Norman Cook's third album under the Fatboy Slim moniker included Weapon Of Choice and Sunset (Bird Of Prey). Hubbard, Michael (26 June 2000). "Badly Drawn Boy – The Hour Of Bewilderbeast". musicOMH . Retrieved 22 July 2011. From the haunting string and muted brass opening to The Shining, you can tell that The Hour Of Bewilderbeast is no ordinary album, Experimental and occasionally schizophrenic in its song composition, it is charming, beguiling, lo-fi, folk-psychedelic slash indie musings at its best.

Tope, Frank (August 2000). "Badly Drawn Boy: The Hour of Bewilderbeast". Q (167). Archived from the original on 5 December 2000 . Retrieved 30 August 2018. Even today he refuses to take it off to show me what’s underneath, “But I’m not Darth Vader or anything…” 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. Stone On The Water is simply beautiful, building from a soft, slightly mournful, acoustic beginning, to a tap-your-feel tune, which if anything ends slightly too soon. Straight on its heels is Another Pearl, with a fuller, more electric sound, and then the strange little music snippet Body Rap. If those musical changes don’t keep you intrigued, nothing will. Indie music is littered with obviously brilliant artists who undermined their own success with an overly ambitious approach. This phenomenon was especially common with albums from the indie boom of the early-21st century, when a "hipster mentality" transformed dozens of likely classics into semi-frustrating relics of their era. Although he was far less weird than many of his contemporaries, England's Badly Drawn Boy began his career within this paradigm. In fact, The Hour of Bewilderbeast is among the best examples of a potential indie pop classic that nearly collapses under its own weight. I'm still willing to classify it as one of the most significant indie debuts of its generation, and I can understand why it was a critical darling at the time of its release, but it has to be one of the most flawed records to receive that level of critical praise. Essential listening for anyone who's interested in early-21st century indie pop, even if most listeners are bound to be confused by a decent chunk of the album.Six years before, Britpop itself was crystalizing, with Blur’s Parklife and Pulp’s His ‘n’ Hers coming out right as Oasis went on their brash run of first singles leading up to Definitely Maybe . As summer arrived in 2000, Doves had just released their debut album, Lost Souls , Travis were promoted to the Pyramid stage at the Glastonbury Festival after a celebrated set on the Other stage the previous year, and both Coldplay and Badly Drawn Boy were about to put out their first full-lengths as well. The moment was propitious for sober, self-reflective guitar slingers. But, I say, that only really works if you’re Mark E Smith, doesn’t it? Badly Drawn Boy’s music had reached a more mainstream audience… “You’ve got to the crux of it there,” he says. “I’ve always battled against that. I gained an audience from Bewilderbeast, and then after About a Boy, lots of couples starting coming to the gigs.” 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. 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…”

That was four years ago—16 years after the album’s release. Since that sunburst intro, I felt compelled to study the whole of Gough’s catalog. In a discography rich with treasures along the lines of Sam Beam/Iron & Wine, I still consider “The Shining” to be his most resplendent (although “In Safe Hands” from It's What I'm Thinking (Part One Photographing Snowflakes) undoes me in equal measure) in part because it sets in motion an unlikely masterpiece. 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 The fourth album from the band was the follow-up to the classic OK Computer and included Everything In Its Right Place, The National Anthem and Idioteque. But what I like most about Badly Drawn Boy is that he seems to treat normality or ordinariness as the construction it is, not by necessarily challenging it in an open way, but by just being who he is, which is, I suppose, about as authentic as you can get. For my sins, I listened to Elliott Smith’s 2000 LP, Figure 8, to get some perspective on this. It wasn’t as bad as I expected, but it did cement the point in my mind. Smith’s tragedy is his unrequited crush on convention, which you can hear in the song structures and the lyrics. Smith always seems to be buying into an ethos he’s not entirely equipped to live with. Where Gough wins through is in his ability to recognize the fallacy of convention, and to dare to flaunt it, but not by wanton provocation.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. 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. a b Browne, David (23 October 2000). "The Hour of Bewilderbeast". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 13 July 2019 . Retrieved 9 February 2015. The Hour of Bewilderbeast (liner notes). Badly Drawn Boy. XL Recordings. 2000. TNXLCD133. {{ cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) ( link) 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?

a b Blashill, Pat (12 October 2000). "Badly Drawn Boy: The Hour Of Bewilderbeast". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 20 April 2001 . Retrieved 9 February 2015.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.

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. Conaton, Chris (21 January 2016). "Badly Drawn Boy: The Hour of Bewilderbeast (15th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)". PopMatters . Retrieved 29 February 2016. 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]Cameron, Keith (23 June 2000). "Badly Drawn Boy – The Hour of Bewilderbeast". NME. Archived from the original on 11 July 2000 . Retrieved 22 July 2011. a b Hoskyns, Barney (December 2000). "Badly Drawn Boy: The Hour of Bewilderbeast". Spin. 16 (12): 28. ISSN 0886-3032 . Retrieved 22 July 2011. 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 Christgau, Robert (13 February 2001). "Pazz & Jop Preview". The Village Voice . Retrieved 22 July 2011.