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| Born in the UK | 
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| Artist: Badly Drawn Boy
Label: EMI
Category: Music
List Price: £15.99
Buy Used: £1.53
You Save: £14.46 (90%)
New (41) from £2.57
Avg. Customer Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 12079
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
UPC: 094637404720
EAN: 0094637404720
ASIN: B000H4W2IM
Release Date: October 30, 2006
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | Swimming Pool | | • | Born In The UK | | • | Degrees Of Separation | | • | Welcome To The Overground | | • | Journey From A To B | | • | Nothing's Gonna Change Your Mind | | • | Promises | | • | Way Things Used To Be | | • | Without A Kiss | | • | Long Way Round (Swimming Pool) | | • | Walk You Home (Tonight) | | • | Time Of Times | | • | One Last Dance |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.co.uk Review
A doff of the woolly hat to his beloved Bruce Springsteen's Born In The USA, Damon Gough's fifth album as Badly Drawn Boy, finds him musing on modern life, national heritage, and finding the space to crack wise a little along the way. Gough's approach to the knotty subject of patriotism is not quite as chest-beating as Springsteen's, but in truth it's just as conflicted. Take the title track; it mentions the hosepipe ban, Sid Vicious and the Falklands conflict, yet far from being a straight-up nostalgia tract, still confronts the troublesome contradictions of the British patriot: "We made something out of nothing/A sense of loathing and belonging". Perhaps it's true to say that Born In The UK finds the Badly Drawn one looking behind rather than in front: the country-tinged "The Way Things Used To Be" even strikes a wry note of self-mockery amid the rather traditional songwriting within. But if time has blunted Badly Drawn Boy's impulse to challenge his audience, there's a genuine warmth and optimism to songs like "Welcome to the Overground" that mark Gough out as a rare author who can pull off sentimentality without sounding forced or trite. --Louis Pattison
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
 Another Hugh Grant soundtrack ! May 15, 2007
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Despite the tea cosy hat,the ragamuffin threads and the luxuriant beard. Mr Gough is no art school,angst ridden,folk inspired singer songwriter.
The music of Badly Drawn Boy can be summerised in a single word...POP !
With lush orchestration, intensively tweeked production and a seamless thread of inoffensive easy listening songs,BDB provides us with another mellow album of Brit 'Chick-Flick' songs.
It's not as if we haven't been here before but each subsequent album now out blands the last.
Middle of the road love songs are all very well but after all these years,critics might be entitled to ask...'where's the beef !'.
 The Boy's Masterpiece? December 22, 2006
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I confess it took me a couple of listens to get this. I was probably not in the right 'listening mood' or something. But then I did get it. And wow.
This could be the Badly Drawn masterpiece. Musically it is less flightly and quirky than earlier efforts, but at the same time is not restricted to a compressed range of expression. The songs are strong and the arrangements dense and both finely judged and expertly delivered.
The Springsteen influence is very strong indeed, but tends to come out in cleverly constructed lyrical touches - 'streets of fire' gets a mention, and at one point the protaganists decide to listen to Thunder Road because they can't think of anything else to do. Musically, rolling piano and what sounds very like the legendary E Street glockenspiel throw up reminders of vintage New Jersey. But the homage is neither oppressive nor a substitute for great and personal song writing.
I'm not sure one song really stands out above the rest, as this is a very strong set - perhaps it lacks a "Born to Run". I would vote for "Promises" as my favourite, but the more you listen the more you get.
Overall a great album, but one that I suspect will unfortunately be overlooked by far too many people.
Badly Drawn Boy - Born In The UK December 9, 2006
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Easily the finest Badly Drawn Boy album since 2002's ABOUT A BOY soundtrack,
BORN IN THE U.K. finds the British alternative-pop artist (a.k.a. Damon Gough)
playing to his strengths after a period of creative stagnation. While the title
track (a nod to Gough's musical hero, Bruce Springsteen) is energetic and
assured as it careens over a Beatlesque drum line, "Nothing's Going to Change
Your Mind" is a lush, plaintive ballad that reinforces earlier comparisons to
Harry Nilsson. Although BORN IN THE U.K. doesn't feature the overt eclecticism
of Gough's lauded debut, THE HOUR OF BEWILDERBEAST, it benefits not only from
Gough's renewed focus on crafting compelling pop songs, but from a new creative
foil, Lemon Jelly's Nick Franglen, who helped to flesh out the album's
arrangements. Although the record will readily appeal to Badly Drawn Boy
diehards, it should also win over some lapsed fans, and garner some new admirers
as well.
Consistently great October 29, 2006
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
Whilst I have enjoyed previous albums from Badly Drawn Boy (BDB) I have found his latest offering particularly excellent. The album is dedicated to Bruce Springsteen and his influence is obvious. Unlike previous albums I feel the music does not 'jump-around' as much and makes for a more thematic, coherant listen. The topcs covered will be familiar to any Springsteen fan but to summarize BDB sings about growing up and running away/escaping to a better place. The album was great on first listen and I will be enjoying this in years to come.
UK understatement October 28, 2006
7 out of 11 found this review helpful
The first time I heard OK Computer I didn't know what all the fuss was about. But slow burners can be strong burners and Born in the UK is a classic case. The melodies on this album are restrained and, on the face of it, unremarkable but they embed in your brain and you end up craving them. BDB doesn't put a foot wrong on this album. There are no embarrassing fanfares, no false notes, no awkward lyrics. So delicate are some of these songs that, like Mercury Rev, you wonder why BDB falls into an alternative rock category. On first listen, a song like The Long Way Round has an muzak feel that wouldn't be out of place in a hotel lift - but the strength of the melody will last you a whole day's humming. Every song is beautifully but restrainfully crafted, with some lovely shifts of mood and beat. The most effective is on the beautiful Without a Kiss, while there is another on The Way Things Used to Be, which takes you from melancholy to jauntiness via humour in a slide guitar. It could have been a Springsteen song if the drums were banged harder and koy Damon exercised his lungs it a bit more, instead of breath-singing like Mark Knopfler. The Time of Times and Born in the UK also have the potential to be stomping anthems but are held in check. The tinkling piano recalls the Boss on various tracks, especially on Journey from A to B, an influence acknowledged on Our Last Dance. Perhaps appropriately, another influence is the UK musical. We hear shades of West End shows in the choral Welcome to the Overground and in the structurally complex Nothing's Gonna Change Your Mind. Lyrically, BDB is also very restrained with no poetic fireworks but he comes across as a really nice guy throughout. The romantic One Last Dance tells a simple but heart-warming story of true love. But even this finale to the album doesn't take itself seriously.
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