The Beautiful South "Superbi" (2006)

Superbi
release date: May 15, 2006
format: cd
[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,16]
producer: Ian Stanley
label: Sony BMG - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 2. "Manchester" - 3. "There Is Song" - 4. "The Cat Loves the Mouse" - 7. "Meanwhile" - 9. "Bed of Nails" - 10. "Never Lost a Chicken to a Fox"

10th and final studio album by The Beautiful South and its second for Sony BMG. It introduces a new producer [Ian Stanley, former keyboardist of Tears for Fears] after having working with Jon Kelly from the band's third to its most recent album Golddiggas Headnodders & Pholk Songs from 2004, or over a period of 12 years. In that sense Superbi introduces a new start of The Beautiful South, and although, Paul Heaton and David Rotheray still have composed all its songs, the band does sound refreshingly new. Or: they have made some 'progression' and once again focused in the making of new material. 'Progression' because it shares much with former fine albums. What was slowly introduced over several albums from Blue Is the Colour back in '96 and through the next three albums was a certain country-inspired British folk sound, which comes out more original and full-fledged on this. Maybe it doesn't contain truly great songs but the bottom level has surely raised. Whether it's thanks to Ian Stanley, a new record deal, or Paul Heaton, who has finally given in on his gloomy tristesse is uncertain, but it's nice to hear The Beautiful South - again.
Without being great, it's a nice listen - much on par with Quench (1998) without reaching the heights of the band's first three.
The album was the last by The Beautiful South, and in Jan. 2007 the band officially announced its split due to *'musical similarities' - an ironic reference to 'musical differences' which are often cited as the reason for a band's split.
*[from wikipedia, source].
[ allmusic.com 3 / 5 stars ]

The Beautiful South "Golddiggas Headnodders & Pholk Songs" (2004)

Golddiggas Headnodders & Pholk Songs
release date: Oct. 18, 2004
format: cd
[album rate: 3 / 5] [2,86]
producer: Paul Heaton, Jon Kelly
label: Sony Music UK - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 2. "Livin' Thing" - 6. "Don't Fear the Reaper" - 11. "Blitzkrieg Bop"

9th studio album by The Beautiful South is the last to be co-produced with Jon Kelly and the first on Sony after leaving Mercury and Go! Discs. This is a very different release from a band, who as always played and written original compositions as except from one song, it's made up of cover versions. It's not great but the versions are quite original in the way various distinctive songs from different eras, styles and genres all have been transposed into the musical universe of The Beautiful South regardless if punk rock, soul pop, funk or disco was the original incarnation of the song.
Now, not that I find it among their best, it is more than just a mediocre covers album, which is something else, also in this era of the band.
[ allmusic.com 3,5 / 5 stars ]

The Beautiful South "Gaze" (2003)

The Beautiful South
release date: Oct. 27, 2003
format: digital
[album rate: 2,5 / 5] [2,44]
producer: Jon Kelly, John Brough, Paul Heaton
label: Mercury, Go! Discs - nationality: England, UK

8th studio album by The Beautiful South who has regrouped with new vocalist Allison Wheeler replacing Jacqui Abbott, who left after the release of Painting It Red. The style is unchanged a mix of sophisti-pop and country and folk with focus on story-telling about working class life and partnership struggles, which seems like Heaton's only subjects.
Compared to earlier compositions the band has put aside the more original chorus-based songs and instead rest satisfied with a handful of song templates to go with new lyrics.
To me, this is just another mediocre release from this once fine band.
[ allmusic.com 2,5 / 5 stars ]

The Beautiful South "Solid Bronze - Great Hits" (2001)

Solid Bronze - Great Hits (compilation)
release date: Nov. 12, 2001
format: digital
[album rate: 3 / 5]
producer: various
label: Mercury, Go! Discs - nationality: England, UK

