Year Of The Rat
Badly Drawn Boy has never made a bad album so I have high hopes for One Plus One Is One, which finally gets a US release next week. It'll have two tracks exclusive to the US version. One of them is called "Don't Ask Me I'm Only The President."
The first single is available as a free MP3:
Badly Drawn Boy - "Year Of The Rat"
You can also click here to watch (in Real format) the cutesy Monkmus-directed video. It's "Paranoid Android" meets "Everyday."
Later this week you'll be able to stream the whole album here.
It's interesting that BDB is so obsessed with Springsteen, 'cause honestly I don't hear the influence.
Posted at 5:01 PM
well, one might argue that Damon was influenced by Springsteen's recording process for Nebraska -- as both Bruce and Damon recorded their best albums in their living rooms.
Other than that though, there ain't a whole lotta Boss on these BDB albums. Although, maybe a google image search would turn up shots of both of them in silly wool hats...
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i just got the album today and am really enjoying it. but the bonus track you mention really isn't a political diatribe (which i was kind of hoping for).
i think i understand where gough is coming from on the boss thing. i love that guy to an unhealthy level but would not necessarily want to sound like him.
and in response to mark, i think bdb bears more than a passing resemblance to some of the bohemian bruce of "the wild, the innocent" period (in which he wore silly hats!).
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the album is way better than the last, by far, but obviously not nearly the masterpiece that Bewilderbeast was. i'd put it on par, or even a little better than the About a Boy soudntrack
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would you ever put up a posting encouraging readers to register to vote?
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vote for what marji?
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I really like this song-- can't wait to hear the rest of the album.
But isn't it the Year of the Monkey?
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Saw the video on MTV2 yesterday. It's adorable. That's right, I said adorable. And it is.
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the only direct Springsteen influence I've found in BDB is in "Another Pearl," where Damon steals the lyric "strap your hands across my engine." and aside from the occasional live attempt at "Thunder Road," that's probably all the Boss copying we will see from him.
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president scott. president.
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So I love this song. I think it's great, and the album as a whole seems pretty fine as well. Can somebody please explain to me then, why Pitchfork has labeled it a "glaring sellout" before urging listeners to "cross their fingers that it doesn't hit the airwaves?" Sometimes hipster music afficianados really irk me. I'm confused as to the last time utilizing a children's choir landed anyone "sellout" creds? It's not 1986 fucks...
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I don't know about the musical influences angle but the taste in head gear is a direct homage to Benny of Crossroads fame. That would Crossroads the piss awful British awful soap opera, not crossroads the piss awful teen film from the last century starring Ralph Macchio
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