The Hour Of Bewilderbeast

Product Information

The Mercury Music Prize-winning album was released in 2000 and was Damon Michael Gough’s debut after a few years of putting out EPs. The album was a commercial success, going platinum in the UK and delivering three top 30 singles. Robert Dimery; Michael Lydon (23 March 2010). 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die: Revised and Updated Edition. Universe. ISBN 978-0-7893-2074-2.

The trio released their debut album, which included The Cedar Room, Here It Comes and Catch The Sun. Christgau, Robert (13 February 2001). "Pazz & Jop Preview". The Village Voice . Retrieved 22 July 2011.Polly Jean's fifth album included Good Fortune and This Is Love and won the 2011 Mercury Music Prize. Coldplay’s hooks are slight,” went the verdict on those future world conquerors. “These indistinct London lads might as well be Canadian….” Meanwhile, Lost Souls “offers more substance,” while The Hour of Bewilderbeast “…putters here and there across 18 ditties and doodles gracefully arranged, but played with two left feet and recorded to match.” Having put up with anticlimactic antics like Oasis spitting on stage at the MTV Video Music Awards in ‘96 and then delivering the bloated Be Here Now the next year, such skepticism on the part of American media was understandable, but in this case there was no need to be so preemptively wary. Badly Drawn Boy The Hour of Bewilderbeast, XL Recordings 2000

Exceptional composition An artist that has never come up on my radar, with an album of songs I don’t recognise. This is why I love the 1001 Album challenge (if you want to call it that). It’s allegedly one of the best albums ever created, and I’m going in clueless but optimistic - I like the album art. The Gallaghers' fourth album was their first on their own Big Brother label included Go Let It Out, Sunday Morning Call and Who Feels Love?Manchester-area musician Damon Gough, he who is Badly Drawn Boy, counted Doves and Coldplay as pals, even as the three were put in direct competition throughout 2000 for UK music industry honors like the Mercury Music Prize and the Q Awards (where they all faced off in two different categories). Something of a compromise was made at the Q Awards, as Parachutes took home Best Album and Badly Drawn Boy was deemed the Best New Act, but the Mercury Prize only goes to one winner, and that year it was The Hour of Bewilderbeast . At that ceremony, when Gough strolled up to the stage cigarette-in-hand to accept his trophy, some of his first words were shout-outs to Coldplay and Doves. Another infamous meltdown was at a festival in Northampton when Gough joked: “I don’t think I’ve been to Northampton before… I’m sure I’d remember because it’s a shithole.” A woman in the audience took exception to this and the row ended with Gough throwing a tambourine at her. He’s at pains now to explain he always instantly regretted these incidents. My music is heartfelt and emotional. I’m a rollercoaster type of person. I drove myself to do music because I didn’t want a normal life. I envy people who can just enjoy a ‘normal’ life. I love people and I love life, but I struggle with it, and music has saved me in a lot of ways. When I create a new song, it gives me such a sense of achievement.”

The Hour of Bewilderbeast appeared on several year-end lists. Pitchfork ranked the album at number 18 on its list of the top 20 albums of 2000. [19] NME ranked the album at number 4 on its list of the 50 best albums of 2000. [20] In addition, the album received the 2000 Mercury Prize, a prize Gough was favoured to win. When Gough received the prize, he tossed the prize money on the ground and said: "I always assumed I was never going to win because good things don't happen to good people normally." [21] Badly Drawn Boy (Damon Gough) – vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, piano, lead guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, drum machine, tambourine, handclaps, whistling, slide guitar, harmonica, Wurlitzer electric piano, lead keyboards, organ solo, drum machine organs, percussion, crash cymbal, vibraphone, xylophone, harp, string arrangement, sound effects a b DiCrescenzo, Brent (30 September 2000). "Badly Drawn Boy: The Hour of Bewilderbeast". Pitchfork . Retrieved 22 July 2011. Even today he refuses to take it off to show me what’s underneath, “But I’m not Darth Vader or anything…”a b Hochman, Steve (29 September 2000). "Badly Drawn Boy Charms With Understated Folk". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 3 October 2015 . Retrieved 19 October 2015. The Hour Of Bewilderbeast is an unrepeatable success story. We know this partially because Gough has never come close to repeating it. No subsequent Badly Drawn Boy release has recaptured its oddball mystique and homespun charm. Each one has fallen short of its impact and acclaim, too — though to be fair, he set a pretty high bar for himself by winning the Mercury Music Prize on his first try. That’s another aspect of the album that feels impossible to recreate: Would such an unpolished, willfully discursive collection with such humble stakes even have a shot at being honored as Britain’s album of the year anymore? Compared to its predecessors in Mercury Prize glory — a sleek and zeitgeisty cross-section of ’90s event albums from the likes of Primal Scream, Suede, Portishead, Pulp, and Roni Size — it’s remarkable that Gough even snagged a nomination, let alone took home the trophy. When Gough and I first met, he was 27 and I was working at Manchester’s City Life magazine. Badly Drawn Boy was still just a rough sketch. It was 1997, three years before Bewilderbeast, and he rang me up one afternoon out of the blue. “Is that Luke?” a faltering voice said. “My name’s Damon and I’ve started a record label with a friend of mine and we’re putting out my first EP and a mutual friend of ours said you might be able to help me…”