Track Listing

1. Harrowdown Hill
2. The Drunkk Machine
3. Harrowdown Hill (Extended MX)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #48126 in Music
• Released on: 2006-08-21
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Single

Customer Reviews

Another broken beat offering... It's a wonder that the man's heart hasn't eaten itself.
With his previous work in mind, surely no one needs it spelt out. Of course this single is going to be a tender and wrecked sad little skeleton. But in fact, for the first couple of bars of tinny bass he almost has you fooled, for on its own the stuttering and essentially disco line is quite a gay and jolly little bop!

Oh... But wait... here comes the crying synths, the limping drum samples and the quivering and wet vocals that have become so instantly recognisable. Nothing's worth anything anymore.

Despite the constant barrage of blues, greys and scratches that this man swabs all over you, he is a master of creating memorable components that barely anyone else could fit together into one short song. It would be easy to forget the grace in which this is delivered, as Thom essentially has no happy face and therefore halves his emotional range straight down the middle. But like a lot of successful artists with a comfortable safe haven for creating music, he doesn't need the sun and slivers away quite, err, happily.

Equally, he is now an artist that can't do wrong. He could release a long gust of wind out of his rear end and people would see it as melancholy genius's ode to the lost souls of forgotten civil wars and yesterday's fry-up. But for everyone, the spotlight remains on Radiohead, and with a release like this it is easy to see why as it is unnecessary to place a marking between the two - Thom is Thom, after all.

Choice single from The Eraser!
Harrowdown Hill is one of the stand-out tracks from Thom's side project album "the eraser".

Written about the suicide of whistleblower Doctor David Kelly, the song's title takes it's name from where Doctor Kelly's body was found.

As with most of the eraser material, Thom's lyrics are on top form - thought prevoking, vicious, hungry.

Must like the other album tracks, Thom and renowned producer Nigel Godrich have carefully layered this sandwich of beats, blips, bumbs and touches of reverb giving it a eerily spaceous atmosphere.

Despite it's sheer brilliance, the sad truth is that this single will not get the airplay it deserves nor a credible position within the corrupt singles chart.

I have not heard either of the featured b-sides and this review is based firmly on the title track "Harrowdown hill".