Manchester native Damon "Badly Drawn Boy" Gough became an overnight sensation as a British version of Beck with the amateurish, lo-fi, poignant bedroom sound expounded in a series of EPs.
EP1 (Twisted Nerve, 1997) contains Riding With Gabriel Greenburg, Shake The Rollercoaster, No Point In Living, Sugarstealer.
EP2 (Twisted Nerve, 1998) contains I Love You All, The Treeclimber, Thinking Of You.
EP3 (1998) contains My Friend Cubilas, I Need A Sign, Interlude, Meet On The Horizon, Road Movie, Kerplunk By Candlelight. It Came From The Ground (1999) contains It Came from The Ground, Walkman Demo 1, Outside Is A Light 1, Outside Is A Light 2, Walkman Demo 2. Nursery Rhyme, on U.N.K.L.E.'s Psyence Fiction (1998), the single Whirlpool (1999) and the double single Once Around The Block (1999), backed with Soul Attitude and Another Pearl, complete his early discography, one of the most intense of any debuting artist at the turn of the decade.
The best of the EPs and the singles make up the compilation How Did I Get Here (Toy, 1999).
Contrary to expectations, his sprawling 18-song debut album, The Hour of The Bewilderbeast (XL/Twisted Nerve), was instead a lush (accordion, theremin, xylophone, piano, harp, violins, oboe, trumpet), heavily-produced pop album, that owed more to Radiohead than his generation's singer-songwriters. Gough's main asset is to be capable of being elegant, eloquent and emotional at the same time. Virtually a concept album about a romantic relationship, Gough can ape Paul McCartney's sweet and sour balladry (The Shining, Fall In A River, Magic In The Air), occasionally regressing to a bucolic George Harrison (Camping Next To Water, Pissing In The Wind).
Gough is rarely aggressive (Everybody's Stalking), as his feelings are mostly romantic and intimate. Rage is not part of his psychic landscape. The album rarely deals with social issues or even remotely with reality's ugly face. A touch of jazz (Stone On The Water, Bewilder), funk (Body Rap), soul (Disillusion) and rhythm and blues (Say It Again) increases the sonic appeal. Brandished from the album, the eccentric that rules his live shows returns only in Cause A Rockslide. The only problem with the album is that the best tracks are those recycled from previous EPs: Another Pearl and Once Around The Block.
