The Housemartins "Now That's What I Call Quite Good" (1988)

Now That's What I Call Quite Good (compilation)
release date: Apr. 1988
format: 2 lp vinyl (303 275 - gatefold) / cd
[album rate: 4 / 5]
producer: various
label: Go! Discs / Chrysalis - nationality: England, UK

24-track compilation album by The Housemartins released after the band had split. The album was simultaneously released as a double vinyl album and a single disc cd, and it was promoted like a best of album, although, it's actually more than that. It contains a number of great songs by the band but also some B-sides to single releases as well as BBC recordings for radio live transmission. Two more recent and more regular best of albums were issued in 2004 and 2011 respectively: The Best of the Housemartins and Happy Hour: The Collection. Being familiar with the band's two studio albums, I really prefer this compilation over the two later ones, as it reflects a broader view on the band.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5 stars ]

The Housemartins "The People Who Grinned Themselves to Death" (1987)

The People Who Grinned Themselves to Death
release date: Sep. 1987
format: digital
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,38]
producer: John Williams, The Housemartins
label: Go! Discs - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "The People Who Grinned Themselves to Death" - 3. "The Light Is Always Green" (4 / 5) - 4. "The World's on Fire" - 7. "Me and the Farmer" - 8. "Five Get Over Excited" - 10. "Bow Down"

2nd and final studio album by The Housemartins was perhaps released in attempt to follow the success of the debut. The band remains the same, the producer and label are likewise unchanged, but the sound is slightly altered towards a more sophisti-pop and / or mainstream pop sound with less focus on the guitar-driven jangle pop, which characterised the debut. This fact saddened me much more then, than it does in retrospect. Shortly after their great debut, the band became associated with its a cappella hit single "Caravan of Love" (original version by the American trio, Isley Jasper Isley issued in '85 as a disco-funk track). I liked it, but really found it too slick, but I do think it brought the band much more fame as a more traditional pop / rock band than the members had hoped / wished for. Anyway, the album title and the title track reverberated with negative response in the national English Press, as it's a rather blunt attack on the Royal family, which, I think, was totally overlooked elsewhere. Back then, I would not have handed the album more than max. 2,5 / 5, being quite disappointing. Nowadays, I find it much better. It may not be the most evident successor to the band's '86 album, but knowing Paul Heaton, and David Hemingway's following band The Beautiful South and its style, this very album only anticipates that as a perfect stepping stone.
The band split up in 1988, making this the final studio album. Lead singer Paul Heaton and drummer and backing vocalist David Hemingway went on to form the highly successful and much more enduring band, The Beautiful South still in '88, and bassist Norman Cook underwent one of the most spectacular transformations ever seen in modern music history. First, he formed the successful alt. dance band, Beats International, and in the mid '90s he became one of the brightest shining stars of the new electronic style of big beat as producer, engineer, programmer, and sample artist known as Fatboy Slim.
[ allmusic.com 4 / 5 stars ]

The Housemartins "London 0 Hull 4" (1986)

org. vinyl cover

London 0 Hull 4 [debut]
release date: Jul. 1986
format: vinyl (207817) / cd
[album rate: 4 / 5] [4,12]
producer: John Williams
label: Go! Discs / Chrysalis- nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Happy Hour" (5 / 5) - 2. "Get Up Off Our Knees" - 3. "Flag Day" - 4. "Anxious" - 5 "Reverends Revenge" - 6. "Sitting On A Fence" - 8. "Over There" - 11. "Lean On Me"

Studio debut album by The Housemartins consisting of founding members Paul Heaton (credited as P.d. Heaton) on vocals and Stan Cullimore on guitar, with Norman Cook on bass and Hugh Whitaker playing drums. This was, however, not the initial line-up, which was nothing more than a duo with Heaton and Cullimore playing together from around 1983. Later on, other members were recruited and again replaced until these four guys made up the band at some point in 1985. The album title refers to Heaton's assertion that the Housemartins only was the fourth best band in Hull, i.e. Hull now had four great bands compared to none from London (the three other and better bands, apparently were: Red Guitars, Everything but the Girl, and The Gargoyles).
I no longer recall when I was introduced to the band, but I acquired the album shortly after its release. I guess, I was looking for other bands playing like Aztec Camera, Everything but the Girl and / or The Smiths, and the cover art suggested a style of alternative pop / rock, indie pop and / or jangle pop. The music is not similar, although, one may call it jangle pop and not unlike Aztec Camera and The Smiths. This is just in a much more positive spirit and played on buckets full of charm and tongue-in-cheek humour. Just take a look at the front cover of the cd version, which contains four extra tracks, and a small subtitle argues that the album contains a total of 16 songs - but 17 hits... Perhaps hinting at the abundance of great music or that the band itself aside from the great tunes is but another hit. However, they don't even need the great lyrics, as one of the most potent tracks, "Reverends Revenge", is an instrumental just blasting off on sheer energy and fine harmonies.
Enlisting the highlights of the album should basically enlist all tracks, that's how good this is. The album was actually so great that they could only disappoint with a future follow-up, which they... then did. Anyway, I was immediately hooked, and the album became one of my absolute favourites of 1986 and of the entire 80s.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5, Record Collector 4 / 5, Sputnikmusic 3,5 / 5 stars ]

<  alternate cover >

cd cover
w/ 4 extra tracks