Half Man Half Biscuit - All of Our Songs Sound the Same

 

Bio:
Half Man Half Biscuit are an English rock band, formed in 1984 in Birkenhead, Merseyside. Known for their satirical, sardonic, and sometimes surreal songs, the band comprises lead singer and guitarist Nigel Blackwell, bassist and singer Neil Crossley, drummer Carl Henry, and guitarist Karl Benson.

Half Man Half Biscuit were formed by two friends from Birkenhead, Neil Crossley and singer, guitarist and songwriter Nigel Blackwell who was (in his own words) at the time "still robbing cars and playing football like normal people do". In 1979, Blackwell met Crossley when he went to see the latter's band play. In 1984, when Half Man Half Biscuit were formed, Crossley moved to bass and the two were joined by Nigel's brother Simon Blackwell (lead guitar) and his friend Paul Wright (drums). The quartet soon turned into a five-piece, with David Lloyd now on keyboards.

Their debut album, 1985's "Back in the D.H.S.S.", topped the UK Indie Chart and reached number 60 in the UK Album Chart. The band's first single, "The Trumpton Riots", topped the British independent chart in 1986, with their second single, "Dickie Davies Eyes", also topping the indie chart. In late 1986, the band split up, giving as reason "musical similarities". The album "Back Again in the D.H.S.S.", containing previously issued, unreleased and live tracks, followed.

The band reformed in 1990, and a new single, "Let's Not", issued before the year was out. Their third album "McIntyre, Treadmore And Davitt" was released in October 1991. By the time "This Leaden Pall" was released in 1993, Wright and Lloyd had left the band, with Carl Alty joining on drums. Simon Blackwell left the following year, with Ian S Jackson joining. Jackson (who later joined Rooney) and Alty (who joined Joyrider) departed in 1996, to be replaced by Ken Hancock (guitar) and Carl Henry (drums). Since reforming, the band have produced an album every three to four years.

Half Man Half Biscuit were championed by DJ John Peel, for whom they recorded twelve sessions, and it was on his programme in 1990 that the band announced their return. The band's styles parody popular genres, while their lyrics allude to UK popular culture and geography. Blackwell often refers to Wirral and to North Wales, often in the context of hillwalking in Snowdonia; he also appears fond of Shropshire, East Anglia, The West Country, and Oxfordshire. British or international football, Sylvia Plath, Thomas Hardy, and the Bible are referenced in his lyrics.

As the 1990s progressed, Blackwell's love of blues and folk became more apparent. Bassist Crossley's tastes include late 1970s and early 1980s new wave or post-punk bands, and during live sets HMHB have performed covers of acts as diverse as Joy Division, Magazine, Tim Buckley, The Beach Boys, Tommy James and the Shondells, and Ike and Tina Turner.

In April 2010, the band's song "Joy Division Oven Gloves" from their 2005 album "Achtung Bono" was the subject of a Facebook campaign to get it to No. 6 on the chart for 12 April 2010, in response to the rumoured closure of the indie-supporting radio station BBC 6 Music. The song reached No. 56 on 11 April 2010: this was their first UK Singles Chart appearance.

Victoria Loop has played live several times with the band on tenor horn, cornet, and bass guitar. She is affectionately known as 'The 5th Biscuit'. Ken Hancock played his last gig with the band in summer 2017, and was replaced at the end of the year by Karl Benson.

This is an anthology I've put off compiling for several months. The reason being, with so many excellent songs to choose from, where do I begin? I finally decided to go for it a couple of weeks back, and have listened to nothing apart from Half Man Half Biscuit during this time, picking off a couple of tracks from each studio album and EP release. Just trying to pick 2 tracks from each release I kept changing my mind several times. Finally (almost) happy with my selections, here we are. I could've easily made this twice as long but that would've been overkill.

My interest with the band started when Manerg introduced me to a few songs from their debut album and the sublime "Trumpton Riots" EP. After they split I didn't really follow their career after their reformation in 1990. I was aware of the infrequent album releases, but never felt the urge to give any of them a listen. This went on for several years until I finally took a dip into their latest release at the time, 2008's "CSI:Ambleside". Afterwards I felt the urge to hear every album they'd released beforehand, wanting to hear much more by them. I've bought all their albums since, and I can honestly say I don't think they've ever released a poor album. Maybe a couple of merely "good" albums, but the rest are utterly fantastic.
After 2 weeks of listening to nothing but HMHB for this anthology, I thought I'd suffer from an overdose of the band, but that wasn't the case. I could quite easily start compiling another collection of favourites and still not tire of them. I'm sure some HMHB fans will be outraged at the omission of some songs, such as "Joy Division Oven Gloves", "Time Flies By (When You're the Driver of a Train)" or "National Shite Day". I can only apologise in advance for that, but these are the songs I've gone with. So lump it! As ever, origin of each track & year of release is tagged in the music files and in the download file. Note: Those listening to the hearthis.at mix linked below will notice I changed one track I wasn't happy with. Everything else is the same as the tracks listed below.

Click HERE for the official HMHB site, and for even more detail about the band (including the lyrics to all their songs) click HERE.

Disc 1
  1. Dickie Davies Eyes (4:25)
  2. Turned Up Clocked on Laid Off (4:06)
  3. Prag Vec at the Melkweg (2:45)
  4. P. R. S. Yearbook - Quick the Drawbridge (2:54)
  5. Fuckin' 'Ell It's Fred Titmus (2:40)
  6. Soft Verges (5:35)
  7. Surging Out of Convalescence (3:36)
  8. Evening of Swing (Has Been Cancelled) (3:24)
  9. Uffington Wassail (3:13)
10. Tyrolean Knockabout (3:24)
11. Rock and Roll Is Full of Bad Wools (5:08)
12. All I Want for Christmas Is a Dukla Prague Away Kit (3:09)
13. Lark Descending (3:10)
14. Even Men With Steel Hearts (3:02)
15. Westward Ho! Massive Letdown (3:22)
16. The Announcement (2:38)
17. I Went to a Wedding (3:15)
18. Ordinary to Enschede (3:20)
19. Dead Men Don't Need Season Tickets (3:43)
20. Big Man Up Front (2:50)

Disc 2
  1. Look Dad No Tunes (4:41)
  2. Bob Wilson - Anchorman (1:34)
  3. The Trumpton Riots (3:16)
  4. Footprints (4:40)
  5. A Country Practice (6:32)
  6. Left Lyrics in the Practice Room (2:07)
  7. It Makes the Room Look Bigger (3:13)
  8. 99% of Gargoyles Look Like Bob Todd (4:39)
  9. Sensitive Outsider (2:29)
10. Everything's A.O.R. (4:13)
11. Tonight Matthew I'm Going to Be With Jesus (3:43)
12. She's in Broadstairs (3:36)
13. Bladderwrack Allowance (3:53)
14. Multitude (2:41)
15. Arthur's Farm (2:30)
16. Reflections in a Flat (3:23)
17. King of Hi-Vis (3:26)
18. Awkward Sean (3:08)
19. Letters Sent (2:37)
20. The Unfortunate Gwatkin (4:37)

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