... They are, of course, the Beautiful South.
The Beautiful south have been around for a long, long time. They came into existence in 1989 after the brake of The HouseMartins (a quality band with hits such as ‘Happy Hour' and ‘Caravan of Love' and of whom Norman cook, aka ‘FatBoy ... Read review
Youll hear talk of national treasures, and theres no denying that erstwhile singer Paul ... more
Heaton is as quintessentially English as they come. Given his service to pop over the past 20 years, hes fairly valuable too. But hes certainly not the shiny sort, "bling" was just the sound a football made when it rebounded off rusting goalposts in the park when he started making records--his value is more akin to a warm mug of tea and a custard cream from the corner shop on a rainy afternoon. For a newer generation perhaps only familiar with the likes of The Beautiful Souths "Perfect 10" its worthwhile going back to the beginning to see why. The Housemartins (also the all singing--if not all dancing--apprenticeship for superstar DJ Norman Cook, aka Fatboy Slim) were a very fine singles band indeed, rushes of acoustic pop and Humberside barbershop harmonies with all the keenness that youth can afford. A virulent "Five Get Over Excited" and "Happy Hour", alongside peerless a capella cover "Caravan of Love", stand testament to an all too brief career. This is where the Beautiful South took up the reigns with a more mature, but no less catchy or vocally impressive, output, spinning timeless comforts like "You Keep It All In", "A Little Time" and "Old Red Eyes Is Back". Soup is the first time the work of the two bands has been collected onto one disc and while 22 tracks is never going to do justice to such an expansive back catalogue, its a splendid starting point. --James Berry
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The Housemartins used crazily bouncing melodies to sweeten their political pop. After they ... more
broke up after just two albums, P.D. Heaton tried a similar technique with the Beautiful South--lush melodies, rolling piano, and beautiful voices sugar-coating delightfully subversive lyrics. Only where the Housemartins railed against bankers and unthinking sheep, the Beautiful South moved from the political to the personal (except for some delicious swipes at the music biz), writing gorgeous love songs to dull partners ("I Love You But You're Boring"), gruesome murders ("Woman in the Wall"), and conversation fear ("You Keep It All In"). Funnier still is "Song for Whoever," which reveals the man behind the love song: "Oh Shirley, Oh Deborah, Oh Julie, Oh Jane/I wrote so many songs about you/I forget your name." --David Daley
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It's often hard to discern where The Beautiful South's sound comes from. Their own brand ... more
of darkly witty white-soul-cum-country sounds like many things. But what makes them tick? We find out with Golddiggas, Headnodders and Pholk Songs. Cover albums are tricky. The band take a risk with "Don't Stop Moving" and "You're The One That I Want", aware of the fans (often their own) who may not appreciate the radical reinterpretations offered here, slowing them down and treating them as near-jazz pieces. Similarly ELO, Blue Oyster Cult, Lush (!), and The Ramones (!!!) get the treatment. Some of it works- "Don't Fear The Reaper" loses its riff but gains smoky Latin overtones--while some of the rearrangements may be considered a little arbitrary. The breadth of taste is to be applauded, as is the adventurous spirit, but this might be one that appeals more to the most loyal of fans. --Thom Allott
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Advantages: 8 albums of pure quality. Disadvantages: Their popularity has decreased in recent years
...a seventeen year old at the beginning of the 21st century I really shouldn't like bands like the Beautiful South. No, instead popular culture tells me I should be listening to either dance ‘music' (or as I like to call it randomly selected sounds put together in any old order and repeated several times) or punk bands that shout a lot (a slight improvement on dance, but not much). But, for some reason, I have not gone along with the tastes of the ... ...indie-like bands such as the Divine Comedy and blur and a bit of rock in the likes of Queen and Bon Jovi. One band, however, takes preference over all other. They are, of course, the Beautiful South.
