Badly Drawn Boy | ||
| Allmusic Biography : Belying his status as a narcoleptic slacker icon, Badly Drawn Boy proved himself a tireless pop songwriter, with arrangements that reflect a great deal of creativity. Born Damon Gough, he began recording after meeting the like-minded Andy Votel at a Manchester nightclub. The pair formed the Twisted Nerve label, and Gough debuted as Badly Drawn Boy with an EP and several singles. The recordings dovetailed nicely with the experimentalist pop fringe of artists like Scott 4 and the Beta Band, and the attendant media hype allowed him to guest alongside Thom Yorke, Richard Ashcroft, and Mike D on 1997s celebrity-filled UNKLE LP Psyence Fiction. Goughs 1999 single "Once Around the Block" grazed the British charts, while XL Recordings signed the pop auteur and released his debut album, The Hour of Bewilderbeast, in 2000. Just before its American release, the album earned another round of critical praise with Britains vaunted Mercury Prize for Best Album. December 2000 brought the birth of his daughter. Author Nick Hornby was won over by his music and asked the singer to score the film being made of his book About a Boy. After that project, he moved away from music for a few months to work on new material. After recording during most of 2002, Gough emerged that fall with Have You Fed the Fish? Two years later, he resurfaced with the simpler One Plus One Is One. Born in the U.K., a poppier collection of songs inspired by his childhood and (as the title suggests) Bruce Springsteens Born in the U.S.A., arrived in fall 2006. The lukewarm reception that album earned caused Gough to take a break from making music, a hiatus he broke when he was asked to write songs for the film The Fattest Man in Britain. Those songs were released as Is There Nothing We Could Do? in 2009, followed in 2010 by Goughs seventh studio album, Its What Im Thinking, Pt. 1: Photographing Snowflakes, which recalled the heights of The Hour of the Bewilderbeast. The soundtrack for 2012s Being Flynn, an adaptation of author Nick Flynns memoirs Another Bullshit Night in Suck City, found Gough reuniting with About a Boy director Paul Weitz. | ||
 | Album: 1 of 13 Title: EP3 Released: 1998-11 Tracks: 6 Duration: 15:04 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 My Friend Cubilas (02:50) 2 I Need a Sign (03:43) 3 Interlude (00:35) 4 Meet on the Horizon (01:47) 5 Road Movie (04:09) 6 Kerplunk by Candlelight (01:57) |
 | Album: 2 of 13 Title: How Did I Get Here? Released: 1999 Tracks: 11 Duration: 43:52 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 My Friend Cubilas (02:50) 2 I Need a Sign (03:43) 3 Interlude (00:35) 4 Meet on the Horizon (01:47) 5 Road Movie (04:09) 6 Kerplunk by Candlelight (01:57) 7 It Came From the Ground (07:16) 8 Outside Is a Light 1 (02:46) 9 Soul Attitude (03:06) 10 Whirlpool (07:09) 11 It Came From the Ground (Andy Votel mix) (08:28) |
 | Album: 3 of 13 Title: It Came From the Ground Released: 1999-03 Tracks: 6 Duration: 28:17 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 It Came From the Ground (07:16) 2 Walkman Demo 1 (01:59) 3 Outside Is a Light 1 (02:42) 4 Outside Is a Light 2 (05:30) 5 Walkman Demo 2 (02:19) 6 It Came From the Ground (Andy Votel remix) (08:29) |
 | Album: 4 of 13 Title: The Hour of Bewilderbeast Released: 2000-06-26 Tracks: 18 Duration: 1:03:34 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 The Shining (05:18) 2 Everybody’s Stalking (03:39) 3 Bewilder (00:48) 4 Fall in a River (02:17) 5 Camping Next to Water (03:50) 6 Stone on the Water (03:58) 7 Another Pearl (04:27) 8 Body Rap (00:45) 9 Once Around the Block (03:44) 10 This Song (01:32) 11 Bewilderbeast (03:30) 12 Magic in the Air (03:43) 13 Cause a Rockslide (05:55) 14 Pissing in the Wind (04:19) 15 Blistered Heart (01:50) 16 Disillusion (05:19) 17 Say It Again (04:41) 18 Epitaph (03:50) |
