Interesting.

Badly Drawn Boy a.k.a Damon Gough, has created a masterpiece with his debut album 'Hour of Bewilderbeast'. 18 sparkling songs which seem to chart the progress of a relationship, and not a dud amongst them.
'Disillusion', by far his best song, is a freakish disco-folk hybrid, stomping its way across the night-clubs and Glasto-folk tents alike. BDB's genius lies not just in his brilliant lyrics, or his simplistically effective guitar playing, but in the shambolic intimacy of his live shows also. His gigs are rare snatches into the mind of a genius, and if you ever get the chance to catch him live, go for it.
All in all, one of the most talented performers to come out of Manchester in a very, very long time.

Genre-bending - Sparse acoustic ballads, funky little ditties, and a lot of pure originality. Won the coveted UK Mercury Prize for Best Album of 2000.

I was quite interested when I heard a few Badly Drawn Boy tracks before the album got released. It sounded quite promising. However the first few singles have put me off. Maybe the rest of the album's better?? As for the Mercury Music Prize, it seems meaningless when a record company has to pay ú10,000 to nominate a band. It kind of rules out band's on small labels. (And I wish he'd lose that goddamn hat !!)

Probably produced the greatest album of 2000, although, to be honest, not one album I have heard this year has been outstandingly brilliant. However, I do like Damon Gough's warm, lived-in voice and pretty, acoustic guitar-driven melodies. 'Stone on the Water' is probably his best.

Badly Drawn Boy is an amazing new and upcoming artist his album The Hour Of Bewiderbeast is an amazing album and anybody who is in to travis and coldplay will absolutely love it. Overal if you havnt got it you should go and get it.

Got this album expecting something of value. When I finished listening, Alas! NO VALUE...

Not very good...go buy Neutral Milk Hotel's "In the Aeroplane over the Sea" insetad...you'll be glad that you did.

I thought this was a great album. Stone on the Water and Magic in the Air are both strong songs, but one of the most amazing i've ever heard is The Shining.

eh, a bit rambly and pretentious. Self-absorbed idiot.

aoibhineden@hotmail.com

BADLY DRAWN BOY: LIVE AT THE LIMELIGHT, BELFAST 09.03.2001


Caliban is in Belfast. A smith of words as if he just discovered them and invented intuition, heÆs reluctant and wary of social wiles. He snubs the press, refuses expletively to take his hat off for the ladies, bonds with the æhairy arsesÆ of Belfast as if his life depended on it, consoles himself with the otherness of mushrooms and scallions on stage, and then woos us as weÆve never been wooed before. Winged sound lifts eager eyes to the diminutive and fierce figure standing defensively on the Limelight stage, lit with granny lamps and scowling under lurid layered stripes. This is the hour of Bewilderbeest.

æYou are the luckiest people in the world. YouÆre Irish. Make your way to the front, ladies, I can only see nearly thereÆs. There are beautiful women in the audience, I can smell their nether regions.Æ So Damon Gough, Badly Drawn Boy and Mercury Prize winner to many, spikily schmoozes his way into the hearts of Belfast and the strains of Camping Next to Water. A voice of understated sweetness charts the loneliness, space, and wild beauty of nights misty within reason - and his audience feels with him. He drinks from waterfalls and beckons stars to fall on him; and sounds, sweet airs, a thousand twangling instruments that give delight and hurt not show riches fall from clouds of dreams. BDB shushes his apeshit fans.

The mushrooms are for real, as is the infamous ú1,500 hat which charitied Kosovan refugees before returning (shroomlike) to his uncouth head. Gough has been writing for ten years now, and his intoxicating, uncanny sound has brought nothing but good news to his work with Doves, his UNKLE collaboration and current Twisted Nerve partnership with Andy Votel. And for why? This is an inveterate lyricist and storyteller.

He croons and cajoles his crowd. æLadies are freaked out by meÆ, he confides. æThe ladies in Dublin were better but IÆd settle for youààIÆd like to listen to your troubles, steel your hopes and maybe kiss you, but IÆm spoken for.Æ And then into the stories. Bewilderbeest is a double helix of coaxing and chaos, unruly crashing cords and buttery acoustic purrs. A taming: no jabberwocky, this one. But Gough prosaically tells us that his dad, whose empire comprises 2,000 parking spaces in Stockport and prodigious imaginative licence, inspired the song with his tale of Peter the hippo who got stuck in a slide overnight and was accompanied in his vigil by Cathy, a laryngitic giraffe.