The Beautiful south have been around for a long, long time. They came into existence in 1989 after the brake of The HouseMartins (a quality band with hits such as ‘Happy Hour' and ‘Caravan of Love' and of whom Norman cook, aka ‘FatBoy ... more
As a seventeen year old at the beginning of the 21st century I really shouldn't like bands like the Beautiful South. No, instead popular culture tells me I should be listening to either dance ‘music' (or as I like to call it randomly selected sounds put together in any old order and repeated several times) or punk bands that shout a lot (a slight improvement on dance, but not much). But, for some reason, I have not gone along with the tastes of the mass audiences. Instead I like the more relaxing tones of indie-like bands such as the Divine Comedy and blur and a bit of rock in the likes of Queen and Bon Jovi. One band, however, takes preference over all other. They are, of course, the Beautiful South.
The Beautiful south have been around for a long, long time. They came into existence in 1989 after the brake of The HouseMartins (a quality band with hits such as ‘Happy Hour' and ‘Caravan of Love' and of whom Norman cook, aka ‘FatBoy Slim', was a member). It was then that Paul Heaton a singer in the HouseMartins and Dave Hemmingway, the House Martin's drummer decided to make a new band.......The Beautiful South. They were joined by David Rotheray, Dave Stead, HouseMartins roadie Sean Welch and Singer Briana Corrigan. Since the formation of the band Briana Corrigan left and was replaced by Jacqui Abbott, who has also recently left.
The Band members perform the following roles within The Beautiful south:- Paul Heaton - Lead singer and writer of all the song lyrics Dave Hemmingway (or Hammy as he has been nicknamed to avoid confusion between Daves in the band) - co-lead singer (despite being drummer for the HM's) but tends to do a lot less vocal work than Heaton David Rotheray - the bands guitarist and writer of the bands ‘tunes' Dave Stead (or Steady - again to prevent confusion) - the drummer Sean Welch - lead bass guitar Briana Corrigan/ Jacqui Abbott - lead female vocalists.
The Beautiful South's style of music is very difficult to categorise. I think it can probably be described as rock-pop but also has hints of country, folk and just about every other type of music in their huge collection of songs. A large percentage of their songs are dominated by the excellent, if slightly rough, lead vocals of Paul Heaton. This is backed up beautifully by a large range of tunes which include quite a bit of brass and percussion. The lyrics of the songs are often very cynical
During the Beautiful South's long career they have made 8 albums (including a greatest hits). This is a quick run through of them all:
*Welcome to the Beautiful South - The bands first album and an excellent start to their career. Containing some of their more unusual songs such as ‘Oh Blackpool' and what is in my opinion the albums best song ‘Love is' which is a 7 minute long beauty of a song ending in Beatle-like lyrics ‘She loves you yeah, yeah, yeah' (repeated several times) followed by ‘She loves me yeah, yeah, yeah' (again repeated a number of times) and ending in ‘I love me yeah, yeah, yeah'. The album was host to three singles ‘Song for Whoever' (reaching number 2 in the British charts), ‘You Keep It All In' (no. 8) and I'll Sail This Alone (a rather disappointing no. 31). Released in 1989.
*Choke - their second album and in my opinion the best. Although short at just over 30 minutes it contains some beautiful lyrics sung by the superb, Canadian and very unusual, yet claiming voice of Briana Corrigan. This is especially prevalent in the song ‘Should've Kept My Eyes Shut' with disturbing lyrics involving the killing of a girls mother that makes up probably the best TBS song. Album includes the singles ‘A Little Time' (the bands only no. 1 to date), ‘My Book' (no. 43), ‘Let Love Speak Up Itself' (no.51). Released in 1990
*0898 - Their third album and another of their best. On the whole the lyrics are very depressing with songs such as ‘old Red Eyes Is Back' and ‘36D' about death and prostitution. Includes the singles (which all performed rather poorly) ‘Old Red Eyes Is Back' (no. 22) ‘We are Each Other' (no. 30) ‘Bellbottomed Tear' (no. 16) and ‘36D' (no. 46). Released in 1992.
*Miaow - this is, in my humble opinion, not the one of bands best albums. The songs seem to concentrate around war and are, again, all quite sad. It was also Briana's last album with the band. Features the songs ‘Good As Gold (But Stupid as Mud)' (no. 23), ‘Everybody's Talkin' (no. 12) and ‘Prettiest Eyes' (no. 37). Released in 1994.