| The Hour of Bewilderbeast : Allmusic album Review : What has the field of lo-fi slacker pop come to when faced by an LP as ambitious and entertaining as Badly Drawn Boys The Hour of Bewilderbeast? Despite all attempts to sabotage his songwriting and production with innumerable experimental tidbits, songs within a song, and (seemingly) tossed-off arrangements, Damon Gough has to face the fact that he wrote and produced over a dozen excellent songs of baroque folk-pop for his album debut, and the many gems cant help but shine through all the self-indulgence. The sprightly orchestration for cello and trumpet (Goughs own) that begin the album are eventually taken over by the sparse guitar pickings and wistful folky sunshine of "The Shining," which veers into the skewed slide guitar and ominous tone of "Everybodys Stalking." Gough rarely pauses for breath (even when hes doing a ballad) or follows any traditional sense of album flow, but after a listen or two, The Hour of Bewilderbeast is revealed as a shambling masterpiece of a pop album. Most of these songs are Goughs entirely (he plays as many as eight instruments), with occasional help from friends like Twisted Nerve co-labelhead Andy Votel and assorted drummers for accompaniment. His songwriting is great, but Goughs twisted sense of humor helps the album shine as well, as on "Fall in a River," where the down-a-lazy-river feel carries through to the point where not just Gough but the entire production is submerged with a splash and attendant warping of the sound. The Hour of Bewilderbeast surely isnt a traditional pop album, but a continually beguiling trip through lo-fi postmodern folk that draws as much from Harry Nilsson as Beck. | ||
 | Album: 5 of 13 Title: Pissing in the Wind Released: 2001 Tracks: 5 Duration: 21:46 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 Spitting in the Wind (04:28) 2 Pissing in the Wind (04:19) 3 The Shining (Minotaur Shock remix) (05:05) 4 Magic in the Air (WDET Detroit radio session) (04:03) 5 Everybodys Stalking (WDET Detroit radio session) (03:48) |
 | Album: 6 of 13 Title: The Official Bootleg Live @ Glastonbury Released: 2002 Tracks: 16 Duration: 57:20 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Where Were You? (03:45) 2 Something to Talk About (03:17) 3 A Minor Incident (03:06) 4 River—Sea—Ocean (03:25) 5 Sha La La (03:24) 6 Everybodys Stalking (03:18) 7 The Further I Slide (04:52) 8 Magic in the Air (03:50) 9 The Shining (04:06) 10 Once Around the Block (03:26) 11 Pissing in the Wind (05:13) 12 Let the Sunshine In (02:06) 13 Shake the Rollercoaster (02:37) 14 Golden Days (02:26) 15 You Were Right (05:50) 16 What Is It Now? (02:32) |
 | Album: 7 of 13 Title: About a Boy Released: 2002-04-08 Tracks: 16 Duration: 44:29 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Exit Stage Right (00:21) 2 A Peak You Reach (04:33) 3 Something to Talk About (03:41) 4 Dead Duck (00:46) 5 Above You, Below Me (02:40) 6 I Love N.Y.E. (03:20) 7 Silent Sigh (04:44) 8 Wet, Wet, Wet (00:42) 9 River–Sea–Ocean (02:24) 10 S.P.A.T. (03:24) 11 Rachel’s Flat (00:34) 12 Walking Out of Stride (01:48) 13 File Me Away (03:23) 14 A Minor Incident (03:44) 15 Delta (Little Boy Blues) (04:00) 16 Donna & Blitzen (04:19) |
| About a Boy : Allmusic album Review : It was an odds-on favorite that Badly Drawn Boys warped yet sunny vision of pop would fit in well with a Nick Hornby novel-turned-movie (especially one about a sensitive, literate, slightly confused man struggling with the responsibilities of most persons his age). Still, there were several unknowns going into the project. Could an artistic iconoclast like Damon Gough control himself when forced to conform by writing a set of songs for specific situations? Would his collection of eccentric production touches, pure honey to any introspective music fan, make any sense in the context of a highly anticipated, wide-release film? Could he even write an entire soundtrack, during an era when most artists