The Hour of Bewilderbeast is the debut studio album by British musician Badly 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 British indie rock bands Alfie and Doves. The Hour of Bewilderbeast was released to great critical acclaim and went on to win the 2000 Mercury Prize, and had sold 455,000 copies in the United Kingdom as of September 2011.

Release

The cover art, designed by Andy Votel, is a collage loosely based on Leonardo da Vinci's drawing Vitruvian Man. For the American release of the album, the album's cover was altered to remove a photograph of American actor and director Woody Allen, which was unauthorized by the copyright owners of the photograph. 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" by R&B singer Taja Sevelle, after Sevelle's publishing company BMG objected to the use of the lyrics.

Reception and legacy

The Hour of Bewilderbeast was met with widespread critical acclaim. On the review aggregate site Metacritic, the album holds a score of 78 out of 100, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Calling the album a "concise tour through the gentler side of British songwriting history", Brent DiCrescenzo of Pitchfork wrote that the varied instrumentation "[attaches] insect wings to the lovely songs" and concluded that with The Hour of Bewilderbeast, "Badly Drawn Boy proves what shallow saps American liberal arts majors can be behind a guitar." while David Browne, writing in Entertainment Weekly, called the album an "intimate hour that's far from bewildering." NME ranked the album at number 4 on its list of the 50 best albums of 2000. 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."

The album was also listed in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

Track listing

Personnel

Credits for The Hour of Bewilderbeast adapted from album liner notes.

  • Badly Drawn Boy (Damon Gough) – vocals, guitars, bass guitar, keyboards, drum machine, harmonica, percussion, vibraphone, xylophone, harp, string arrangement, sound effects
  • Spencer Birtwhistle – drums
  • Reb Fitzpatrick – drums
  • Adrian Dacre – drums
  • Jimi Goodwin – bass
  • Clare Hewitt – backing vocals
  • Sean Kelly – drums, handclaps
  • Matt McGeever – cello, handclaps
  • Sam Morris – bass, keyboards, French horn, handclaps
  • Northern New Orleans Brass Band – horns
  • Ian Rainford – handclaps
  • Martin Rebelski – Wurlitzer electric piano, clavinet, keyboards
  • Joe Robinson – drum programming, loops, theremin, effects, sound effects
  • Derrick Santini – handclaps
  • Ian Smith – drums, electric guitar, percussion, vibraphone, handclaps
  • Paul Taylor – string arrangements
  • Andy Votel – drum programming, effects, piano, keyboards, strings samples, samples
  • Matt Wardle – piano, organ, synthesizer, keyboards, vocals
  • Gary Wilkinson – keyboards, drum programming, sirens, noises
  • Andy Williams – drums
  • Jez Williams – electric guitar, slide guitar
  • Sophie Williams – handclaps

Charts

Weekly charts

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Year-end charts

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References

  • Official website for Badly Drawn Boy