Badly Drawn Boy, 'Born in the U.K.' (Astralwerks)

Brit songsmith ruins catchy songs with needless frills.

By David Peisner 11.22.06 4:00 AM

Damon Gough is an engaging songwriter, so why isn't his fifth album as Badly Drawn Boy more, well, engaging? Gough pens poignant pop-rock tunes about marriage, identity, and regret, but he overdresses them, adding bells and whistles (or strings and synths, as the case may be) where they're not needed. Affecting ballads explode into melodramatic epics, multitracked choirs smother pleasant melodies, and the stripped-down moments that suggest what the album could've been are lost in the gloss.

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>> Listen to Badly Drawn Boy on Napster