About A Boy

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Binding: Audio CD EAN: 0634904015220 Format: Soundtrack Label: Twisted Nerve Manufacturer: Twisted Nerve Number Of Discs: 1 Publisher: Twisted Nerve Release Date: 2002-04-08 Studio: Twisted Nerve
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Editorial Reviews: For a man frequently stereotyped as shambolic and perverse, Badly Drawn Boy moves with unusual grace. On About A Boy, he pulls off something truly rare--a coherent soundtrack album, and one that's much more than a mere adjunct to the Nick Hornby/Hugh Grant masculinity-in-crisis blockbuster. Of 16 tracks, seven are instrumental passages that mostly realise Damon Gough's penchant for pretty orchestral reveries. The other nine, meanwhile, are fully formed new Badly Drawn Boy songs, rarely straying far from the templates set on The Hour Of The Bewilderbeast. Raw materials remain loose, circling, faintly jazzy strums and broken-backed pianos, topped with those airy vocals that err just on the right side of distracted. But Damon Gough's gift is to conjure up an air of innocence, however disingenuous that may be, and make his way with a melody seem uncommonly fresh. So "Above You, Below Me" transcends its rickety, waltzing similarity to "Once Around The Block", while the outstanding "Something To Talk About" is like "Pissing In The Wind" reshaped by Elliott Smith (no coincidence that Smith cohort Tom Rothrock coproduces here). There's even a lovely Christmas song, "Donna & Blitzen", to round things off. The old quibbles about musicians tossing away good songs on soon-forgotten soundtracks seem irrelevant. Best treat About A Boy as a proper album--Damon Gough certainly did. --John Mulvey
Spotlight customer reviews: Customer Rating: Summary: beautiful Comment: fits the film pefectly, its better than any other soundtrack as it stands alone as a great album without ever seeing the film. stunning and meloncholy (think thats how you spell it anyway) Customer Rating: Summary: My favourite album of all time Comment: It was about 18 months ago that I discovered Badly Drawn Boy and I love them. My two-year-old son loves this album and I think it is because I used to play it every day when he was a baby. Perhaps he will grow up with fond memories of Badly Drawn Boy as I did of The Carpenters and Abba! I think Badly Drawn Boy are extremely talented as shown by the diversity of their music in all their albums. I love this album because it is sentimental and so easy on the ear. I love the other albums for different reasons. Customer Rating: Summary: A Silent Sigh of Pure Joy Comment: An artist as magically melodic as BDB has rarely, if ever graced this planet we call home. After 17 seconds (The length of the first track, 'Exit Stage Right') Damon has me and I'm sure many others engrossed in the beauty of a contempary mind working with contempary instruments. But, I spoke too soon it is a seamless blend of contempary art with modern magic to which no words can do justice. A superb soundtrack, easily the best I have ever heard, is served to us by a Mancunian who has been described as having 'shambolic' stage manners. Seven of sixteen tracks on this album are instrumental, the best of which are the fore mentioned opening track and the eight, namely 'I Love NYE'. But as for the other nine well I do not know any amount of words that could do them justice. One only has to hear the first chord of 'A Minor Incident', or the first line of 'Silent Sigh', and one will be forced to tell the others to 'Come see what they all talk about'. Customer Rating: Summary: If you want something to talk about then purchase!!! Comment: just fantastic! both the film and the soundtrack could be played, watched and listened to again and again. badly drawn boy was the perfect artist for this film and hugh grant has never been better! Customer Rating: Summary: Solid if samey Comment: Badly Drawn Boy here achieves just about as much as is possible while writing the soundtrack for a film. The music is often simple and light, almost childlike and infinitely playful. These are songs to sing along to, and songs you feel were fun to make. The music is almost invariably melodic, and some songs are unexpectedly touching (Something to Talk About, River-Sea-Ocean). And yet, while they sit beautifully with the action of a very, very funny film, I don't feel they quite mangae to stand alone. Minutes can pass without lyrics, which makes you wonder if you're missing half of the picture. Meanwhile the recurring themes and motifs which are essential in a film soundtrack can begin to be irritatingly repetitive, making many songs less memorable and individual. All in all, an album that is easy to listen to and inoffensive on the ears, but not one that really struck a chord. More Reviews