View source for Trouble over Bridgwater

{{use dmy dates|date=January 2015}}
{{use British English|date=January 2015}}
{{Infobox album
| name       = Trouble Over Bridgwater
| type       = [[Album]]
| artist     = [[Half Man Half Biscuit]]
| cover      = Trouble Over Bridgwater cover.jpg
| alt        =
| released   = 25 April 2000
| recorded   =
| venue      =
| studio     =
| genre      =
| length     =
| label      = [[Probe Plus]]
| producer   =
| prev_title = [[Four Lads Who Shook the Wirral]]
| prev_year  = 1998
| next_title = [[Editor's Recommendation]]
| next_year  = 2001
}}
{{music ratings
|rev1=[[Allmusic]]
|rev1score={{rating|4|5}}<ref>{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r483331}}</ref>
|rev2=[[NME]]
|rev2score=7/10<ref>{{cite web|title=Half Man Half Biscuit - Trouble Over Bridgwater|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20020601155928/http://www.nme.com/reviews/3826.htm |url=https://www.nme.com/reviews/3826.htm|archivedate=1 June 2002|work=[[NME]]|accessdate=1 November 2019}}</ref>
|rev3=[[Spike Magazine]]
|rev3score=<ref>{{cite web|title=Half Man Half Biscuit - Trouble Over Bridgwater|url=https://spikemagazine.com/0600halfmanhalfbiscuit/|date=1 June 2000|author=Marshall, Gary|work=[[Spike Magazine]]|accessdate=21 August 2024}}</ref>
|noprose=yes
}}
'''''Trouble over Bridgwater''''' is the eighth album by UK rock band [[Half Man Half Biscuit]], released in 2000. The title is a play on words, based on the [[Simon and Garfunkel]] classic, "[[Bridge over Troubled Water (song)|Bridge over Troubled Water]]". [[Bridgwater]] is a town in [[Somerset]], [[England]], but the similarly named [[Bridgewater Canal]] runs nearby the band's home of [[Wirral Peninsula|the Wirral]].
==Track listing==
#"Irk the Purists"
#"[[Uffington, Oxfordshire|Uffington]] [[Wassailing|Wassail]]"
#"Third Track Main Camera Four Minutes"
#"[[Charles Nove|Nove]] on the Sly"
#"Ballad of [[Climie Fisher]]"
#"[[Tony Gubba|Gubba]] Look-a-Likes"
#"Mathematically Safe"
#"With [[Goth subculture|Goth]] on Our Side"
#"Used to Be in Evil Gazebo"
#"Slight Reprise"
#"It's Clichéd to Be Cynical at Christmas"
#"Visitor for [[Noel Edmonds|Mr Edmonds]]"
#"Bottleneck at [[Capel Curig]]"
#"Emerging from Gorse"
#"Look Dad No Tunes"
#"Twenty Four Hour Garage People"
==Cultural references==
{{unreferenced-section|date=August 2024}}
Half Man Half Biscuit often make sly or direct references to celebrities, TV programmes, sportspeople, and to other tunes, lyrics and even literary classics. On this album, those identified include:
* The CD inlay reproduces the title page of ''Old English Songs'' by the [[folk song]] collector [[John Broadwood (song collector)|John Broadwood]] (1798{{ndash}}1864)
*"Irk the Purists" interpolates the [[hymn]] [[Oil in My Lamp]] and the [[Black Lace]] song [[Agadoo]], and references many credible bands and pop artists
* "Third Track Main Camera Four Minutes" quotes from [[Thomas Hardy]]'s ''[[The Return of the Native]]''
* "Gubba Lookalikes" is a reference to [[Tony Gubba]] (1943–2013), a British sports commentator, best known for his football commentaries on [[BBC]]'s [[Match of the Day]] in the 1980s and 1990s.
* "With Goth on Our Side" references the [[Bob Dylan]] song "[[With God on Our Side (song)|With God on Our Side]]".
* "Used to Be in Evil Gazebo" references [[Nick Drake]], [[Tindersticks]], the murder of [[Tupac Shakur]], and a non-credible band
*"Slight Reprise" is a pun on [[The Bluetones]]' "[[Slight Return]]" and [[Jimi Hendrix]]'s "[[Voodoo Child (Slight Return)]]"
* The title "Twenty Four Hour Garage People" is a pun on [[Happy Mondays]]' "[[24 Hour Party People]]". The middle section of the song parodies "[[Rock Island Line]]"; and the conclusion, [[Lead Belly]]'s version of "[[In the Pines]]"
==References==
{{Reflist}}
== External links ==
* [http://cobweb.businesscollaborator.com/hmhb/ The longest-established Half Man Half Biscuit fan site]
* [http://www.chrisrand.com/hmhb/ The Half Man Half Biscuit Lyrics Project]
{{Half Man Half Biscuit}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:2000 albums]]
[[Category:Half Man Half Biscuit albums]]