hardly average an album every three years? While a first listen proves that Goughs songwriting smarts are so powerful and wide-ranging they work in any context (much less pop songs for movies), several listens are necessary for its real brilliance to shine through. In a similar fashion to the work of Harry Nilsson, his closest pop forebear, a Badly Drawn Boy song is deceptively simple; his pleasant melodies often cloak a set of sharp, thoughtful lyrics and many graceful harmonic turns. Goughs voice, emotional with just a hint of gravel, sounds perfect behind the Hollywood sheen of these arrangements, with Tom Rothrock behind the boards. The single "Silent Sigh" is the highlight, with Gough masterfully tripping over his lines and accentuating the title with his breathy delivery. Its the cumulative weight, however, that really impresses. Each of these songs works well -- even the tossed-off electro-pop pieces "S.P.A.T." and "File Me Away" -- in either the delightful context of the movie or as a stand-alone work. Though both artist and label hedged bets by explaining it away as an outside work and not the "official" Badly Drawn Boy sophomore album, its difficult to imagine how Badly Drawn Boy couldve improved on The Hour of Bewilderbeast any better than this astonishing work. | ||
 | Album: 8 of 13 Title: Have You Fed the Fish? Released: 2002-11-04 Tracks: 15 Duration: 50:42 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Coming In to Land (01:38) 2 Have You Fed the Fish? (04:18) 3 Born Again (04:40) 4 40 Days, 40 Fights (03:55) 5 All Possibilities (03:54) 6 I Was Wrong (01:10) 7 You Were Right (04:49) 8 Centrepeace (01:52) 9 How? (05:14) 10 The Further I Slide (03:47) 11 Imaginary Lines (00:45) 12 Using Our Feet (04:10) 13 Tickets to What You Need (02:48) 14 What Is It Now? (02:42) 15 Bedside Story (04:53) |
| Have You Fed the Fish? : Allmusic album Review : If you count Damon Goughs About a Boy soundtrack as the second Badly Drawn Boy album -- and the caliber of its songs make a strong case for it to be treated as such -- then it seems that the sophomore slump has skipped a generation, ignoring About a Boy and affecting Have You Fed the Fish? instead. Interestingly, the boundaries placed on Goughs style by working on a soundtrack didnt impact his music as much as the limits he sets for himself do here -- on the surface, Have You Fed the Fish? is Badly Drawn Boys most focused and polished set of songs to date. For most artists, this would be a good development, but on this album at least, its a poor fit. On his best work, Goughs intricate, lilting melodies, quirky but heartfelt lyrics, and offbeat production touches are woven together as tightly as the knitted caps he wears, but on Have You Fed the Fish? it feels like he forces his sound to straighten out, and the brilliance displayed on The Hour of Bewilderbeast and About a Boy unravels. The albums main problem is its glossy production, which adds an unwelcome, brassy sheen to even the most seemingly heartfelt songs, such as "You Were Right," which features the line "Im turning Madonna down/And Im calling it my best move." Actually, this lyric encapsulates many of Have You Fed the Fish?s drawbacks at once -- its trying to be quirky and yet mainstream at the same time, its initially cute and yet a little too clever-clever to really make an impact. Songs like the jangly, off-kilter funk of "Using Our Feet," the title track, and "40 Days, 40 Fights" suffer from these problems, and indeed, most of the album feels strangely overblown. Not coincidentally, the shorter songs and vignettes that dot Have You Fed the Fish? reveal more of Badly Drawn Boys strengths -- the delicate, acoustic "I Was Wrong," the lush instrumental "Centerpeace," and the sweet, Lennon-y love song "Instrumental Lines" recall the dazzling, kaleidoscopic beauty of The Hour of Bewilderbeast. Its not that Have You Fed the Fish? is vastly inferior