release date: Oct. 21, 1996
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,52]
producer: Jon Kelly
label: Go! Discs - nationality: England, UK
Track highlights: 1. "Don't Marry Her" (4 / 5) (censored version) - 2. "Little Blue" - 3. "Mirror" - 4. "Blackbird on the Wire" - 8. "Rotterdam (Or Anywhere)" - 10. "Artificial Flowers"
5th studio album by The Beautiful South and the second to feature Jacqui Abbott on vocals basically continues the band's style, only this finds the band back with stronger songs, and following the success of band's first best of album Carry on Up the Charts, released in Nov. '94. This was the band's first studio album to reach #1 on the national albums chart list. As usual, almost all compositions are written by vocalist Paul Heaton and guitarist David Rotheray, and also with the usual tongue-in-cheek Britishness soaked in irony and sarcasm. The style is slightly altered, and the hints of chamber pop on previous albums has been reduced making it less sophisti-pop-sounding and more mainstream pop / rock founded.
The album quickly raised trouble for the band - this time not as before for the cover art but the track "Don't Marry Her" had its lyrics changed to get any radio airplay, as the original chorus "Don't Marry Her - Fuck Me" had the latter part changed to "Have Me".
[ allmusic.com 4 / 5 stars ]
