The Judge
RAVES!
Date: 16/08/25
See How They Glean
A new Half Man Half Biscuit album 'dropped' (as I'm afraid they say these days) a couple of months ago, which is always a keenly anticipated event.
Although All Asimov And No Fresh Air does not contain an absolute classic on the lines of National Shite Day or Oblong Of Dreams, it still has outstanding tracks, of which what follows is my favourite.
McCalliog And His Hens comprises the best of HMHB. For one thing, the concept of a TV series built around a rural detective who is assisted in his work by forty-four domestic fowls is utterly surreal (and would be even more so but for the distinct possibility that some channel executive - desperate for something else to wring out of an increasingly receding pool of ideas and talent - might commission such an idea). And for another, just listen to the tune and arrangement; one might imagine that in some parallel universe, it might have been recorded by Marty Robbins.
It's an instant earworm of the best kind, and shows that the quirky imagination of Nigel Blackwell and his gang still flourishes forty years after their first recordings.
The (static) video is below, and the lyrics can be found here.