2nd official compilation album by The Beautiful South released at a time when rumors had it that the band was about to split. After Painting It Red (2000) Jacqui Abbott left the band and a chaotic live tour followed.
The album consists of 19 tracks and features songs from all of their albums, but with shuffled tracks it's a rather difficult listen, and some of the best tracks from Carry on Up the Charts: The Best of The Beautiful South from 1994 - the first compilation album are truly missing. The finest songs of the band's early career have been replaced by newer but lesser songs in order to make room for tracks released from '96 up until the most recent album Painting It Red, which has 3 tracks on the album.
The idea of the release is hard to find, if it was intended as the sequel to Carry on Up the Charts, it's hard to argue why on earth it would be necessary to include 7 [!] tracks from the first compilation album. If, on the other hand, it's an attempt to sum up the bands best songs ever, well, the band simply hasn't made enough great songs after Carry on Up the Charts to excuse the presence of 9 tracks from albums released since the first best of album, thus excluding some of the band's most familiar and popular songs.
The best songs on this album are still found on the '94 compilation, so the album would only be interesting if you just want two by the band. An even better solution might be to check out the 2006 2-disc compilation Gold with a total of 36 tracks. Only bad thing about that is a shuffled playlist, but the tracks are there.
*Two promotion compilations were released by Go! Discs in between the two mentioned official compilations, The Carry on Continues...: The Best and Next of The Beautiful South from '96, and To Hull and Back from 2000, but they were never official releases.
[ allmusic.com 2,5 / 5 stars ]

The Beautiful South "Painting It Red" (2000)

Painting It Red
release date: Oct. 9, 2000
format: digital
[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,08]
producer: Jon Kelly, Paul Heaton
label: Go! Discs / Mercury - nationality: England, UK

7th studio album by The Beautiful South is the band's studio release with the most tracks - 19 on the original release (the US release contains 17 tracks), which also comes in a 2-disc version with 20 tracks. This is the last album to feature Jacqui Abbott on vocals.
The style hasn't changed - in fact the band hasn't made much progress since the beginnings in regards to adding new styles and / or genres to the band's initial style. Only change is the addition of country elements with Blue Is the Colour from 1996. Heaton and Rotheray are as always songwriters and composers but there are simply no true remarkable tracks on this to satisfy a need to buy this album, imho. If the '98 album Quench was a bit of a step down from previous releases, this one is yet another step down, and to me, this is only above the mediocre and a first low point in the band's long career.
[ allmusic.com 3 / 5 stars ]

The Beautiful South "Quench" (1998)

Quench
release date: Oct. 12, 1998
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,38]
producer: Jon Kelly and Paul Heaton
label: Mercury Records - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "How Long's a Tear Take to Dry?" (live) - 3. "Big Coin" (live) - 4. "Dumb" - 5. "Perfect 10" - 9. "Window Shopping for Blinds" - 12. "Losing Things"

6th studio album by The Beautiful South originally released on Go! Discs and for the 4th consecutive time with Jon Kelly in the producer seat. Stylistically, this band doesn't evolve much or incorporate new ideas to its repertoire, and nevertheless they continue to come up with interesting songs about life in general. It's not lyrics about major global issues but the never-ending works and re-works on human conditions involving relationships between men and women. The album peaked at #1 on the national album charts list like its predecessor following the band's first best of album Carry on up the Charts from '94, which was its first album to reach the highest position in the UK. The single "Perfect 10" featuring Paul Weller on additional guitar was the best fairing single of the album reaching #2 on the singles chart list. I find the album quite nice and really good - kind of "solid". It's well-played and cleverly arranged, I just think that the band tend to have put itself in the middle of everything: not really pressing anyone's toes, nor coming up with great new ideas. It's a bit... "so what!?" I miss the edgy lyrics, the energetic jangle pop elements, and something else but niceness. The small narratives about standardised normality are, however, sheer uplifting irony, which makes it anything but boring.
The front cover depicting a boxer is an artwork by Scottish painter Peter Howson.
[ allmusic.com 3 / 5 stars ]

The Beautiful South "Blue Is the Colour" (1996)

Blue Is the Colour
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 ]

The Beautiful South "Carry on Up the Charts: The Best of The Beautiful South" (1994)

Carry on Up the Charts: The Best of The Beautiful South (compilation)
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 ]

The Beautiful South "Miaow" (1994)

org. cover

Miaow
release date: Mar. 1994
format: cd
[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,12]
producer: Jon Kelly, The Beautiful South
label: Go! Discs - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Hold on to What?" - 2. "Good as Gold (Stupid as Mud)" - 4. "Everybody's Talkin' " - 6. "Worthless Lie" - 7. "Hooligans Don't Fall in Love"

