Manbiscuit

For my first NaBloPoMo entry (after the announcement that I've joined NaBloPoMo this month), I have decided to explore the genius of Nigel Blackwell (aka Half Man Half Biscuit).

All of their/his albums except one were recently added to emusic, so I've been slowly filling the vast holes in my HMHB collection, since I only had two of their ten albums. They're only available in the USA as pricey imports, so I was buying everything I could find used, so it would have taken a long time for me to pick up the entire catalog if emusic hadn't come to the rescue earlier this year.

HMHB seem like an ideal artist for one of those those song blog thingies, since Nigel's songs are full of obscure British pop-culture references that need to be footnoted for full appreciation by non-Brits. It helps to know that Bob Wilson of "Bob Wilson, anchorman" fame is an Ex-Arsenal goalkeeper turned TV pundit (an American equivalent "Tim McCarver, analyst") or that Bob Todd (from "99% Of Gargoyles Look Like Bob Todd") was the bald guy from the Benny Hill Show, but you can still appreciate the songs even if you aren't sure who or what they're about!

Here are some audio and video samples of HMHB's world view, in chronological order by release, starting with this performance of "All I Want For Christmas is a Dukla Prague Away Kit" from the Old Grey Whistle Test in 1986 (even Nigel Blackwell had "80s hair"). I keep considering that song for my annual holiday mixes, but it misses the final cut every year because, title aside, it isn't about Christmas at all (lyrics and back story here).

Ten albums in twenty years equates to a steady stream of HMHB releases at regular year intervals with glorious titles like Four Lads Who Shook the Wirral (1998), Trouble Over Bridgewater (2000), and the most-recent one Achtung Bono(2005).

With titles like that, you know they're going to be good. And they also come up with the best titles for the songs on these albums. Here's a half video/half audio sample of their wares.

Half Man Half Biscuit

(three youtube videos)
All I Want For Christmas is a Dukla Prague Away Kit
(from Back in the DHSS, 1986)
Paintball's Coming Home
(from Voyage to the Bottom of the Road, 1997)
Vatican Broadside
(from Editor's Recommendation, 2001)

(three mp3 audios)
Twenty Four Hour Garage People
(from Trouble Over Bridgewater, 2000)
The Light At The End Of The Tunnel
(from Cammell Laird Social Club, 2002)
We Built This Village on a Trad-Arr Tune
(from Achtung Bono, 2005)