release date: Nov. 1994
format: digital
[album rate: 4 / 5]
producer: Jon Kelly, The Beautiful South
label: Go! Discs - nationality: England, UK
14 track best of album by The Beautiful South is really a fine album documenting the band's great songwriting. Unlike many best of albums this is actually a really good bargain, I think. Mainly because of the band's somewhat uneven albums. At the point of its release, this was the band's first to reach number #1 on the national albums chart list, and it may have had an impact on promoting the band's music, as both of the following two studio albums also topped the charts. The North American issues contain one or two bonus tracks, and a 2-disc Deluxe Edition comprising B-sides to the band's singles was also released, but the 14 extra tracks doesn't live up to the title, I think, but they could easily have been released on its own grounds. The first three tracks are taken from the the debut Welcome to the Beautiful South from 1989, tracks #4-6 are from the second album Choke from 1990, tracks #7-10 are from the third album 0898 Beautiful South from 1992, tracks #11-13 are from the fourth studio album Miaow from 1994, and track #14 is the non-lp / cd single "One Last Love Song" from Oct. '94.
I really like the way they have put the tracks in chronological order, which makes it a much easier listen.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5 stars ]
