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Nicely Drawn. A Review by |
| Badly Drawn Boy,
aka Damon Gough, is on the new wave of Indie Pop in the U.K. With little to no airplay in
the us, no MTV support except as uncredited intro music (you may catch a video every once
in awhile on MTV2), Badly Drawn Boy has still fed a growing underground cult. He is more
of an Album Artist than a Single Artist (translation: Gotta listen to the whole thing to
get the true feel), but there are still some amazing cuts on his 2000 release, The Hour of
Bewilderbeast. With much critical appraise, an a Mercury award (U.K's equivalent of the
Grammy) he is well on his way to international acclaim.1. THE SHINING - An introduction to
the album. A Cello and Trumpet piece arranged by Gough himself starts everything out. His
mildy sleepy voice is not lost in his arrangements. This piece then goes into Acoustic
Guitar and singing with the trumpets piping in at chorus.
"Soliel all over you, warm sun pours over me." Track Rating: $3.25 2. EVERYBODY'S STALKING - Beginning with a slide guitar, then coming in with the drums, Gough shows some of his instrumental work (All Guitars, Orchestration, majority of Piano and Keyboards). A great track that's harder hitting than the first. Song about love lost, it seems. "You're like a neon sign, just burn so bright. Penetrates like an infection, you give me feelings I can't mention." Track Rating: $3.75 3. BEWILDER - Instrumental break. Sounds like an organ. Brings back memories of church, thumbs down on this break. Track Rating: $0.50 4. FALL IN A RIVER - Great track. Distortion makes it sound as if the band is under water during part of the song. Vocals are semi-distorted, but doesn't take a thing away from this track. Goes from the normal chorus/verse/chorus to a splash, then the distortion really kicks in. Great tie in with the title and lyrics. "I guess you think I'm stupid or something. But that's a good thing, that's ok." Track Rating: $4.00 5. CAMPING NEXT TO WATER - Lonely song if you listen to the lyrics. Very nice structure. Nice use of cymbols through the song, has a hypnotic effect. A decent, mellowed out, guitar solo in this song also. "Cause there's no use in feeling, all the thing's I'm feeling. There's no one here to feel them with me." Track Rating: $2.25 6. STONE ON THE WATER - Another great example of Gough's string arrangement. Listen for them in the background, and also the barely noticeable piano in the background. All of it ties in to make a great song. Quite long before he begins to sing, but he has a tendency to make a song within a song. "Skip like a stone on the water. Fall with no trace to lie permanently." Track Rating: $3.50 7. ANOTHER PEARL - Probably the first possible single on the album. Catchy pop song, despite the experimentalism. Arguably one of the best on the album. "Follow the gold leaf trail back where, we were young and had no care." Track Rating: $4.50 8. BODY RAP - Not a bit of love for this track. Continuous rant of "Body Rap," makes it mind numbing, and in my opinion barely listenable. Track Rating: $0.00 9. ONCE AROUND THE BLOCK - In my opinion, the best track on the CD. This single barely grazed the U.K charts, but gathered critical acclaim for Gough. Plus it has an f ed up video in which two teenagers with braces try to make out and get stuck, kind of interesting. Get this song, if possible, will do you good. "You're feeling instead of being. The more I live on the inside, there's nothing to give. I'm infatuated by your moves, I've got to search hard for your clues." Track Rating: $6.75 10. THIS SONG - I, actually, took this track off of my playlist for this CD. Odd effect that messes with my hearing, and usually gives me a headache. Alright, I guess, but still causes head trauma. Track Rating: $0.25 11. BEWILDERBEAST - The albums namesake isn't really a remarkable song. It's nice in itself, but not one of the better off of the album. Seems to me like it strongly lacks in the beginning. Not sure why, maybe the instrumentation is repetetive. Track Rating: $1.25 12. MAGIC IN THE AIR - Even if this whole album seems like Sad Bastard music, this one is moreso. Lots of piano work and sappy lyrics make this quite the lovey song. Track Rating: $1.25 Downers Overly Sappy Penalty: -$0.50 Final Track Rating: $0.75 13. CAUSE A ROCKSLIDE - Semi-Sappy, also, but there's more body to this song. Actually, it's one of my favorites on the album. Great work on this track with the guitars, and some different lyrical approaches for Gough. I like this track, despite it's Sappiness. Another instance of a song within a song. "Watching another day turn into night. There goes another night, doesn't it frighten you so?" Track Rating: $4.50 14. PISSING IN THE WIND - The current single, if I believe so. I saw the video on MTV2 (was nothing special), which was the first time I'd listened to the track in some time. He makes his voice waver on this track somewhat. Not one of my favorites, but I'm a fan of it nonetheless. Some of the guitar work is on the Slide, which gives it a unique sound. "Now the ground, shifts beneath my feet. The faces that I greet, never know my name. Just give me something, I'll take nothing." Track Rating: $4.00 15. BLISTERED HEART - Nice work with the drums in this one. You can hear the brushes in the background at the beginning, nice addition. Instrumental. Track Rating: $1.75 16. DISILLUSION - Nice little song. Keyboards are the best part of this song, in my opinion. Provide a nice backing, and this is a song I can picture being played in some crappy cafe. Quite the nice package. "Seems you created your own illusion, fueled by an image of me." Track Rating: $3.50 17. SAY IT AGAIN - A little more layed back then the previous track, makes a nice break. Another Sad Bastard song, lyrics, intrumentation, etc. All of them = a Sad Bastard song. But despite that, it's quite good. "Cold blooded your engines are running. But where you're going I'm not coming, 'cause I'm happier here." Track Rating: $2.50 18. EPITAPH - Final Track. Begins with sounds of nature, then goes into a shallowly distorted Gough singing to an acoustic. The nature sounds continue for a bit, and annoy the hell out of me. But, when drowned out, the song is very nice. The distortion clears a bit, and the song continues one as so. Nice closer. Sad Bastard song. "Please don't leave me wanting more." Track Rating: $2.00 With that quote said, I can't wait until this mans next album (which will be awhile, since he's known to be quite lazy). Gough managed to create an awe-inspiring record that I hope will not be duplicated. Why? Well, he's known for his experimentalism, also. I don't doubt that the next album he releases will be just as eclectic as this one, and I'll be one of the first to buy it. Album Worth: $49.50 Album Price: $16.99 |
-Now that you've read something, he's written. Wouldn't you like to find out more about Downer? So would we...his bio isn't completed yet. |
-Interested in buying this CD? Look no further: Badly Drawn Boy - Hour Of Bewliderbeast.. |
