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Badly Drawn Boy
Born In The U.K. | Astralwerks
By
CHRIS PARKER
|
November 13, 2006
BADLY DRAWN BOY, BORN IN THE U.K.
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2.5
Stars
It’s a tug-of-war for Damon Gough between the intimate and the epic. Whereas Badly Drawn Boy’s albums favor tender, baroque folk pop, like a gold-plated Nick Drake, Gough has always experimented with how much to gild the lily. At times the elegant instrumentation of
Born in the U.K.
smothers a good song’s immediacy (“Degrees of Separation,” “Promises”) or feels precious, like late-era E.L.O. (“Welcome to the Overground”). The album’s first half harks back to the grand, piano-driven pop of 2002’s
Have You Fed the Fish?;
the country-tinged “The Way Things Used To Be” and the pretty ballad “Nothing’s Going To Change Your Mind” highlight a second half with more of the warmth that made 2004’s
One Plus One Is One
so enjoyable. The terrific title track is an energetic paean to Gough’s upbringing and cultural legacy. It’s a shame he doesn’t indulge more of his rock impulses, because his ornate mid-tempo predilections tend to water down his natural charisma.
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On the racks: October 17, 2006
Plus the Slits, Sarah McLachlan, and holiday fare.
Kula Shaker
Paisley drips from the notes these British neo-transcendentalists wring from the instruments on their third album, which ends a six-year hiatus.
Coh
As its title suggests, this latest release by Russian-born musician Ivan Pavlov is all about strings.
Tried and true
In a year when every outfit from Smashing Pumpkins to the Police is reuniting, it can be hard to convince people that you never broke up.
Salif Keita
Mali’s most celebrated singer, Salif Keita, has long been a musical shape shifter.
Extended family
Last year, after surviving a deal with RCA and returning to indie Hydra Head, Cave In were voted Best Local Metal Band in the Phoenix /WFNX Best Music Poll. Octave Museum, "Kid Defender" (mp3)
Progressive party
The five members of Fluttr Effect are seated with me on folding chairs in a circle, so anybody walking into the warehouse-like back room of the Berklee College of Music practice space in Allston might assume there’s some kind of rock-and-roll therapy session or AA meeting in progress. Flttr Effect, "Awake" (mp3)
Intergalactic rock
I didn’t really get the Campaign for Real-Time until some time after my lengthy interview with the band. Campaign for Real-Time, "In Your Dreams" (mp3)
Zombi
Zombi’s unwavering momentum has as much to do with house or electro as with heavy metal. Zombi, "Surface to Air Part I" (mp3)
T.A.T.U.
The second CD from this uncloseted teenage Russian duo is as infectious a girl-group outing as anyone has had in the past 25 years.
Never Too Late
Too Late the Hero’s tour kicked off in an auspicious way that can only happen to bands from northern climes.
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