* Carry On Up The Charts - the bands greatest hits album which features all the singles of previous albums plus ‘One Last Love Song' which reached number 14 in the charts but never appeared on any other album. It broke several records when it was released and went multiple times platinum. Released in 1994.
* Blue Is The Colour - the Band 6th album and Jacqui's first with the band. It features what are two of the bands most popular songs ‘Don't Marry Her' and ‘Rotterdam (Or Anywhere). The album also has one of the bands most amusing songs of ‘Liars Bar' with the witty voice of an alcoholic put on by Heaton. Includes the singles ‘Rotterdam' (no. 5), ‘Don't Marry Her' (no. 8), ‘Blackbird On The Wire' (no. 23) and ‘Liars Bar' (no. 43). Released in 1996
* Quench - this album didn't go down very well with many TBS fans due to it being a bit of a departure from their usual style. I however Feel it is a great album, although maybe not their best with great songs such as ‘Your Father and I' with features a mother and fathers very different perspective on the contraception and birth of their child. Has the singles ‘Perfect 10' (no. 2), Dumb (no.16), ‘How Long's a Tear Take to Dry' (no. 12) and ‘The Table' (no. 47) . Released in 1998
* Painting It Red - their last album which was released as either a 17 track or 20 track, 2 CD, album. This is one of their most upbeat albums to date and although not their best is likely to become a classic. Includes the poorly performing singles ‘Closer Than Most' (no. 22) and ‘The River'/'Just Checkin' (at number 59 their worst performing single). Released in 2000. Shortly after it's release Jacqui left the band for ‘Personal reasons'
So that concludes my list of their albums. They are all of the highest quality and I hope that there will be many more in the future. I recommend that if you don't already own any of the albums then you should go out and get one, any one right away...............GO.
Advantages: original, consistently high standard, Paul Heaton, sublime lyrics Disadvantages: more of an album band, little chart success in singles
When The Housemartins released the single Happy Hour in the mid-1980s, I was hooked. I thought they were brilliant and wrote off a fan letter to them. I received a handwritten letter back from Norman Cook (I wonder what happened to him, ha ha!) and a signed photo of the band. Besides Norman, the members were Stan Cullimore (now a successful children's author), Hugh god-know-where-he-is-now and the wonderful Paul Heaton. I think Paul Heaton is the ... ...When The Housemartins split up, I was upset, convinced I'd never hear of Paul again, but thankfully, I couldn't have been more wrong. The Beautiful South emerged in 1989 and have spent the last twelve years producing wonderfully original albums, which linger at the top of the charts, the last four albums hitting the number one position.
Hit singles are few and far between though, for this group is very much album based. However, some have done well ...
KarenUK 24.02.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of The Beautiful South - The Beautiful South
Advantages: Clever, Original and above all a good laugh!! Disadvantages: Don't go for this if you're expecting fast paced rock music.
...you can remember times in the car when your mum, wife or husband put a song on and seconds later you were all singing along with it, albeit badly. The Beautiful South sing that exact kind of music. When you know the words it is impossible to not sing along to almost every song.
The Beautiful South are from Hull, which is a large, northern sea port and my place of origin. They reflect this in their folksy and enjoyable songs. As well as the folk ... ...slower and more bluesy. The kind of songs that really make it obvious that the band has it’s roots entertaining people in small cozy pubs in the north east.
Although in the last paragraph I attempted to pin them down to a few genres this is really impossible. In an interview Paul Heaton said that sometimes he just gets on the ferry to Rotterdam or Amsterdam then gets on a bus and sees where it takes him, then he writes his music. The change ...