4th studio album by The Beautiful South and the first to feature new vocalist Jacqui [Jacqueline] Abbott who replaced Briana Corrigan. Jacqui would stay in the band for four studio albums before leaving in 2000 to concentrate on her family. The style hasn't changed much, although, it has become even less jangle pop influenced, but social and moral issues remain central themes to the song writing. It's an album without the stronger tracks one will find on the band's first two albums, and it leaves me with a sensation without immediate appeal, and as such: very much like its predecessor 0898, a fine release without much greatness. Norman Cook (former member of The Housemartins) is credited for programming on "Hooligans Don't Fall in Love". Best faring single from the album is strangely the 1960s Fred Neil classic "Everybody's Talkin' ", which seems a bit off, style-wise, I think.
The initial prints of the album was marked with a front cover by German artist Michael Sowa (google search), which was seen as an insult by the giant HMV, who argued that the cover art was mocking its trademark, and a new front cover was made (also by Sowa).
[ another wonderful Sowa art: "Autobahnsau" => 'Highway pig' ].
[ allmusic.com 3 / 5 stars ]

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The Beautiful South "0898 Beautiful South" (1992)

0898 Beautiful South
release date: Mar. 1992
format: vinyl / cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,48]
producer: Jon Kelly, The Beautiful South
label: Go! Discs - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Old Red Eyes Is Back" (acoustic live version) - 2. "We Are Each Other" (3,5 / 5) (live) - 3. "The Rocking Chair" - 4. "We'll Deal With You Later" - 6. "36D" (3,5 / 5) - 9. "I'm Your No.1 Fan" - 11. "You Play Glockenspiel, I'll Play Drums"

3rd studio album by The Beautiful South with a new producer, which basically is the best thing about the album. The band line-up as a sextet remain the same as on the previous album, but it's the last to feature Briana Corrigan, who left the band in '92 to pursue a solo career. This was the first album I bought with the band, and I always found it rather good, but also a bit on the dull side, which is hard to explain. Maybe it just stays a bit too much on the same track, and then, despite several good compositions, the best being "We Are Each Other", I don't find that it contains any really great tracks. Mind you, this is, however, by no means a mediocre or irrelevant album.
[ allmusic.com 3 / 5 stars ]

The Beautiful South "Choke" (1989)

Choke
release date: Oct. 1990
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,72]
producer: Mike Hedges, The Beautiful South
label: Go! Discs - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Tonight I Fancy Myself" (4 / 5) - 3. "Let Love Speak Up Itself" - 4. "Should've Kept My Eyes Shut" - 5. "I've Come for My Award" - 8. "A Little Time" (4,5 / 5) (live) - 9. "Mother's Pride"

2nd studio album by The Beautiful South now with Briana Corrigan (featured as backing vocalist on the debut) as full member making the band a sextet (symbolised by the cover art). The style is more or less the same as on the debut. Only downside to another fine album is the production side of it. I mean, playing with piano, brass, horns and strings as in a sophisti-pop, chamber pop universe doesn't require much to make it warm and ambient-sounding - it just sounds a bit like a first take and as a single-layered production. And yes, the texts play a major part, I know, which is why I find it clearly above the average.
[ allmusic.com 3,5 / 5 stars ]

The Beautiful South "Welcome to The Beautiful South" (1989)

org. vinyl cover

Welcome to The Beautiful South [debut]
release date: Oct. 1989
format: vinyl (AGOLP 16) / cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,68]
producer: Mike Hedges, The Beautiful South
label: Go! Discs - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Song for Whoever" (4 / 5) (live) - 3. "From Under the Covers" - 4. "I'll Sail This Ship Alone" - 7. "You Keep It All In" - 9. "Oh Blackpool"

Studio debut album by The Beautiful South consisting of the two former members of The Housemartins Paul Heaton and Dave Hemingway with Dave Rotheray on guitar, Sean Welch on bass, and with Dave Stead on drums fulfilling the quintet. Hemingway formerly played drums but here, together with Heaton, he is one of the band's two leading vocalists. Also keyboardist Damon Butcher took part as studio musician - a role he would stick to with the band's forthcoming albums without ever becoming a full member. Brianna Corrigan (vocals) contribute on this, she would become a full member on the following two albums. The style is a mix of pop soul and pop / rock mostly referred to as sophisti-pop. Some tracks are closer to the style of The Housemartins but the majority of songs are build on piano and brass instead of guitars. Where Heaton and Hemmingway's former band seemed trapped within a 'pop' frame, having had fine successes playing more traditional love songs, The Beautiful South are more social- and political-minded.
The front cover art by Czech photographer Jan Saudek was apparently too strong for the British retail chain Woolworths, who refused to sell the album until an alternative cover was made. Knowing a little about the founding humour of the band, the alternative cover depicts a stuffed toy rabbit and a teddy bear, which of course should not be able to disturb anyone. The "Fluffy Toy Cover" was issued a few months later - still in '89. Also an alternative cover featured on the North American first issue, which only featured the photo of the smoking man by Saudek.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5 stars ]

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