Have You Fed The Fish? - Badly Drawn Boy

Having had quite a heavy night on Saturday night I woke up on Sunday needing to put something on musically to snap me out of my drunken haze. Often I, like many others I imagine, reach for something fairly mellow as although I don’t get hangovers I still don’t really feel like doing anything if it has been a big night. So delving into the CD collection I decided to pick out Badly Drawn Boys (BDB from here on) third album “Have You Fed The Fish”. Now for anyone who isn’t aware of who BDB is or what he’s about then read on. Badly Drawn Boy aka Damon Gough is a British singer songwriter who played most of the instruments on his ...

Badly Drawn Boy first came to wide public attention when his album 'The Hour of the Bewildebeest' won the Mercury Music Award and the single from that album, 'Once More Around the Block', was used on just about every TV programme at the time. Damon Gough, the man who is BDB, must have almost suffocated under the avalanche of praise that deservedly was heaped upon him. Next came the soundtrack to 'About a Boy', and this month saw the release of his latest album, 'Have You Fed the Fish?' The title alone (and that of the first album) should tell you that a unique and slightly quirky (I HATE that word) mind is at work behind the ...

Good things come in threes. Or is it twos? Or is that police officers? Whatever it is, this is Badly Drawn Boy's third album. Or second, if you're counting 'About A Boy' (2002, XL Recordings) as a soundtrack. But this album is much more like 'Hour of Bewilderbeast' (1999). For instance, where About A Boy had the tracks written for scenes in the film, there was somewhat a limitation to what could be done. That album also had a lot of instrumental tracks. With Have You Fed The Fish? we go back to a more traditional Badly Drawn Boy (or Damon Gough as he is really called). Nearly all of the songs have vocals. Whilst this album is hardly ...