Badly Drawn Boy : Once around the block

Inevitably a minor disappointment. The much foamed-over Damon
Gough,
aka Badly Drawn Boy, has - much like the YY28's -
failed to live up
to his modest hype, but that didn't stop his last two limited-edition singles, 'I Need A Sign' and 'It Came
From The
Ground', being two of the finest records in the history of
recorded
sound (That'll be modest hype, then - Ed).



By the awesome standards he has set himself, 'Once Around The
Block'
is a bit of an aberration. It's a wistful romp through butterfly-strewn fields, hand-in-hand with Astrud Gilberto,
which is
frail and beautiful but somehow lacking the twisted radiance of its predecessors.



Rest assured that pretty soon he will come out with something
infinitely better, and for the diehards whose confidence might have taken a knock, take consolation in the words of Journey:
'Don't Stop
Believin''.

Jim Wirth