Badly Drawn Boy introduces his band as æthe best bunch of guys you could hope to go on the road withÆ. Sean, just married, on bass; Rob on guitar; Dave on drums. Gough himself hasnÆt got round to wedding yet, but heÆs just had a baby, Edie. He wears his loves close: a BDB teeshirt flashed at the crowd from time to time, and his childÆs name studded across the denim on his back. Seguing into the Shining, he tries to brush this off. æIÆve heard about the Belfast phenomenon of heckling. IÆm hard as nails, I am!Æ And when a fan demands that he take his hat off, he suggests she show him her ***. HeÆs the star here. æLiam Gallagher times ten. Not with such a back catalogue of ladies - but theyÆre all bints.Æ He sings, and the Limelight basks in the rare luminous embrace of strings, pure timing and soleil, with unreserved post-coital gratitude.

Sweet ditties blur as Gough reels in his crowd. æWhatÆs your name, whoÆs to blame?Æ he asks. He interacts with Sarah of the perfect teeth, and Anthony, a pretty lad æalmost as pretty as IÆ. He mollifies the huffing girl æthanks a lot, Belfast. YouÆve been game for a laugh - especially you down there.Æ BDB moots his Disillusion. A Santana-esque intro welcomes in a fresh-cheeked heartspilling which is somehow dated, but endearing. And then the crowd is his. æThis gig has been genuinely brilliant. YouÆve made the smallest place seem like the biggest..Æ. Love is contagious in this ten-year-old venue, of an age with a talent ædescended from leprechaunsÆ on the distaff side. Magic in the Air tinkles into the room, and with bated, excited breath an infatuated crowd follows his words like steps into a post-party dawn.


Cause a Rockslide empties a dizzy maze of effects over plaintive, keening lyrics, and releases the eerie undead on our vulnerable heads. BDB is feeling the same as he did yesterday - until he realises he was in Dublin then, and Belfast now. æDavid Gray? IÆd rather be where I am now.Æ So he grants his raucous northerners a singalong with Pissing in the Wind. They sense a lull, and chant æwho let the Boy out?Æ And he gives them a run, Once Around the Block. The relief when it isnÆt jamiroquai after all is palpable. This perfect and infectious melody has everyone bopping, and they continue into This Song. Normally a quavering, candlelit blend of Spiritualised and church song, BDB on harmonica rouses this rendition into an Irish come-all-ye. You canÆt take the Roscommon out of the Boyààà Affectionate now, Gough entrusts a photo of Edie to the crowd, and tells us about her as we pass it round. ThereÆs new life through the door/ As new fruit fills the tree/ Cements the melody/ Our troubles passing. During the poignant twangs of Epitaph, he drops briefly into the uproar and bestows vegetables, towels and neon pink plectrums on his adoring fans before leaving the stage.

Later, our mooncalf stands small on the main Limelight bar, baying for drink. Rehab? Genius has its downsides, but Edie is a youthquaker, a world shaker, a force for change. Badly Drawn Boy? Nah. This one was sketched - and sketches û with masterly strokes.

AOIBHINN TREANOR

Dear AOIBHINN TREANOR -- eve,
I am not sure that you have any idea what you are talking about. If you, OR ANYONE ELSE is looking for a frigging album with 18 songs that are unequivocal examples of genius, listen to EXILE ON MAIN STREET by THE ROLLING STONES. Anything else is self-indulgent, self-involved tripe, made by artists who can't get over themselves (this means you Geoff Buckley [RIP], Travis [who have come nowhere near close to Oasis, let alone the Beatles], and the Muse and Palo Alto [you thought you could sneak by becuz you're from the US; no such luck!]}. Disaffected middle-class losers should not sing about how much it sux to be them, otherwise they will incur the wrath of the fickle and disappear into passe-dom, which is better than they deserve.

Respectfully,

'once around the block' really caught me off guard when they started playing it on 97x (local college radio). i was really impressed with the original sound. i highly reccommend the shining. you might also like the beta band or josh joplin group.

I really like they quirky techno-folk of Badly Drawn Boy. The collaboration with U.N.K.L.E. was also a great effort! I would recommend them to fans of Beck & The Strokes.

Very pleased with his work on About A boy. Other than the Brilliant ' the shining' from his debut, I tohught it missed the mark. About A Boy features at least 4 or 5 solid tracks. I only wish there was more of those nad less instrumental, but hey it is a soundtrack. I am now looknig forward to his next rleease, hoping that this is a sign of where he is headed.