Urge For Offal
| Urge for Offal | ||||
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| Studio album by Half Man Half Biscuit | ||||
| Released | 20 October 2014 | |||
| Genre | Post punk | |||
| Length | 41:27 | |||
| Label | Probe Plus PROBE 71 | |||
| Producer | Tommy Onehead | |||
| Half Man Half Biscuit chronology | ||||
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Urge for Offal is the thirteenth album by UK Wirral-based rock band Half Man Half Biscuit, released 20 October 2014 on Probe Plus Records. The album reached #68 on the UK album chart.
Nigel Blackwell of Half Man Half Biscuit has discussed the album in one of his rare interviews.
The cover art depicts Neil Crossley, the band's bass player and a ride from an obsolete decommissioned merry-go-round.
In an early online review, Jon Bryan rated the album 9.5/10, and wrote:
The increased emphasis on guitars means that Urge for Offal is a considerably more accessible album for newcomers to HMHB and that’s no bad thing, as they deserve to finally have recognition as one of the UK’s greatest bands.
In an online review in The Quietus, Luke Slater wrote:
Perhaps the least surprising thing about their thirteenth album is the lack of surprises. Urge For Offal does not represent a new or even vaguely modified HMHB. Nor are there any unexpected turns or diversions of musical style. [...] Musically, things continue where 2011's 90 Bisodol (Crimond) left us. It is fundamentally rocky and occasionally loud, with prominent bass aplenty. There are almost all of the elements you would expect to find in a HMHB album. Various football references, the odd improbably surreal yarn, and some mentions of cycling, too. [...] Though Urge For Offal may feel a bit like Half Man Half Biscuit by-numbers, it acts as a reminder of what they represent. And that is something that [sic] be celebrated, albeit quietly.
In an online review in Louder Than War magazine, Mark Whitby wrote:
Urge for Offal doesn’t just avoid disappointment – it carves out its own very distinctive niche in the history of one of our most treasured bands.
In December 2014, readers of The Guardian voted Urge for Offal best album of the year even though that newspaper had never reviewed or even mentioned it.
As is usual with Half Man Half Biscuit, the songs contain multiple references to both serious and popular culture, to sport, and to local geography; among other things. Those identified include:
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