For over two decades Half Man Half Biscuit have inhabited a unique musical space where nobody else could possibly reside. Satirical, sardonic and sometimes surreal, always witty and sardonic, to dismiss HMHB as a novelty act would be doing them a massive injustice.
90 Bisodol (Crimond) is another album (their 12th in fact) full of acerbic wit and intelligence from the Birkenhead quartet. There is an air of darkness to frontman Nigel Blackwell’s grim humour who’s wordplay and rhyming are par excellence while regaling tales of a necrophiliac Betterware salesman ‘Excavating Rita’, scorned lover ‘RSVP’ and the dark themed ‘Tommy Walsh’s Eco House’ and ‘The Coroner’s Footnote’. There is also a well aimed attack on indie groups on Saturday morning Soccer shows with ‘Rock and Roll Is Full of Bad Wools’.
There are chipper moments too; the joyous ode to Korfball with ‘Leeuwarden (We Are Ready)’ or ‘Fun Day in the Park’, all wrapped up by the catchiest mix of pointed punk riffs, country folk tinged ballads and classic indie sounds.
It’s time this great band received the recognition they deserve and a rare genius realized. 90 Bisodol (Crimond) too, might be their most complete work yet. That’s saying something seen as they’ve had a more than distinguished 25 year career.
Half Man Half Biscuit – Joy in Leeuwarden (We Are Ready)
Half Man Half Biscuit – Excavating Rita
Tags: Half Man Half Biscuit, Music
I tweeted (under my FootieAndMusic pseudonym) that Descent Of The Stiperstones is the new Paranoid Android.
Their best album yet.
Achtung Bono has long been my favourite but I think this may have surpassed it.