Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * *

The rage of satire, the cleverness of using the English language to its fullest, most surreal and outspoken is something that should be encouraged daily. Not to be cruel, nor to be vile, disgusting and downright nasty, but to hold a beacon up against those that have those merciless qualities stoked within their hearts and to provide a radiating smile against the darkness that sometimes threatens those with joy in their souls.

Half Man Half Biscuit are the epitome of that ability and for almost thirty years have shown the way forward; the holding of nerve to produce songs full of wit, verve and style in a world where such things dissect through the bland and the inane with the ferocity of greatness and the gentleness of a new born babies first smile. It is such then that Urge for Offal is not a patch on any of its predecessors.

If 90 Bisodol (Crimond) was the all-encompassing volcano that set the world alight again then unfortunately Urge For Offal is the dis-quietening rumble from a tumble weed going past a pleasantly cultivated field. The absolute and wonderfully captured rage turned into biting satire that made the band’s previous outing such an exquisite album of tempting beauty and rightly seen as one of the recordings of that year has somehow become, gut wrenchingly and sadly the still waters of the local village duck pond, only occasionally sending out a timely ripple when one of nature’s aquatic creatures decides to go in for waddle and preen.

If there is any fire and brimstone, any sardonic gem, the humorous smile on the magician’s lips then The Unfortunate Gwatkin, The Bane of Constance and Old Age Killed My Teenage Bride supply it…but not enough to play the songs on demand wherever you go or to tempt strangers on the train when they talk incessantly of how the house they live in has managed to gain more monetary worth than the a human being overlooked by the system.

The world needs satire to keep it in check, to kick those who bleed the emotions of the people they represent squarely in the soft underbelly and prick the pomposity of the self righteous bully, unfortunately and for once, Half Man Half Biscuit have not succeeded in that aim.   

Ian D. Hall