- Record Label: Twisted Nerve / Astralwerks
- Release Date: Jul 27, 2004
- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
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One Plus One Is One may not sparkle with surprising brilliance, as Bewilderbeast did, but it is certainly the most thematically and musically grounded album Gough has yet created.
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It's all so beautifully simple, especially moody acoustic guitar/piano laments like "Fewer Words", that you almost miss how effective the arrangements are -- gorgeous, heartfelt melodies yield odes to a life that's consistently surprising and alive with optimism.
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FilterSounds like something made by a gifted producer who has a great voice, an earnest way with words, a vast well of fantastic ideas, and a serious OCD complex. [#12, p.95]
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This is much more than a retrenchment, and it certainly isn't a retreat.
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Q MagazineAn album full of freshness and fun that's less sketchy than its predecessors. [Jul 2004, p.110]
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On the one hand, it's a little hokey: if One Plus One Equals One tried any harder to charm you, it would turn up on your doorstep with a bottle of Fleurie and offer you a footrub. On the other, the songs are Gough's strongest in years.
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Under The RadarWhile One Plus One Is One fails to fully capture the charm of his debut, it comes close. [#7]
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New Musical Express (NME)A record which is closer in spirit to the rustic eccentricity of his '...Bewilderbeast' debut, while still moving things forward. [19 Jun 2004, p.57]
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A veritable debutante ball of sad little songs.
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Rolling StoneIt's slow, beautiful and ponderously sincere. [19 Aug 2004, p.118]
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There are times when One Plus One Is One is simply too much, and the fresh spin that Gough brought to the British singer/songwriter tradition in his earlier work is missed, but he's still a fine addition to it.
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BlenderGet past the sometimes cloying pastoral arrangements and the often cornball sentiments and there are moments of ragged glory. [Sep 2004, p.132]
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Entertainment WeeklyA snoozy muddle, dominated by underwritten, over-orchestrated ballads. [6 Aug 2004, p.80]
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Despite some truly inspired songs, One Plus One doesn't have the same dizzying effect as the genre-hopscotching Bewilderbeast or the orchestrated beauty of confident follow-ups About a Boy and Have You Fed the Fish?.
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Typically hit or miss.
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I have the distinct feeling I’ve heard most of the songs on this album before. Nothing here is particularly original, and nothing moves me in the way that Gough’s earlier work so did.
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While there's not necessarily a bad song to be found, Gough is capable of much more than the pretty yet bland compositions that dominate "One Plus One."
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Badly Drawn Boy's been sketchy before, but never quite this artless.
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Alternative PressA decidedly hit-or-miss affair. [Nov 2004, p.148]
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UncutThere are flashes of sublimity, but too often hideous flashbacks of Jethro Tull and ELO. [Jul 2004, p.102]
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With their staid textures, the songs tend to blend into one another, sounding at best like a spiritless hodgepodge of About a Boy's weaker moments.
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At times, the album sounds like a lost collaboration between Nick Drake and Jethro Tull, and one that might have best stayed lost.
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One Plus One is One sounds like an attempt to make a more serious statement, but with little substance invested in it. The result is Badly Drawn Boy's first boring album.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 8 out of 13
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Mixed: 3 out of 13
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Negative: 2 out of 13
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Oct 26, 2011
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AlexisSep 21, 2005
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mattaJul 19, 2005