Disillusioning (The Hour Of Bewilderbeast - Badly Drawn Boy)

Member Name: SkyscraperFanClu

Product:	The Hour Of Bewilderbeast - Badly Drawn Boy
Date:	15/04/09 (6 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Aparently it sounds very good to music critics

Disadvantages: Mind - numbingly dull, vastly overrated .

It's difficult to pinpoint exactly why 'The Hour Of Bewilderbeast' has received the high critical acclaim that it has. This is not a work of astonishing originality or extraordinary accomplishment, far from it. This album is very middle-of-the-road, unadventurous and unexciting.
Many people have praised the album from its' genre-skipping nature but closer inspection reveals this to be neither as impressive nor as interesting as it might have been. His movement is not genre-defying leaps between polar opposites in the musical world, rather he stays firmly within the restrictions of what can best be described as largely acoustic, especially guitar-based sounds. However if a unifying link can be drawn between each track on this album it would be that they all sound very dated.

Other artists have crossed genre barriers with far greater ambition and success than Badly Drawn Boy does here. Take Moby's 'Everything Is Wrong', an album which brings together hard dance, punk rock and ambience. This is a true transition of vastly different genre. Badly Drawn Boy, in contrast, shuffles his way between different combinations of similar-sounding acoustic instruments. There is not a single track on this album that would make you sit up and take notice - it is almost entirely forgettable.
Take 'Blistered Heart', for example. This does not sound like a song from an award-winning album, it sounds like a half-assed b-side from a little known '60s band. The track plods along very slowly, with the melody failing to progress in any way whatsoever before the whole thing peters out. With a more adventurous beat or some spooky vocals this could be an interesating track - as it is, it's dull and uninteresting. The same is true of other instruments lime 'Fall In A River'.

More upbeat tracks like 'Disillusion' demonstrate Badly Drawn Boys' ease of transition between various sub-genre. It's a shame that this otherwise chirpy, vaguely Santana-esque song is spoiled by some very predictable lyrics and his monotonous singing voce. It is the same problem that makes 'Epitaph' dull to the point of unlistenable. Low-key, quiet and depressing songs are all well and good but they require a sense of purpose and meaning. Badly Drawn Boy's efforts do not.
The album continues in pretty much the same vein throughout - one more dreary guitar riff and monotone lyric after another - 'Everybody Stalking' springs to mind, a song devoid of any relevant meaning, any energy, any emotion. You can't help but expect each song to suddenly transform from their unimaginative introductions into something more impressive, yet each fails to do so. Listening to this album is a totally unrewarding experience.

It's a disillusioning thought that an album as dull and unoriginal could pick up the Mercury Music Award which has previously recognised the innovative work of such artists as Leftfield. It's time the music establishment paid more attention to truly groundbreaking artists, instead of such repetitive and frankly boring albums as this.

Summary: Disillusioning