Nigel Blackwell of Half Man Half Biscuit has discussed the album in one of his rare interviews.[4]
The cover art depicts Neil Crossley, the band's bass player, and a ride from an obsolete decommissioned merry-go-round.
Track listing
No.
Title
Length
1.
"Westward Ho! – Massive Letdown"
3:22
2.
"This One's for Now"
3:20
3.
"Baguette Dilemma for the Booker Prize Guy"
3:00
4.
"My Outstretched Arms"
2:59
5.
"The Bane of Constance"
3:24
6.
"Theme Tune for Something or Other"
1:19
7.
"False Grit"
2:29
8.
"Old Age Killed My Teenage Bride"
4:01
9.
"Urge for Offal"
3:03
10.
"Stuck up a Hornbeam"
2:38
11.
"Adam Boyle Has Cast Lad Rock Aside"
2:30
12.
"The Unfortunate Gwatkin"
4:38
13.
"Mileage Chart"
4:44
Critical reception
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.[5]
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.[6]
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.[7]
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.[8]
Cultural background
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:
"As told to a boil on the cab driver's neck", a quotation from the song "Fun Day in the Park" on the 2011 album 90 Bisodol (Crimond) by Half Man Half Biscuit
"Baguette Dilemma for the Booker Prize Guy"
Booker Prize, a literary prize awarded each year for the best original novel written in the English language and published in the UK
Aloysius Umbongo N’Danga O’Reilly, a fictional personage equipped with calamity powder
Aloysius, a masculine given name, a Latinisation of the names Louis, Lewis, Luis, Luigi, Ludwig, and so on
Um Bongo, a brand of juice drinks produced by Sumol + Compal, first produced in 1983 by Nestlé (under the Libby's brand) for consumption in the United Kingdom, later licensed for production in Portugal
Beadle, a minor official who carries out various civil, educational or ceremonial duties for civic dignitaries
Lord Gort VC (1886–1946), British and Anglo-Irish soldier who commanded the British Expeditionary Force which was sent to France in the first year of the Second World War and was evacuated from Dunkirk
Berwyn, an isolated and sparsely populated area of moorland located in the northeast of Wales
RNLI, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, the largest charity that saves lives at sea around the coasts of the British Isles, operators of lifeboat station
Antonine Wall, a turf fortification on stone foundations, built by the Romans across what is now the Central Belt of Scotland, between the Firth of Forth and the Firth of Clyde, begun 142 and completed about 12 years later
King James: King James Version, an English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England which was begun in 1604 and which fell from Heaven in 1611
Zen, a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty as Chán and spread south to Vietnam, northeast to Korea and east to Japan
Hammerfist, a side-scrollingbeat 'em up video game developed by Vivid Image and released in 1990 for the Commodore Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC and ZX Spectrum
Dumfries and Galloway, a county in southwestern Scotland comprising the historic counties of Dumfriesshire, Wigtownshire and Stewartry of Kirkcubright
Plockton, a village in the Highlands of Scotland in the county of Ross and Cromarty
Skye, the largest and most northerly major island in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland
Union Jack, the national flag of the United Kingdom (Also known as the "Union Flag")
Epiphone, an American manufacturer of stringed instruments including guitars
"Much has been said of the strumpets of yore", the first line of the song "Landlord's Daughter" in The Wicker Man
BBC4, a British television channel which shows a wide variety of programmes including comedy, documentaries, music, international film, original programmes, drama and current affairs
Beltane, the anglicised name for the Gaelic May Day festival
Topic: Topic Records, a British folk music record label
'Spoons: Wetherspoons, a British pub chain known for cask ale, low prices, long opening hours, no music, and its food
Nelson Burt, nine year-old boy (son of Albin R. Burt) who drowned during the Mersey hurricane of 1822 and is buried in the churchyard of St Lawrence, Stoak; credited as producer of the 2011 album 90 Bisodol (Crimond) by Half Man Half Biscuit
Slow Dempsey, a fictional person associated with Woodside Farm
Woodside Farm, near Wervin, which is a small village and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester
Wervin Turnpike, a road near Wervin
Redbush tea, a herbal tea made from the plant Aspalathus linearis, a native of South Africa's fynbos
Fig roll, a biscuit filled with fig paste that dates back to ancient Egypt
Cresta, a frothy fruit-flavoured drink produced in the United Kingdom from the early 1970s through to around 2007; the wisdom of drinking it has subsequently been questioned
Borehamwood, a town in southern Hertfordshire and an outlying suburb of London
Hall, Stairs and Landing, a fictional band; an experimental trio from Borehamwood
Scott Verplank (born 1964), American professional golfer
Newcombe and Roche: John Newcombe (born 1944) and Tony Roche (born 1945), Australian tennis players who won multiple doubles titles together
Congolesi Unsworth, a fictional band from Glasgow, whose songs were all written by the lead singer's grandfather
Jodie Mudd (born 1960), American professional golfer
Chongo, a character in the TV series Danger Island
Danger Island, a 1968–69 live-action TV adventure serial
"Mileage Chart"
Travel sweets, a glucose-based boiled sweet dusted with glucose powder, manufactured by UK company A. L. Simpkin & Co. Ltd, sold in close-fitting airtight tins often made hard to open by the action of moisture and heat on the glucose powder
Matrix sign, an electronic traffic sign used on roadways to give travellers information about special events such as delays
Arley Hall, a country house in the village of Arley, Cheshire, England
Toll road, a public or private roadway for which a fee (or, toll) is charged for passage
