Half Man Half Biscuit – All Asimov And No Fresh Air (2025)

Every three years or so, a new HMHB album comes along with Nigel Blackwell's wry observations on anything that impinges on his consciousness, to a bouncy tune in three minutes or thereabouts.

This most recent album (their 15th) jumped out of the racks of HMV's sale at me a couple of weeks ago.

And, as ever, this is a collection of listenable pop/rock songs, replete with pithy one liners, bizarre trains of thought, obscure cultural reference and some utter madness. There's only a couple of stand outs, the most obvious being Record Store Day, with perhaps a suggestion the event might be overhyped (Hip hip hooray, it's Record Store Day, you're going to need a second mortgage), and my personal favourite, a Spaghetti Western style tune about west country crime fighters McCalliog And His Hens.

There's plenty of fun to be had with the bouncy, Horror Clowns Are Dickheads, niche '70s football reference in Birmos In The Cowshed, and the frankly bizarre Rawlplugs Of Yesteryear (yes, a history of the rawlplug in song - intended for the US market, to, as the song ends, break the USA). And if that's not enough, the otherwise fairly ordinary The Bliss Of The Hereafter, morphs into the 1970s Whitbread Trophy Bitter advert (the pint that thinks it's a quart).

Towards the end there's the usual sombre song in Falmouth Electrics, which, I'm afraid, drags a bit, and there's a lot that won't make the set list for the long haul.

But, as you'd expect, it's an album which entertains, rather than moves, and there's nothing wrong with that. Possibly more misses than hits, but when they hit the mark, it's clear that after 40 years they've still got it.

No link to full album, but see text for track links

3* - a decent bit of fun in dark times