Yahoo! Music Album Review

Released on 16/10/06
Label: EMI

At the start of his fifth album, Damon Gough holds a slightly self-conscious, Jarvis-esque conversation with himself. "Do you think it matters where you were born?" Boy A asks, in reference to the title of the album, itself a reference to Gough's famous love for Bruce Spingsteen. "No, not really," replies Boy B. "It only matters that you can be proud of where you came from." A fine sentiment, but then he follows it up with a mumbled admission. "I don't think I know who I am any more."

Who is he kidding? Gough's problem, of course, isn't that he doesn't know who he is - it's that he can't admit to who he is, or - presumably - feel proud of who he is. In his mind, as we know, he's The Boss, ricocheting from The River to Thunder Road, brash showman and bruised poet. But in reality, he's the guy in the tea cosy who made a brilliantly eclectic debut album and then settled into his natural form with a steady, heartwarming soundtrack to a steady, heartwarming film of a steady, heartwarming novel.

"Born In The UK" is the sound of a man quietly struggling with this dichotomy. At points he seems to be saying "OK, if all I really am is James Blunt with an art degree, then I'm going to play the game. Hey, at least I'll be able to comfort myself with all that cash." At others, he's spitting distance from a brilliant concept album about love and suburbia, but he keeps pulling back - scared, you imagine, of lumbering himself inadvertently with a concept similar to "About A Boy".

What he isn't is a wild, unpredictable firebrand who uses an expansive (and superb) "Hair"-style slice of rock opera ("Welcome To The Overgound") to springboard himself into a host of dazzling new musical environments. Instead the song is dropped into the running order early - track three - just to remind us who Badly Drawn Boy believes himself to be inside, and then he reverts to form. Wistful melodies, wry wordplay, nice bit of piano, Hugh Grant in the middle distance.

Who is Damon Gough? On this form, neither one thing or the other. But if you took the best bits of Gough doing what he does best (the ruminations on love and commitment on "Promises", the soulful romantic spark of "Walk You Home Tonight", the coming-to-terms subtlety of "Journey From A To B"), and allied them with a distinct album-length concept, you'd have what Badly Drawn Boy needs to help him come to terms with himself: a Grand British Statement, on what it's like to be middle class, suburban, thirtysomething, and troubled by love.

A simple, honest album, in other words. Here's hoping.

    by Ian Watson