by synthesizers and drum machines. ‘About a Boy’ works well enough on the level of a soundtrack and probably sounded great in the film, but in terms of an album to sit down and listen to in the privacy of your own home, there’s just not enough there to grab your attention, with the majority of the tracks being too slight and lacking Badly Drawn Boy’s characteristic humour and irony. Perhaps the fact that he didn’t see it as a proper album meant that he didn’t put in as much effort and didn’t take it as seriously, and that’s a real shame. It is definitely an album that has a lot of promise, but unfortunately, it fails to deliver.
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HAVE YOU FED THE FISH? (2002)
Overall Rating: 8
Best Song: You Were Right
Worst Song: Using Our Feet
Written by Ruth McNerlan
It has always seemed a bit strange to me that Badly
Drawn boy lists Bruce Springsteen as his main musical
influence. Springsteen isn't exactly the first person that springs to mind
when listening to Badly Drawn Boy's own particular brand of lo-fi acoustic
indie pop. But in his latest album, this influence seems to make more sense
somehow. 'Have You Fed The Fish' is bigger than anything he has done before,
the tracks are more substantial, more guitar-oriented, with the subject matter
being kept simple to allow the focus to be on the music. Gough still plays
most of the instruments himself, but he makes use of more extra musicians
than ever before giving the whole thing a larger, more fuller sound.
Released just a matter of months after 'About A Boy', 'Have You Fed The Fish'
is Gough's 2nd 'proper' album. It uses the same format as
before, with Gough displaying the importance of the album as an art form with
all the tracks being linked together using repetition of lyrics and melodies,
and some shorter tracks being used an introduction for the next track. 'Have
You Fed The Fish?' moves seamlessly between different styles of music, with
everything blending together perfectly. The upbeat and bouncy '40 Days 40
Fights', the melancholic 'How' and the 1920's Charleston-like 'Tickets To
What You Need' are all great tracks, and all compliment each other perfectly.
The absolute highlight of the album for me is 'You Were Right'. Lyrically
it is practically absurd in places with Gough recounting a dream about being
married to the Queen and living next door to Madonna, but in other places
he becomes more sincere as he pays tribute to the likes of Frank Sinatra,
Jeff Buckley, Kurt Cobain and John Lennon. Musically, it incorporates
a diverse range of instrumentation including full orchestration, steel guitar
and even a whistling solo, and the whole thing sounds amazing. On the whole
most of the tracks on 'Have You Fed The Fish' are strong and well written,
it is perhaps only 'Using Our Feet' that provides one of only a few weaker
moments. With its funky disco beat, it doesn't come across very well and doesn't
really fit in with the rest of the album.
It took me a long time to appreciate 'Have You Fed The Fish?'. On first listen,
it seemed very different from the previous two albums, but on closer examination
it really isn't that different at all. The humour and irony are still there,
as are Badly Drawn Boy's trademark string arrangements and instrumental solos.
He's just done it all on a larger scale than ever before. It doesn't quite
live up the promise of the first album, but it comes a very close second.
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