JamieNooserp 28.09.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of The Beautiful South - The Beautiful South
Advantages: A long-running band that produce *actual* music! Disadvantages: If you're a new fan, it's hard to get 'in ' with the old-timers
I would be the first to admit I'm not a dedicated fan of the Beautiful South. I don't know all their songs. I don't have all the albums. I don't have the teeshirt (yet). But I went to see my first ever Beautiful South gig last weekend, and had a whale of a time. My father first introduced me to 'Blue Is The Colour' when I was about nine. I remember sitting in our car when he drove me to school singing along to Liar's Bar in our best imitation of ... ...don't know it. I know the band grew from the ashes of The Housemartins, and that they have a hell of a lot of people working on each track. There must have been about 15 people on stage when I was there on the last night of their tour at Sheffield Arena. All I can tell you about is the amazement I felt when they started playing. The place erupted. We had two encores. They started throwing footballs and balloons around the stalls. I haven't been to ...
dreamkin 14.12.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of The Beautiful South - The Beautiful South
Advantages: Fantastic, new experience every album/song. Disadvantages: Not mega success...not for everyone.
The Beautiful South have never really obtained the success they deserve. Despite having a strong following of loyal fans, the boys from Hull, (formally the Housemartins) have only ever had one number one single. Yet their best hits album, "Carry On Up The Charts" is in one in every nine households in Britain. The band who are currently looking for a new female vicalist have been around since 1988...and the underated vocal talents of Paul Heaton, ... ...laziness, beat those of a "Perfect Life". With the fine back-up vocals of Dave Hemmingway..you know everytime a new album comes out, a new experience awaits...from the mind of Paul Heaton. Get into the South. Theres not many bands I like all the songs from,...this is one. ...
rkelly2000 18.12.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of The Beautiful South - The Beautiful South
Advantages: Very original songs, good voices Disadvantages: None
The Beautiful South have been around for years, originally being called the Housemartins and featuring Norman "Fatboy Slim" Cook. They have produced numerous albums over the years, and their singles are always VERY unique and original. The are never predictable, with songs such as "The Table", all about a table, "Perfect 10", about women's dress sizes, and "Dumb", about, well, dumb people! They also have agreat back catalogue of hits, such as "Good ...
DaveRobinson 23.07.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of The Beautiful South - The Beautiful South
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Advantages: Mellow easy to chill to Disadvantages: Maybe a bit to mellow for some.
greatest hits of the beautifulsouth. I think if you only own one album of the beautifulsouth then this should be it. I am having problems trying to concentrate, as I am not typing very well and I keep singing along to the CD. Ok here goes.
1) Song for Whoever
This is a funny song if you listen to the words. I would not say that it is a love song but it could be, if your girlfriends name is in the song as there are about 11 female names in the song. I hear a piano and an electric guitar now what I think yeah there it is a very slow light drum beat.
' love you from the bottom,
Of my pencil case.
I love you in the songs,
I write and sing'
This song was written and produced in 1989, so some of you might not have heard this. well anyone younger than me. Song length 4 minutes.
2) You Keep it All in
This song is about ...
Advantages: Lyrics and mellowness Disadvantages: The songs which have nothing
one of those plumbers who would over charge you while eating a burrito (FAT GIT). Anyway I turned down the TV and I listened to the sweet, sweet music of The BeautifulSouth who at that time were quite popular. I played up to the last level of Mario listening to every song about 4 or 5 times but when 32D came on and the first ?So what? I was killed by Bowser and the game was over but the songs were imprinted onto my memory.
Well enough personal stuff the songs on this album are just, the best of? but the best of BeautifulSouth should be renamed to the greatest songs in this genre. They are mostly love songs but as one great insect once said ?All you need is love? (It was a joke about the Beatles Ha ha ha oh it was wasted on you).
Song for whoever
This is an actual song for whoever, actually to be P.C It is a song for whomever, but ...
Advantages: great tracks, the first album of a brilliant band Disadvantages: a couple of weak tracks
I have been a fan of Paul Heaton since the days of The Housemartins. He is a very talented singer and songwriter, creating some poetic lyrics and singing them with emotion and feeling. A lot of his songs come from his personal experiences, so the degree of feeling he can put into singing them is probably understandable.
This is The BeautifulSouth's first album and features eleven tracks. It begins with Song For Whoever, which is very catchy and good fun, but as always, has a deeper meaning, with its theme of love and how fickle it can be.
My personal favourite on this album is I'll Sail This Ship Alone, which is a beautiful tune too, especially with the violins, which accompany the moving lyrics well. I have the 12" single version of this too, which is even more impressive.
You Keep It All In and The Woman In The Wall are ...
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