The Hour of Bewilderbeast

Badly Drawn Boy - The Hour of Bewilderbeast

The Hour of Bewilderbeast
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Category: Music CD
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CD Details

Artist: Badly Drawn Boy
Edition: Music CD
Audio: English (Original Language)
CD Release Date: 2000-10-03
Music Label: Xl Recordings
Soundtracks:
  1. The Shining
  2. Everybody's Stalking
  3. Bewilder
  4. Fall In A River
  5. Camping Next To Water
  6. Stone On The Water
  7. Another Pearl
  8. Body Rap
  9. Once Around The Block
  10. This Song
  11. Bewilderbeast
  12. Magic In The Air
  13. Cause A Rockslide
  14. Pissing In The Wind
  15. Blistered Heart
  16. Disillusion
  17. Say It Again
  18. Epitaph

Music reviews of The Hour of Bewilderbeast

Music Review: sloppy, but worthwhile
Rating: 4 Stars

After the first listen, Badly Drawn Boy's The Hour Of Bewilderbeast could easily be construed as Badly Done Beck. Cynics would say that Damon Gough owes a heck of a lot to American indie artists like Beck, Lou Barlow, and Mark Eitzel, and his lo-fi style is about six years too late. Overflowing with kooky combinations of instruments, studio effects, and lyrics that beat the listener over the head with wide-eyed charm and precociousness (much like being pummeled by Nerf balls), it's easy to get lost in this cd, which at first sounds like a big old mess (that jumbled feel of the record is conveyed on the collage album cover).

But then it gets its hooks in you. Underneath all the home studio knob-twiddling are some real pop-rock treasures. 'The Shining', which has been used in a well-known Gap Christmas ad, beats Belle & Sebastian at their own game; while the Scottish collective failed to live up to their early promise this year, Gough has created a gorgeous acoustic song with a string section enhancing the gentle, Nick Drake-like melody. 'Everybody's Stalking' takes a darker turn, while 'Stone On The Water''s acoustic guitar riff sounds lifted straight off Led Zeppelin III. The title track is a nice instrumental, while 'Magic In The Air' is so Stephen Merrit-like in its pop deftness that you swear you've heard the song before, it sounds that comfortably familiar.

Bewilderbeast's best songs are its three singles. 'Another Pearl' sports a slinky piano melody over an irresistable three-chord riff while Gough sings some of the more inexplicably pretentious lyrics you'll hear this year ("Follow the circle sur le plage/On a mono-coloured trip voyage"). Speaking of irresistable, nothing beats 'Once Around The Block', easily the catchiest song on the album; the 'doo-boo-doo-ba-da-da' chorus over the shuffling beat makes this one of the sweetest songs you'll ever hear. 'Disillusion', recorded with fellow UK mates Doves, is a bouncy tune that is also fun to listen to.

Being such an ambitious record, Bewilderbeast has both hits and misses. The (thankfully) brief 'Body Rap' is idiotic and useless, while 'Fall In A River' starts off nicely but stops suddenly with a big kersploosh sound effect (get it? *groan*...). 'Cause A Rockslide' is a pretty song, but it has several minutes of overbearing studio noodling that tries your patience.

On an album like this, in the end you giddily take the good with the bad. Damon Gough swings for the fences repeatedly, and while he doesn't connect every time, his successes more than make up for it. I reacted indifferently to the album at first, but now I love it. Badly Drawn Boy is far better than being just the Next Beck, and his future recordings will only get better.

More The Hour of Bewilderbeast free music reviews:
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Description of The Hour of Bewilderbeast

Debut full length from acclaimed singer/songwriter Damon Gough who collaborated with U.N.K.L.E. on 'Psyence Fiction'. Includes the single 'Another Pearl'. 18 tracks of futurist folk. Droll, yet touching, seldom immediate, but forever sublime. 2000 release. Standard jewel case.
In 2000, the techno-folk troubadour Damon Gough, a.k.a. Badly Drawn Boy, won the U.K.-based Mercury Music Prize, Brit-pop's blue ribbon award. His first full-length, The Hour of Bewilderbeast, is a song cycle relaying the life span of a romantic relationship with dry lyrical humor, soft-touch acoustic strumming, mellow horns, and gossamer strings. Repeated listenings are required, but like a down pillow, as your head sinks into this album, its warm comforts and rewards reveal themselves deep within a melodic cushion. --Beth Massa

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