| The Hour of Bewilderbeast | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 26 June 2000 | |||
| Genre | Indie rock,indie folk,chamber pop | |||
| Length | 63:25 | |||
| Label | XL,Twisted Nerve | |||
| Producer | Badly Drawn Boy, Gary Wilkinson, Joe Robinson,Ken Nelson | |||
| Badly Drawn Boy chronology | ||||
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| Singles from The Hour of Bewilderbeast | ||||
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The Hour of Bewilderbeast is the debut studio album by British musicianBadly Drawn Boy, released on 26 June 2000. Damon Gough, who performs as Badly Drawn Boy, wrote, produced, and played several instruments on the album's eighteen tracks, several of which also feature accompaniment by members of the Britishindie rock bandsAlfie andDoves.The Hour of Bewilderbeast was released to great critical acclaim and went on to win the 2000Mercury Prize,[1] and had sold 455,000 copies in the United Kingdom as of September 2011.[2]
The cover art, designed byAndy Votel, is a collage loosely based onLeonardo da Vinci's drawingVitruvian Man. For the American release of the album, the album's cover was altered to remove a photograph of American actor and directorWoody Allen, which was unauthorized by the copyright owners of the photograph.[3] In addition, the song "Magic in the Air" was re-recorded with new instrumental parts to replace a section of the song utilizing lyrics taken from the 1987 song "Love Is Contagious" byR&B singerTaja Sevelle, after Sevelle's publishing companyBMG objected to the use of the lyrics.[3][4]
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 78/100[5] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [6] |
| Entertainment Weekly | A−[7] |
| Los Angeles Times | [8] |
| Mojo |  [9] |
| NME | 7/10[10] |
| Pitchfork | 8.6/10[11] |
| Q | [12] |
| Rolling Stone | [13] |
| Spin | 5/10[14] |
| The Village Voice | A−[15] |
The Hour of Bewilderbeast was met with widespread critical acclaim.[16] On the review aggregate siteMetacritic, the album holds a score of 78 out of 100, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[5] Michael Hubbard ofMusicOMH felt that the album "deserves to do well for many more reasons than the act's name, excellent though it is", and that "a surprise is set loose with every track".[17] Calling the album a "concise tour through the gentler side of British songwriting history", Brent DiCrescenzo ofPitchfork wrote that the varied instrumentation "[attaches] insect wings to the lovely songs" and concluded that withThe Hour of Bewilderbeast, "Badly Drawn Boy proves what shallow saps American liberal arts majors can be behind a guitar."[11]AllMusic's John Bush stated that Gough had written and produced "over a dozen excellent songs of baroque folk-pop for his album debut, and the many gems can't help but shine through all the self-indulgence", highlighting Gough's use of humour in his lyrics.[6]
Alternative Press stated thatThe Hour of Bewilderbeast gives "as full a portrait as possible of Gough's musical and personal life,"[18] whileDavid Browne, writing inEntertainment Weekly, called the album an "intimate hour that's far from bewildering."[7] Pat Blashill ofRolling Stone compared Gough toElliott Smith andNick Drake and wrote that "like Drake, he's mastered the art of evoking melancholy without slathering on too much sentimentality."[13]Robert Hilburn of theLos Angeles Times drew similar comparisons to Drake, while noting that Gough "never succumbs to Drake's sad solipsism, though, favoring an expansive reach emotionally and musically."[8] In a more mixed assessment,Spin'sBarney Hoskyns wrote that "Gough's dewy little tunes are mere scribblings in the margins of alt-folk's dog-eared hook-book, while his too-cool-to-care singing is drip-dry dreary" and thatThe Hour of Bewilderbeast, when compared to Elliott Smith'sFigure 8, makes Gough "look like an imposter."[14]
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 2000Mercury 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]
The album was also listed in the book1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[22]
All music is composed by Badly Drawn Boy (Damon Gough).
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "The Shining" | 5:18 |
| 2. | "Everybody's Stalking" | 3:39 |
| 3. | "Bewilder" | 0:48 |
| 4. | "Fall in a River" | 2:17 |
| 5. | "Camping Next to Water" | 3:50 |
| 6. | "Stone on the Water" | 3:58 |
| 7. | "Another Pearl" | 4:27 |
| 8. | "Body Rap" | 0:45 |
| 9. | "Once Around the Block" | 3:44 |
| 10. | "This Song" | 1:32 |
| 11. | "Bewilderbeast" | 3:30 |
| 12. | "Magic in the Air" | 3:43 |
| 13. | "Cause a Rockslide" | 5:55 |
| 14. | "Pissing in the Wind" | 4:19 |
| 15. | "Blistered Heart" | 1:50 |
| 16. | "Disillusion" | 5:19 |
| 17. | "Say It Again" | 4:41 |
| 18. | "Epitaph" | 3:50 |
Credits forThe Hour of Bewilderbeast adapted from album liner notes.[23]
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Weekly charts[edit]
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On 7 OctoberNew Musical Express noted: 'Badly Drawn Boy aka Damon Gough has been forced to release a new pressing of his debut album,The Hour of the Bewilderbeast, after major publishing company BMG objected to the use of a lyrics from Taja Sevelle's 1987 hit "Love is Contagious"... The Mercury Prize winner has also changed the artwork on...Bewilderbeast for its American release. The cover – a collage by Gough himself, including a picture of Woody Allen – used images without the copyright owners' prior consent'
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