Customer Reviews

Have You Fed the Fish

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I picked up this album the day it came out, after hearing one of Badly Drawn Boy's songs on a college radio station a week and a half prior. I hadn't heard anything by him in the past. It turns out the song I heard was "You Were Right," which was a premonition. It is good and right to pick up this album -- you will call it your best move. At the very least, it's a very satisfying listen. The lyrics are ... witty, and the music is varied. Check out BDB's borrowing of Marvin Gaye's Sexual Healing rhythm parts on "The Further I Slide," or the funky superfly bassline on "Using Our Feet." Then there's "Tickets to What You Need" which sounds like a take off on the Beatles' "Honey Pie."

The overall mood of this thing is light and celebratory, but also sweet in many places towards that special someone. At certain times, it feels a bit unhinged, which is why I can only give it 4 stars. It comes across as slightly unfocused in some places, overly eccentric even, but maybe that's what we're going for here. (Hey, it worked for the White Album, I guess.) It reminds me a of the eclecticism on the Super Furry Animals' most recent release.

Also, I know BDB's real name is Damon Gough, but any relation to Robyn Hitchcock? If not, they are certainly related vocally.

It's been a busy year for Damon Gough, releasing two follow ups to his groundbreaking Bewilderbeast.

Have You Fed the Fish sounds like Badly Drawn Boy's struggle to return to the experimental style of Hour of Bewilderbeast while still retaining the poppy sound of About a Boy. Quite frankly, this is exactly what went wrong with the album.

After an intriguing opening, the title track kicks in with something that rivals REO Speedwagon. Is this good? That's a matter of preference, I guess, but then again, I choose not to own any REO Speedwagon records. 40 Days and 40 Fights is like a Troma film- It's entertaining... sorta. The second to last track What Is It Now is possibly the blandest song to be on a BDB full length.

However, some of the album's highlights are simply incredible tracks. The two punch of I Was Wrong and You Were Right will be the first to catch anyone's ear, particularly with it's American Pie-ish lyrics which I won't reveal here. Centre Piece provides an instrumental that's too good to be passed off as filler. How?'s constant tempo change takes some getting used to, but it is worth it; and the closing track Bedside Story may possibly be the best last song on any LP period.

Personally, I really tried to find this to be a great album; the proper follow-up to Bewilderbeast. With each listening, I liked the good songs more and more, but hated the bad ones even greater. My final verdict was determined when, after listening to Fish, I popped in Hour of Bewilderbeast and realized that Fish just doesn't simply compare to the brilliance of Badly Drawn Boy's 2000 full length debut.

After reading some of the rather negative reveiws on this product I thought I may put the record straight.

This album is absolutly fantastic. You probably will have heard the singles from this album like "Born Again" & "You Were Right". These songs reflect the general feel of the album.

People looking for a straight forward pop, indie or rock album probably won't be impressed. With badly drawn boy you buy the album expecting the unexpected. The slightly weird lyrics, collection of instruments and general aura of the songs is what makes this special. Afterall when you buy an album with the title "Have You Fed The Fish?" do you expect something ordinary?

Many of the songs on the album are happy and cheery in the badly drawn boy mellow way. In all the album is well put together and well worth a listen if your prepared to open your mind.

DON'T buy this album if your looking for straight forward pop, indie or rock.

DO buy this album if you are prepared to open your mind and enjoy this mans musical genius.

If Damon Gough had released this as his first album, critics and fans alike would be proclaiming him the next superstar of heartfelt, melodic rock/pop. Instead, this came out after the genre-bending Hour of Bewilderbeast and thus it is prone to comparisons and ultimately feelings of being let down by certain fans. Taking a step back and looking at this album on its own (which we should all be doing), it is quite simply an amazing piece of work. What's that? You say that comparisons are inevitable and must be made? Okay, fair enough. Then go ahead and compare this to 99.9% of the other [stuff] floating around out there and you're once again back to realizing just how wonderful this is. Melodic, moving, emotional, surreal...it exceeded my very high expectations. Now my only disappointment is that he doesn't release an album every month of the year. Do what you can to find some of his live recordings (bootleg). He usually boils everything down to its bare minimum with just him on acoustic guitar or piano, and that is where his genius shines through.

After listening this album, I was stuck. What should I listen to next? I looked through my collection, trying to find something that would match up, with the last song from "Have you fed the fish" still chiming away in my mind. I could find nothing that seemed to match it. Finally I settled on "Sgt. Peppers" and then "Magical Mystery Tour". That should give you an idea about the quality of this album. This, simply put, is the best album of the year. This year, last year, it doesn't matter. It's amazing. From the slightly off-kilter pop of the opening (and title) track, through the pop-perfection of "You were right" to the brooding and building closer "Bedtime story" this album will constantly surprise with its paradoxical ability to be both eclectic and constant at the same time. The constant is the quality of the songs, while the range of instruments and styles employed gives it variety. The lyrics don`t take second place to the music either, and their are some truly brilliant lyrical moments. Many have used the Beatles as a reference point, and they're not wrong, in that listening to this album possibly gives you the same rush as what hearing "Revolver" for the first time decades ago may have been like. Perfect pop.

