Review by LarryG
4 stars out of 4
Badly Drawn Boy's The Hour Of Bewilderbeast was one of the best
releases of 2000. Bewilderbeast is ambitious and quirky but also
consistently enjoyable and melodic for its entire hour. Badly Drawn
Boy is often categorized with Travis and Coldplay, bands who have
replaced Oasis and Blur at the top of British charts, showing a
familiarity with edgier new wave but making tasteful, almost easy
listening music. Damon Gough, the man behing Badly Drawn Boy, shares a
polite facade and unassuming, self doubting persona with the
post-Britpop stars but he makes far more challenging music than his
smoother, more popular contemporaries. It's appropriate to compare
Gough's work with the best more complicated, slower late era Beatle
songs. Another natural comparison is with Elliott Smith. But while
both often present themselves as pessimistic and make fairly lo-fi
music, Gough's music is more enjoyable and less guarded.
Hour of Bewilderbeast's sound is simple and quiet. It's often
little more than Gough's guitar and/or piano. Yet Gough creates
interesting and varied sounds. The CD foreshadows its ambition with an
elegant cello/french horn introduction. Then on The Shining, Gough
modestly sings about "dying to put a little sunshine" in the life of
someone who had previously shined for him. Everybody's Stalking, with
its edgy mood, psychedelic guitar and heavy bass, could almost be an
Alice In Chains unplugged number if not for Gough's unassuming vocals
and lines like "I don't want to alienate you, you've got as long as it
might take you." As stalkers go, Gough seems polite and respectful.
Bewilderbeast has a number of pop gems like Camping Next To Water,
which reminds me of great introspective pop rock like the
Replacements' Sixteen Blue and Swinging Party. Delicate guitar from
Gough and drums from Ian Smith create a poignant mood and also keep
the song moving forward as Gough feels sorry for himself: "there's no
use in feeling all the things I'm feeling, there's no one here to feel
with me." Stone On The Water is an Elliott Smith type thoughtful song
that's quiet but gets a good edgy feel from a mix of guitar, keyboards
and string effects. Another Pearl, with a solid beat and cocky guitar
and keyboard lines, is a tight rocker. Gough does well with fairly
basic folk pop. On Pissing In The Wind, one of the songs with help
from the good British pop band The Doves, he sounds like Roddy Frame,
Aztec Camera's sincere singer/songwriter. The song starts basically
with Gough's voice but builds with a joyful piano as Gough's dares to
hope of "a love which dangles free, let's watch it swim against the
water's flow." Hour of Bewilderbeast has a positive, natural feel.
Gough comes across as a nice, innocent young man. He's very sweet,
singing along with his piano on Magic In The Air. He celebrates a
night of laughs and tears, proclaims that nothing in this life ever
seemed so bright and concludes love is alright.
Gough's seems to be a fan of Cat Stevens/Al Stewart/Van Morrison
type mellow 70's pop. But one of the pleasures of Hour Of Wilderbeast
is that Gough makes each song distinctive, mixing in a range of sounds
and pop music styles and working well in each style. Disillusion, with
strings, a fuzzy guitar and fun wurlitzer piano, has the breezy feel
of 70's disco inflected pop. This Song, with just Gough's voice and
acoustic, filtered and reverbed, has the good, low budget feel of a
Guided By Voices song. Like Beck, Gough likes to muss up his sound and
throws aural collages between some of his songs. But Bewilderbeast
isn't about showing off Gough's musical genius. It's mostly just a
bunch of good pop songs. The instrumentals only make up a few minutes
of the CD. But they fit with the general feel of trying different
things and work with the rest of the songs. The CD's title track, with
strings, xylophone and handclaps has a beauty and a nice, relaxed
flow. The short beat experiment Body Rap easily flows into the sunny
Once Around The Block which gets a loose, goofy charm from an
undulating guitar effect and doobie-doo-wah backing vocals. With his
pleasant, unshowy voice and his searching, spiritual songs, Badly
Drawn Boy sounds a little like early George Harrison on Once Around
The Block and a few other songs.
Bewilderbeast is filled with very listenable and inventive music.
Gough's ability to maintain a high level of quality is very
impressive. The Hour of Bewilderbeast's depth and consistency reminds
me of Magnetic Fields' acclaimed 69 Love Songs CD but I find the
quality of the songs even higher on Bewilderbeast. The Hour Of
Bewilderbeast deservedly won the Mercury Prize as Britain's best CD of
the year. It's a great record. Throughout the CD, Gough keeps the
music interesting and keeps it good.
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