Badly Drawn Boy - The Hour of Bewilderbeast

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Music reviews of The Hour of Bewilderbeast

Music Review: sloppy, but worthwhile
Rating: 4 Stars

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.

Description of The Hour of Bewilderbeast

Alternative Rock CDs

• Music > Styles
• Folk
• Pop
• Rock