Woopdidoo. Only one exam left. Hurrah. Role on wednesday afternoon....... Phil :)
Woopdidoo. Only one exam left. Hurrah. Role on wednesday afternoon....... Phil :)
Member since:02.03.2001
Reviews:81
Members who trust:52
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.
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carry on up the charts is definately in my top ten albums I didnt like this band until I saw them at T in the park in 1995 and now I love them it was a great performance from them Jen.
KarenUK 13.05.2001 15:36
The Beautiful South are my all-time fave band too! I wrote an op about them on here somewhere as well & reviewed a couple of the albums. We have them all now, we just got Painting It Red on Friday. I saw The housemartins in concert in 1986 & got a handwritten letter from Norman Cook & a signed photo of all 4 HMs just after the 'Happy Hour' success :-)
Claw 16.04.2001 18:01
A really useful opinion on a band that I've always liked but never really followed too closely. This Op his prodded my interest again. Cheers, Claw.
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