New Half Man Half Biscuit album “The Voltarol Years” released 18 Feb 2022

Looking forward to this

New Half Man Half Biscuit Album in 2022

The Voltarol Years

 

Track list

1. I'm Getting Buried In The Morning
2. Rogation Sunday's Here Again!
3. Awkward Sean
4. Tess Of The Dormobiles
5. Grafting Haddock In The George
6. Big Man Up Front
7. When I Look At My Baby
8. Beneath This Broken Headstone
9. In A Suffolk Ditch
10. Persian Rug Sale At The URC
11. Midnight Mass Murder
12. Token Covid Song
13. Slipping The Escort
14. Oblong Of Dreams

 

Bump

 

Tremendous. Didn’t get the last one, but Urge For Offal and 90 Bisodol are both fantastic, so am up for this.

 

Excellent, thanks for sharing.

I'll probably wait until July and buy the LP, then again I will probably buy the CD too.

 

So looking forward to this. I have it ordered.
I'm Getting Buried In The Morning and When I Look At My Baby were played on Andy Kershaw's show.

 

Great. I am a big fan of this band.
I have had a rough couple of months (bereavement), so could do with a bit of a laugh and some new tunes by HMHB.

 

The advent of a new HMHB album is always a source of great joy in our household. As John Peel said they really are a national treasure.

Further reading:

Home Page

 

I sort of got off the bus with "Achtung Bono", it was alright but.

 

And among the memorable lyrics on that album is:

“Hey, Blakey, does your bus go by the dark satanic mills?”

Get back on the bus, the following four albums are all great.

 

Well, the song titles are all well up to snuff!

 

It was fantastic too, as HMHB usually are. I'm in for the new album aswell.

 

You should get the excellent last one in preparation for the new album coming out.

 

The (lone?) American fan checking in. Glad to hear they have a new album coming out. I can't even recall how I stumbled onto them a few years ago, but spent a good six months exploring their back catalog and having my mind blown. For the uninitiated, sort of like The Mekons in their earlier punk phase (or maybe Chas & Dave as punks?), albeit with much darker, working-class sense of humor. Favorites include "F***in' Hell It's Fred Titmus," "For What is Chatteris," "We Built This Village on a Trad. Arr. Tune" and especially, "Paintball's Coming Home." When I say I love the UK, this is what I mean ... not Downton Abbey!

 

So it came out today, a week late.

My copy won’t arrive in Austria for a couple of weeks, anyone have it yet, and initial impressions?

The vinyl version is still a few weeks away, probably due to RSD backups, something Nigel really should write a song about.

 

It's absolutely fantastic. At first I was a little underwhelmed but repeated listens confirm it to be another masterpiece. Much of it seems to have been informed by lockdown and Covid, with myriad references to death and detachment. The final two songs on the album are probably the most poignant they've ever recorded, but there are also bags of laugh out loud moments and brilliant cultural references (I won't spoil it for you by mentioning any here).

All in all it's a wonderful blend of the wistful, surreal and hilarious. It's a shame that they're often dismissed as "that band who write songs about football and the telly" when, in my opinion, they're the UK's foremost social satirists and lyricist Nigel Blackwell is a latterday Sir John Betjeman.

 

Yes, the last one is their best, I think; I never warmed to "...Offal" (now there's a phrase you don't type every day).

 

It is a fabulous album, I've been playing it all weekend. There are some really funny lines in there but I agree about the poignancy of the final two tracks. I also keep singing bits of Midnight Mass Murder to myself.
I'll be very glad when all the lyrics are up as there are a few bits I can't quite make out.

 

They’re my favourite going musical concern and I’d argue they’re one of the best bands the UK has ever produced and there’s almost no question that Nigel Blackwell is our best lyricist. Having played this fairly solidly since Friday, I’d say it’s not quite up to the standards of their previous record-which, possibly predictably, is probably my favourite album-but it’s good. There’s a definite This Leaden Pall vibe to this one, but with the odd experiment with brass or piano and career-best bass playing from Neil Crossley. Unusually, there’s a track-Slipping The Escort-played almost completely straight (although there are characteristic references to Welsh football) and it’s all the more touching for that. Elsewhere, there are the usual jokes (a trip to Knowsley Safari Park will never be the same again), cultural references (both pop and haute) and bile directed at deserving targets (Token Covid Song will surely raise a knowing smile).

They’ve never been a particularly prolific band but they’ve been consistently brilliant for thirty odd years and we’re incredibly lucky to have them.

 

My copy was waiting for me when I got home from work yesterday. I had a gig last night and yes, somehow, I'm on my 4th listen. It's an absolute belter. I agree with you @Etienne Hanratty that the album feels of a piece with "This Leaden Pall" - there's a similar darkness. There's a lot of death in the album and ruminations on mortality and yet the album absolutely rocks and is not short of humour. There's a few nods to their back catalogue - "In A Suffolk Ditch" comes from a similar place as "Breaking News" but does so with less humour and more anger and "Midnight Mass Murder" isn't exactly the first time they've plundered the hymnal. Musicially, it really hits home and I would also agree about Neil's bass on the album which is indeed career-best level. Some interesting production/arrangement flourishes in places too, which contrasts nicely with the more compressed, wall-of-sound feel on several tracks.

35 years in and still bringing us a helping of the very best every couple of years. What more could one ask for?

 

In the albums chart at number 37:
Official Albums Chart Top 100 | Official Charts Company
That’s their second highest ever placing.
HALF MAN HALF BISCUIT | full Official Chart History | Official Charts Company

 

No 10 in the sales-only chart but once streaming goes in it just about hangs on to the Top 40. GAH!

 

I haven't heard this yet because I've just found out a good friend has ordered me it on vinyl as a present, which is nice! Looking forward to it...

 

You won't be disappointed.