When it was first announced that Badly Drawn Boy would be providing the soundtrack to 'About A Boy' it raised a lot of eyebrows. Critics found it inexplicable that a critically adored Mercury-Music-Prize-Winning maverick artist would want to ally himself to a major motion picture based on a Nick Hornby novel and starring Hugh Grant.
Well, they are all wrong. 'About A Boy' may only have been Badly Drawn Boy's second album, but it's his best. Written for a purpose, this album is more focused and less flabby than the albums released either side of this one. It has some fantastic singles - one very conventional, but great ('Something To Talk About'), and one slighlty more unusual, but still great ('Silent Sigh'). Most of the rest of the album is still song based - this isn't a collection of soundtrack friendly instrumental segments. 'A Peak You Reach' and 'Above You, Below Me' would have sounded perfectly at home on other albums, or even on their own, and tracks like 'File Me Away' and 'A Minor Incident', whilst quieter, are still good songs in their own right. The instrumental bits that are sprinkled through the album make musical references to the songs they are surrounded by, and help the album hang together extremely well. If only he'd kept it up!
No comments:
Post a Comment