City Newspaper Archives - 2/2007
Badly Drawn Boy: "Born in the U.K."
Import
Published by Joel Chaffee on Feb 06, 2007
Tepid. Vapid. Navel-gazing. There's plenty of time during Badly Drawn Boy's Born in the U.K.'s 53 minutes to think of exactly how/why you dislike it. It's an archetype for what rock fans hate about Elton John and Billy Joel. It's like the kid in high school who wowed everyone in the drama productions and now works in an office.
It's shaky from the get-go, as opener "Swimming Pool" features BDB mastermind Damon Gough talking to himself (as in a Q&A, bouncing from the left speaker to the right) saying things like, "There's good things all around. You just have to look longer and harder to see them sometimes," before segueing into a not unpleasant but directionless ditty. If the other 12 songs were only as directionless there might something salvageable here, but Born in the U.K. is a thinly disguised attempt at reaching a mainstream audience, and BDB surely deserves what it attracts, either way.