.... and it is awesome. So complex - so many layers... get caught up in the hard-strumming guitar, then the wa-wa, only to be led to the flute (is that a flute, or the 'flute' button on the keyboard?), and then to a horns section!! meanwhile all other layers remain at a constant, thick base. The melodies are sing-along-able, while the lyrics are a bit more surprising - you'll catch yourself doing the "errr... laa a laaa aa - no one else sees you my way. ooooh, your ... gaaa a aa laaa laa" and laugh or keep on trying.

I have my observation:
I hear daring moves, licks, and changes found most often in punk music. I hear wa-was in great use, while a bit subtler than in the 70's - a nice choice. I hear keyboards that classic rock could only dream of...

speaking of which, the reviewer above (the Editorial Review by Amazon.com) suggests that this album signifies "a classic rock idol in the making." I disagree. It is true that Damon Gough was especially keen to those aspects of what make good classic rock good and how to employ those aspects in his expression. He brings those elements from classic rock which make sense into a quite different set of elements that no one else ever really thought of.

I think this album signifies a master of all trades, no jack of nuthin. Gough exhibits an understanding of what sounds we want to hear and in what capacity, what translation and from what orator: the keyboards, the horns, the flute, the drums, the beat, the whole, the song...

Where it sometimes strays is in its melodies... barely a criticism: it is surprising sometimes to a point where it seems for one purpose (only once or twice), and that is to throw us off - with surprise of mastery of whatever instrument or whatever verse... for any reason at all?

Great album. One to watch and keep collecting.

"I'm treading the border lines and ruining people's lives by giving them what they need" Badly Drawn Boy says it best himself. This cd is what I have been waiting for. It is brilliant beyond belief. This is the first cd that I have bought from BDB and his unique sound is like nothing I have ever heard before but seems to have a little bit of everything that I have ever liked in it as well. Unlike many bands nowadays, neither lyrics or music steals the show but they are both amazing on their own. Another brilliant quality is the way the cd is put together. It flows seamlessly from song to song and in and out of melodies. Each song is unique but they are all tied together and even share some of the same music. You can really get the feeling that this is a record not a mish-mash of songs. Bottom line: Buy it, listen to it, and you will love it.

"I want to surprise myself," sings Damon Gough on the title track to alter ego Badly Drawn Boy's second full-length release. The surprise is that Gough has grown still more schizophrenic, delivering full-on power-psych-pop songs, ("Born Again") Marvin Gaye-style soul, ("The Further I Slide") horn-powered half-ska, ("All Possibilities") and Abbey Road time changers ("Tickets to What You Need," "How") comfortably between the band's usual fare of playful mid-tempo rockers and solemn indie-folk.

"I remember doing nothing on the night Sinatra died / and the night Jeff Buckley died / and the night Kurt Cobain died / and the night John Lennon died / I remember I stayed up to watch the news with everyone / and that was a lot of nights / and that was a lot of lives," Gough sings on "You Were Right." Read enough into that and it's not too hard to imagine the need to exhaust so much genre-labeling in dealing with BDB. There's no singular description that quite fits, yet nothing feels wholly forced or out of place either. Instead, "Have You Fed the Fish?" sounds like a brief history of rock summed up in a tight 15-song, 50-minute package. That's not to say BDB takes itself too seriously. "Songs are never quite the answer / just the soundtrack to a life," Gough assures us, asking "how can I give you the answers you need when all I possess is a melody?"

But from clavier to chamberlain to string section and "skateboard," Badly Drawn Boy delivers enough melody to fill a small European country, like France, with a slouch, a white-knit cap and a wry and often comical sense of rock history. Sincerity has never sounded so diverse, and diversity has rarely sounded this good.

I was in a five year relationship that ended in September, perfect timing considering Beck's Sea Changes came out about a week later. So, after I spent a good month wallowing in self pity and listening to Beck over and over again, I was finally ready to start moving on and rejoin the real world.
This album, (BDB's best effort to date in my opinion) proved to be a vital part of the solution. While Beck's album deals with the past and present, the themes on this album tend to look towards the future. Sure, Damon Gough sings "So now that life will never be the same, we've got to face the thought of loneliness again...BUT...you know we'll be all right."
Yeah, I am probably reading way too much into some of the lyrics on the album, but it really has been uplifting for me. Check it out, it may just be the "ticket to what you need," too.

One of the striking qualities that makes Badly Drawn Boy's "Have You Feed the Fish" one of the best records of 2002 is its unmistakable modesty. It doesn't need to scream loudly to be heard, because the beauty in the music projects itself naturally. I was first introduced to the work of Badly Drawn Boy (who is really the one-man act of Manchester native Damon Gough) through his song "The Shining." At first, the track seemed a bit bland and nondescript, but this slice of folk pop perfection quickly grew on me more after each listen, as I was also drawn by Gough's spoken vocals. Completely intrigued, I had to run out and buy this disc, and I'm so glad I did. Much of "Have You Fed the Fish" is just as good--if not better--than that song, as it offers mellowed guitar pop with smart, self-examining lyrics and occaisonal Beatlesque touches. Definite key tracks are the sweet confections of "You Were Right," "Tickets to What You Need," and the excellent closer "Bedside Story." Like the wool hats Gough often wears, "Have You Fed the Fish" is warm and comfortable. It's a fine disc that will make him a rare talent worth looking out for.