to Goughs debut so much as its an unbalanced and ultimately frustrating album. For every misstep there are successes like the witty funk-pop of "The Further I Slide" and "All Possibilities," which blends disco strings and mariachi horns into a bittersweet yet uplifting gem. "How" is a searching ballad that features the motion, emotion, and surprises that define Goughs best work, and recalls the self-reflexive style of singer/songwriters like Don McLean and Elton John to boot; "What Is It Now?" is a quintessential, if overproduced, Badly Drawn Boy single. Since The Hour of Bewilderbeast both introduced Goughs style and expressed it so perfectly, the stakes are higher for all of his subsequent work. About a Boy proved that he can tailor his approach for more mainstream audiences, but by trying to be both more mainstream and quirkier than Badly Drawn Boys previous work, Have You Fed the Fish? attempts to fix something that wasnt broken in the first place. | ||
 | Album: 9 of 13 Title: One Plus One Is One Released: 2004-06-21 Tracks: 14 Duration: 55:16 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 One Plus One Is One (04:18) 2 Easy Love (03:02) 3 Summertime in Wintertime (02:36) 4 This Is That New Song (04:07) 5 Another Devil Dies (05:01) 6 The Blossoms (02:01) 7 Year of the Rat (04:43) 8 Four Leaf Clover (04:19) 9 Fewer Words (01:13) 10 Logic of a Friend (04:38) 11 Stockport (02:37) 12 Life Turned Upside Down (03:24) 13 Take the Glory (05:02) 14 Holy Grail (08:09) |
| One Plus One Is One : Allmusic album Review : After the concise About a Boy soundtrack and the overdone Have You Fed the Fish?, Damon Gough (aka Badly Drawn Boy) still seems to be searching for balance on his fourth album, One Plus One Is One. Even the albums name contains conflicting wishes for simplicity and multiplicity, along with suggesting a relationships theory of mathematics. Most of the songs here revolve around loves simplicities and complexities in settings that range from unadorned to elaborate. One Plus One Is One starts out simple and strong, with the title track, "Easy Love," and the Jethro Tull-esque (but in a good way) "Summertime in Wintertime" cataloging some of the additions and subtractions in Goughs life while sounding like late summer in the English countryside. Songs like these and the lovely "This Is That New Song" may get Badly Drawn Boy fans hopes up that this is the album theyve been waiting for since The Hour of Bewilderbeast. One Plus One Is One does have some of the seemingly effortless grace of Goughs will o the wisp tour de force, but unlike that album, this set of songs feels more grounded and, like most of his work after About a Boy, the heavy lifting in his music is more apparent. As the album unfolds, it gets increasingly baroque, meandering, and logy; not only are there overly lavish Have You Fed the Fish? flashbacks like "Take the Glory" and "Holy Grail," songs that are otherwise successfully simple, such as "Logic of a Friend," are tricked out with unnecessarily busy arrangements. Certainly, choices like the kids choir on "Year of the Rat" -- not to mention lyrics like "If we hold on, we can find some new energy" -- are easy targets, but in this case, Gough manages to pull off the kind of vulnerable, wide-eyed optimism that usually gets short shrift in the too-cool-for-school indie world. Still, its arguable whether or not these more grandiose songs have more impact than beautifully succinct ones like "Fewer Words" and "Four Leaf Clover." The U.S. version of One Plus One Is One further gilds the lily with two bonus tracks, the well-intended but undernourished "Dont Ask Me Im Only the President" and the musically hyperactive "Plan B," both of which pad the album out to over an hour. Goughs music seems to be undergoing the usual growing pains of moving beyond a landmark work, and a landmark debut in particular; its possible that hes moving into the craftsman phase of his career, refining the territory hes already staked out instead of claiming more. There are times when One Plus One Is One is simply too much, and the fresh spin that Gough brought to the British singer/songwriter tradition in his earlier work is missed, but hes still a fine addition to it. | ||
