Search - Half Man Half Biscuit :: Mcintyre Treadmore Davitt

The 2nd greatest band from Liverpool!!

9ftneil | UK | 05/06/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Taking their title from Michael Palin's surreal cult comedy classic 'Ripping Yarns' episode about a football fan obsessed with the worst team in history this is the Biscuits long awaited 'come-back' album after a hiatus of 6 years from 'Back In The DHSS, Again' and boy do they deliver.
It opens with the staggeringly funny "Outbreak of Vitus Gerulaitis" a tale of a small town suffering from an epidemic so named after the equally ludicrously named 70's tennis star. If you like the humour of Vic Reeves this is where he stole most of his jokes from. Oblique references to obscure British tv and sports stars abound with the kind of random mayhem beloved of Mark E Smith and The Fall - only funnier and no less acerbic.
Chock full of paeans to the Rev. Jim Jones and Kendo Nagasaki this is likely to leave most US listeners wondering what the hell this band were smoking but it's not so exclusively British that it can't be enjoyed. "Prag Vec At The Melkweg" has an opening verse set to the tume of The Beatles "Yellow Submarine" only with lyrics that embrace Star Trek, the Harlem Globetrotters and being skint in Thatcher's enterprise culture. The music is a joyous riot of agit-punk, bass heavy riffing and surprisingly good melodies for such avowedly 3 chord merchants.
Crazy, surreal, and just plain bonkers the Biscuits are the ultimate anti-band ridiculing everything "muso" and pretentious about life, music, art and TV with a wit and flair second to none. They are one of the most important and unique bands in Britain, they sell only to a hardcore following but that's the way they like it. Determined to remain underground and on the fringes they are the funniest satirists known to mankind and for every bitter remark about a relationship break up there's a sublime and hysterical comment about golf (Yipps My Baby Got The)or wrestling (Everything's AOR). The outstanding track of this very fine album is "Christian Rock Concert" where the Biscuits warn that they've played (80's hair-metal-christian-rawk band) Stryper's albums backwards and discovered unsavoury messages. That's just pure Biscuits, taking sacred cows and turning them on their heads with a healthy tongue-in-cheek attitude that is as fondly nostalgic as it is ascerbic. Never bitter without due cause, always on the money with their leftfield wit and sarcasm and with riotously good tunes that will have you singing "I can put a tennis racket up against my face and pretent that I am Kendo Nagasaki" as joyously as any Beatles track, only your friends will think you're a looney, they are quite simply the 2nd best band from Liverpool, and frankly it doesn't get any better than that."