The Hour of Bewilderbeast

by

Badly Drawn Boy

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The first album by Badly Drawn Boy has been released amidst much hype--and believe me the hype is well founded. Badly Drawn Boy is basically the brainchild of Damon Gough from Manchester,England.The early e.p.'s showed great promise,and this promise has come to fruition on an album of startling variety. The influence of sixties folk musician Nick Drake seems to be all the rage at the moment.When the first notes of the first song 'The Shining' are struck I was expecting a c.d. of 18 mellow tracks.It starts off with a gentle cello-horn instrumental,then Gough adds some vocals to this beautifully mellow opening.Then track 2-'Everybody's Stalking' changes the mood totally,as it's driven by a ferocious bass line and it doesn't half rock!This is the magic of this c.d.,Gough has the ability to change the sound,the influence,the mood with consumate ease.Another example of this comes at track 8-'Body Rap' which sounds like one of those Beastie Boy,D.J. Shadow instrumental interludes.This leads straight into 'Once Around The Block' a gentle r/b piece,complete with wah-wah guitars,Blues lead guitar and excellent harmonious vocals.You may think all this mish mash of influences may make the c.d. very disjointed-but somehow it all seems to fit together perfectly.The title track,song 11-Bewilderbeast is wonderful in that it brings all these sounds together on one amazing track.Track 12 'Magic In The Air' is a haunting,melancholic ballad,with piano and guitar the backdrop for Gough's excellent vocals.Track 14 has a definite country feel to it.Track 16-'Disillusion' has a real seventies feel to it-with a sound that isn't to far removed (instrumentally) from The Doobie Brother's. 18 tracks may seem quite alot for any c.d.-especially a debut,but there are no obvious weak songs at all.I have to say it's an incredibly ambitious debut but it is one that shows the work of a very talented musician and song-writer.Finally this c.d. deserves to do really well and I would certainly reccomend it to lovers of good quality music.

Well, my roommate and I have finally agreed upon an album we both like, with this decent debut from Badly Drawn Boy. She adores it, but I have to admit I was a bit disappointed. After all the hype that seemed to surround this record, I was expecting something revolutionary - or at least evolutionary. Rather, it plays like a typical British pop record. The Beatles, Oasis and even the Stone Roses come to mind when listening. Don't get me wrong, the melodies are flowing and transitionary - I like the layers that seem to unfold within each song, but I couldn't help but think I had heard it all before. The piano that appears in some songs is a nice touch - it adds a bit of depth to a fairly predictable album. Overall, I would say buy it - it's better than most of the recycled garbage out these days - but keep your expectations low.