 | Album: 10 of 13 Title: Born in the U.K. Released: 2006-10-16 Tracks: 13 Duration: 53:09 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Swimming Pool (01:32) 2 Born in the U.K. (02:35) 3 Degrees of Separation (04:17) 4 Welcome to the Overground (03:23) 5 A Journey From A to B (03:44) 6 Nothings Gonna Change Your Mind (05:20) 7 Promises (05:06) 8 The Way Things Used to Be (04:46) 9 Without a Kiss (05:31) 10 The Long Way Round / Swimming Pool (04:53) 11 Walk You Home Tonight (03:45) 12 The Time of Times (03:18) 13 One Last Dance (04:51) |
| Born in the U.K. : Allmusic album Review : After a bout with writers block left most of what would have been the fifth Badly Drawn Boy album on the scrap heap, Damon Gough regrouped by writing a set of songs inspired by growing up in the United Kingdom. The results are Born in the U.K., an album that, of course, nods to Bruce Springsteens rousing-yet-searching Born in the U.S.A. (the Boss is also thanked in the liner notes), but also feels like its trying to win -- and impress -- as big an audience as possible. At times, Born in the U.K. is impressive, but not necessarily with its most ambitious moments. After the relatively restrained One Plus One Is One, Gough returns to the elaborate, heavily arranged sound of Have You Fed the Fish? for most of the album, and too often, his words and melodies end up drowning in their busy surroundings. "Nothings Gonna Change Your Mind" is a particularly unfortunate casualty, a song with good bones thats done in by strings that are somehow massive and fussy at the same time. Meanwhile, "Welcome to the Overground," with its huge choir and equally giant guitars and pianos, sounds like it was written by Andrew Lloyd Webber instead of Badly Drawn Boy. To be fair, Gough does harness the albums widescreen sound effectively at times: "Degrees of Separation" is the closest Born in the U.K. comes to clearly elaborating on its concept, setting memories of the Thatcher era to rock that nods to "God Save the Queen," both the national anthem and the punk anthem. "Journey from A to B" is another standout that makes the most of its Springsteen and Phil Spector homages. As the album unfolds, Gough seems to get his footing; its as though he spends the first half of the album trying to wow his audience but only proves impressive once he gets rid of the pretense. Enough of Born in the U.K.s second half works well that it makes the albums early missteps even more mystifying: "Walk You Home Tonight"s hints of blue-eyed soul and Motown nail the sophisticated but accessible sound that Gough strains for in other places, as do "The Way Things Used to Be"s slight country twang and "Long Way Round (Swimming Pool)"s Burt Bacharach-style pop. Still, its more than a little odd that Gough keeps trying this grandiose direction, when the smaller, more idiosyncratic, far more personal sound of The Hour of Bewilderbeast and About a Boy won him fans in the first place. Even though Gough intended Born in the U.K. for a wider audience, its likely that only the most devoted Badly Drawn Boy fans will enjoy -- or have the patience for -- the attempts at epics here. His voice and songwriting are so engaging that they dont need to be propped up by impressive-seeming arrangements. As with Have You Fed the Fish? and One Plus One Is One, Born in the U.K. is at its best when Gough shares something personal, instead of writing for an audience of "everybody" that doesnt actually exist. | ||
