Album: The Hour Of Bewilderbeast
Artist: Badly Drawn Boy
Born: Bolton, Lancashire
Released: June 2000
Genre: Folk Pop
I've got very fond memories of seeing Badly Drawn Boy play live at Sheffield Uni back in late 2000. One of those glorious, messy nights, made better by Damon Gough's ramshackle performance, which got progressively worse during the evening as he drunk more and more of his bottle of Jack Daniel's. By the end of the evening, he could barely finish his songs. That summer, just before I started my final year at university, is now forever linked in my mind with this album. Trying to put my finger on why I connected with this record so readily is difficult; obviously, the songs are great, but there was something about the album's baroque atmosphere and the simplicity of the lyrics that drew me in. At over an hour long, The Hour Of Bewilderbeast has a mesmerising quality that makes you quickly lose all sense of time, right from that beautiful mix of cello and trumpet that opens the album. The Shining, like many tracks, is a heartfelt love song ("Now I've fallen in deep, slow silent sleep / it's killing me, I'm dying / to put a little sunshine in your life") and the refreshing lack of cynicism was no doubt a big part of Badly Drawn Boy's appeal. One of the singles released from the album, Once Around The Block, was a song about falling in love for the first time and contains a brilliant wah wah opening and melodic hook. Its moderate UK chart success in 1999 was the main reason XL Recordings signed Badly Drawn Boy and gave the green light for this album.
In terms of contemporary reference points, Badly Drawn Boy reminds me most of Elliott Smith, in his love of folk music and pop melodies, but lyrically he's not adept as Smith. That said, this record is the match of Smith in terms of ambition (a concept album about the various stages of a relationship) and catchy hooks. Fall In A River has a dreamy folk quality that phases wonderfully into the pastoral psychedelia of Camping Next To Water and Stone On The Water (which channels Nick Drake). Another Pearl breaks the mood with its guitar riffs but the Bewilderbeast theme (an instrumental reprised from earlier in the album) restores the calm. Magic In The Air has a dreamy piano opening and lyrics full of wonder ("We slept on leaves, on my drive / all night"). Whether making a nod to Harry Nilsson (Everbody's Stalking) or Belle & Sebastian (Stone On The Water), Badly Drawn Boy is clearly indebted to the masters of sophisticated pop. Pissing In The Wind has a ramshackle glory reminiscent of Beck, while Disillusion sounds a little out of place (and a bit too much like Dodgy). Epitath makes for a great finale though, with lyrics that look ahead to the next stage of the relationship ("There's a new life through the door / a cradle rocks and falls"). Badly Drawn Boy would go on to find more fame with the About A Boy soundtrack (Silent Sigh is a great song) but things would quickly go downhill from Have You Fed The Fish? onwards. For a brief time though, he was the most exciting thing in British pop.
I've got very fond memories of seeing Badly Drawn Boy play live at Sheffield Uni back in late 2000. One of those glorious, messy nights, made better by Damon Gough's ramshackle performance, which got progressively worse during the evening as he drunk more and more of his bottle of Jack Daniel's. By the end of the evening, he could barely finish his songs. That summer, just before I started my final year at university, is now forever linked in my mind with this album. Trying to put my finger on why I connected with this record so readily is difficult; obviously, the songs are great, but there was something about the album's baroque atmosphere and the simplicity of the lyrics that drew me in. At over an hour long, The Hour Of Bewilderbeast has a mesmerising quality that makes you quickly lose all sense of time, right from that beautiful mix of cello and trumpet that opens the album. The Shining, like many tracks, is a heartfelt love song ("Now I've fallen in deep, slow silent sleep / it's killing me, I'm dying / to put a little sunshine in your life") and the refreshing lack of cynicism was no doubt a big part of Badly Drawn Boy's appeal. One of the singles released from the album, Once Around The Block, was a song about falling in love for the first time and contains a brilliant wah wah opening and melodic hook. Its moderate UK chart success in 1999 was the main reason XL Recordings signed Badly Drawn Boy and gave the green light for this album.
In terms of contemporary reference points, Badly Drawn Boy reminds me most of Elliott Smith, in his love of folk music and pop melodies, but lyrically he's not adept as Smith. That said, this record is the match of Smith in terms of ambition (a concept album about the various stages of a relationship) and catchy hooks. Fall In A River has a dreamy folk quality that phases wonderfully into the pastoral psychedelia of Camping Next To Water and Stone On The Water (which channels Nick Drake). Another Pearl breaks the mood with its guitar riffs but the Bewilderbeast theme (an instrumental reprised from earlier in the album) restores the calm. Magic In The Air has a dreamy piano opening and lyrics full of wonder ("We slept on leaves, on my drive / all night"). Whether making a nod to Harry Nilsson (Everbody's Stalking) or Belle & Sebastian (Stone On The Water), Badly Drawn Boy is clearly indebted to the masters of sophisticated pop. Pissing In The Wind has a ramshackle glory reminiscent of Beck, while Disillusion sounds a little out of place (and a bit too much like Dodgy). Epitath makes for a great finale though, with lyrics that look ahead to the next stage of the relationship ("There's a new life through the door / a cradle rocks and falls"). Badly Drawn Boy would go on to find more fame with the About A Boy soundtrack (Silent Sigh is a great song) but things would quickly go downhill from Have You Fed The Fish? onwards. For a brief time though, he was the most exciting thing in British pop.
Comments