To celebrate the 15th anniversary of his Mercury-prize winning debut ‘The Hour of Bewilderbeast,’ Badly Drawn Boy (aka Damon Gough) is re-releasing a new deluxe version of the album, including bonus unheard tracks and new artwork. Remember him? He always wore his tea cosy hat. A film about the making of the album will be released in the spring.
The re-release follows this summer’s UK tour, where Gough played the classic album in its entirety for the first time ever, to sell-out crowds including The Barbican and Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall.
“It’s an album that I’m extremely proud of,” says Damon, “and it’s the album that people will mention if they stop me in the street, or come up to me in a bar. It’s an album that struck a chord with a lot of people, and still means a lot to them… which is what you’re aiming to do with music.”
Released in May 2000 to widespread acclaim, ‘The Hour of Bewilderbeast’ beat other shortlisted nominees including Coldplay, Doves, Leftfield and Richard Ashcroft to that year’s Mercury Music Prize. ‘The Hour of Bewilderbeast’ went platinum and Damon was then asked to write the soundtrack the film of Nick Hornby’s book ‘About A Boy,’ which became a huge hit. He went on to release eight studio albums over 12 years, before taking a break over the last couple of years, and now he’s back with a fresh focus.
Andy Votel has updated his classic ‘The Hour of Bewilderbeast’ artwork, loosely based on Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man, for the rerelease. “I’m very fond of the cover,” says Damon. “It sums up the time as much as the music does. The gatefold vinyl will have the original artwork and when you open it up there’s a new version which reflects everything that’s happened in the last 15 years.”
Track listing:
LP 1 – The Shining/Everybody’s Stalking/Bewilder/Fall In A River/Camping Next To Water/Stone On The Water/Another Pearl/Body Rap/Once Around The Block/This Song/Bewilderbeast/Magic In The Air/Cause A Rockslide/Pissing In The Wind/Disillusion/Say It Again/Epitaph
LP 2 – My Friend Cubilas/I Need A Sign/Interlude/Meet On The Horizon/Road Movie/Kerplunk By Candlelight/Chaos Theory/It Came From The Ground/Walkman Demo1/Outisde Is A Light Demo 1/Outside Is A Light Demo 2/Walkman Demo 2/Distant Town/A Bottle Full Of Tears/Soul Attitude/Wrecking The Stage.
‘The Hour of the Bewilderbeast’ deluxe version is released on January 22nd, 2016, but you can pre-order a limited edition triple LP version from the BDB web store.