 | Album: 11 of 13 Title: Is There Nothing We Could Do? Released: 2009-12-14 Tracks: 15 Duration: 42:18 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Opening Theme (01:54) 2 Is There Nothing We Could Do? (03:37) 3 A Gentle Touch (00:27) 4 All the Trimmings (02:11) 5 Welcome Me to Your World (03:41) 6 Guitar Medley (03:30) 7 Is There Nothing We Could Do? (reprise) (03:47) 8 Big Brian Arrives (02:28) 9 Amy in the Garden (01:03) 10 Been There, Verified (01:27) 11 Just Look at Us Now? (03:32) 12 Wider Than a Smile (05:06) 13 Piano Theme (02:26) 14 The Letter (03:05) 15 Ill Carry On (03:57) |
| Is There Nothing We Could Do? : Allmusic album Review : Following the huge success of his About a Boy soundtrack, the music scenes most notable beanie-hat wearer, Badly Drawn Boy, returns to score another British comedy-drama in his own unique restrained manner. While the Hugh Grant-starring adaptation of the Nick Hornby novel showcased his graceful and melodic indie pop on the big screen, Is There Nothing We Could Do? is strictly for the small screen, allowing Damon Goughs hushed tones, subdued instrumentation, and melancholic lyrical themes to appear even more understated than usual. Accompanying ITV1s The Fattest Man in the World, a Caroline Aherne-penned dramatization of a housebound fifty-something struggling with his record-breaking weight, its 15 tracks arent as fully formed as his more conventional LPs, with the likes of simple acoustic strum "A Gentle Touch" and somber, classical, piano-led "Army in the Garden" nothing more than brief incidental pieces. Indeed, there are only six songs on which Gough lends his vocals, one of which, the title track, appears twice, both in its stripped-back original form and string-soaked reprise. Elsewhere, "Wider Than a Smile" picks up the pace slightly with some skittering military rhythms underpinning its sad gentle piano lines and stirring cinematic strings, "Welcome to Your World" starts out as a maudlin torch song before bursting into an uplifting slice of Divine Comedy-esque Baroque pop, while closing number "Ill Carry On" is a beautifully fragile ballad which perfectly complements the heart-rending subject matter of the shows most emotional scene. Despite its lack of verse/bridge/chorus structures, the whole album hangs together surprisingly well, thanks to several instrumentals interspersed with lines of dialogue, such as "All the Trimmings," which fuses subtle brass riffs and twinkling chords with Georgie Godwins (Timothy Spall) eye-watering account of his super-sized breakfast order, and the minimal ambience of "The Letter," where Amys (Aisling Loftus) poignant final speech is unlikely to leave a dry eye in the house. The first release on his own BDB label, Is There Nothing We Could Do? proves that although his star may have waned since his Mercury Music Prize-winning glory days, Badly Drawn Boys ability to create the perfect low-key soundtrack hasnt. | ||
 | Album: 12 of 13 Title: It’s What I’m Thinking, Part One: Photographing Snowflakes Released: 2010-10-04 Tracks: 11 Duration: 1:04:06 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 In Safe Hands (04:01) 2 The Order of Things (05:13) 3 Too Many Miracles (03:44) 4 What Tomorrow Brings (03:44) 5 I Saw You Walk Away (05:29) 6 It’s What I’m Thinking (06:26) 7 You Lied (03:05) 8 A Pure Accident (03:53) 9 This Electric (04:18) 10 This Beautiful Idea (04:41) 1 Oxidising Hexagons Silver Iodide (Album Re-Dux / Sound Collage) (19:32) |
 | Album: 13 of 13 Title: Being Flynn Released: 2012-03-26 Tracks: 15 Duration: 40:36 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 Ill Keep the Things You Throw Away (03:50) 2 Asleep at the Wheel (01:24) 3 Harbor Street Check-In (01:57) 4 If Its Too Late (03:47) 5 Last Day (03:13) 6 The Smile Behind Your Face (04:34) 7 Priest Rant (01:08) 8 Coming to Your Senses (03:46) 9 Sell My Blood (01:35) 10 The Space Between My Ears (03:46) 11 Jonathan Goes to Work (01:06) 12 Letter, Mirror (01:37) 13 Another Day, Another Night (03:57) 14 Letter to the President (01:28) 15 Let It Rain (03:28) |