Welcome To The Beautiful South

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Moving away from ruined lives and relationships, 'I’ve Come For My Award' enters the world of business and dodgy-dealings. The guitar lines sound very much like they were lifted from a Smiths album, and then given some of the band’s trademark jazzy swagger, and the lyrics, as ever, are exemplary; “I took on your free enterprise and your pretty little shops; walked in with empty bags, and walked out with the lot”. In 1990, the Beautiful South released their second album, Choke. Two singles—"My Book" and "Let Love Speak Up Itself"—charted outside the Top 40, but the album also provided the band's only Number 1 hit, a Hemingway/Corrigan duet called " A Little Time". The video, featuring the aftermath of a domestic fight, won the 1991 BRIT Award for Best Video. [3] Third album and Corrigan's departure [ edit ] But this winning formula of sharp lyricism couched in bright pop melodies really began with the seminal 80s pop-soul band, The Housemartins, where singer-songwriter Paul Heaton and drummer-turned vocalist David Hemingway spun their societal observations into infectious pop hits on their 1986 debut album, London 0 Hull 4, featuring the single “Happy Hour.” Then in 1988, during the very peak of their popularity, the group split, and Heaton and Hemingway shifted their sights from garage pop to Top Of The Pops. With a new line-up consisting of former Housemartins’ roadie, bassist Sean Welch, Hemingway’s former Velvetones bandmate, guitarist and co-songwriter Dave Rotheray, and drummer Dave Stead, the group was primed to make their entrance. Gettelman, Parry (27 April 1990). "The Beautiful South". Orlando Sentinel . Retrieved 24 February 2023.

Best of all is the pithily accurate ballad When Romance Is Dead. Although anyone who’s just embarked on married life should probably not listen to the song, Heaton’s tale of a couple growing apart will be recognised by more than a few people – “you know when romance is dead, that deathly cold blast from his side of the bed”. It’s an excellent song, superbly sung by both Wheeler and Hemingway. As what was to become their usual modus operandi, Welcome to The Beautiful South included unreleased material on the B-sides of the singles taken from their albums. [11] Adventurous to be sure, Heaton and the rest of the “South” ventured outside of the boundaries of northern soul, with the inclusion of jazz-beats, sophisticated piano melodies, and New Wave guitars to create the sound of The Beautiful South that would last for almost 20 years. While original lyricism was their raison d’être, they weren’t afraid to throw in an unexpected cover, especially their brilliant take on the 80s R&B hit “Girlfriend” by Pebbles. “I’ll Sail This Ship Alone” throws another curveball, with Heaton in a rare moment of vulnerability finally shows a chink in his armor on this melancholic ballad.Selected items are only available for delivery via the Royal Mail 48® service and other items are available for delivery using this service for a charge. Choke and "A Little Time": Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010 (PDFed.). Mt Martha, Victoria, Australia: Moonlight Publishing. p.27. The Beautiful South's 1989 debut would be important if only to mark the partial continuance of the Housemartins' legacy. But when vocalist Paul Heaton and drummer Dave Hemmingway greeted the world with Welcome to the Beautiful South, the handshake came with a Cheshire grin. Nothing in the Beautiful South was as it seemed. Where there was jaunty, jazzy pop, crossed fingers warned of murderous lyrics. If a single featured a fluttering flute, it was filled with familial terror. "Woman in the Wall," featuring one of the year's most memorable melodies and Heaton's plaintive lead vocal, also featured lines like "He'd enjoyed the thought of killing her before" and "when the rotting flesh began to stink." But even in the album's most gruesome moments, the streak of cynical, caustic sarcasm running through it was as clear as crop circles. This fact only made Welcome's twee goodness that much more fun, for with each well-placed barb it further proved what the Housemartins had started: pop didn't have to be stupid” – AllMusic Taylor, Stella (14 June 2007). "A poignant musical dissertation on student life and dreams". Gazette and Herald . Retrieved 1 November 2019.

It's All Two Beautiful". NME. 23 November 2000. Archived from the original on 29 January 2009 . Retrieved 14 August 2008. The Beautiful South". Brits.co.uk. 19 February 2014. Archived from the original on 20 October 2013 . Retrieved 30 March 2014. The group were known for their wry and socially observant lyrics. They broke up in January 2007, claiming the split was due to "musical similarities", [2] having sold around 15 million records worldwide. So here we are 30 years after its release. Is Welcome to The Beautiful South as good as the band's arresting debut single would suggest? Stavropoulos, Laura (9 May 2023). " 'Welcome To The Beautiful South': The Beautiful South's Subversive Pop Debut". udiscovermusic.com . Retrieved 22 July 2023.

Tracklist

The 1996 album Blue Is the Colour sold over a million copies, and featured hit singles " Rotterdam" and " Don't Marry Her". The album demonstrated the band's gradual shift towards a country music sound, and was well received by the public and on BBC and commercial radio. [ citation needed] In 1997, the Beautiful South headlined stadium concerts for the first and last time, in Huddersfield and at Crystal Palace National Sports Centre in London. Support for the Huddersfield concert was provided by Cast and the Lightning Seeds. [13] Quench [ edit ] There are some songs from your childhood that you clearly remember hearing on the radio for the first time. It was summer 1989, and it was a period of change in my life which my ten year old self was feeling pretty optimistic about. My family were about to move house, I was about to go up to senior school, both big life-events for your average ten year old. I was sat in our old kitchen, my mum was cooking tea with the radio on, something which she habitually did despite the fact she wasn’t a huge fan of late 80s pop music, when suddenly this piano feature was punctuated with a line which I now consider among the greatest opening lines in the history of popular song “I love you from the bottom of my pencil case”. As opening lines to songs go, it’s an absolute winner. Except this just wasn’t any old song. This was the debut single by The Beautiful South, and therefore the first time the public had heard anything by this band. As opening lines to your career go, “I love you from the bottom of my pencil case” may very well be the greatest ever, and is certainly in songwriter Paul Heaton’s top five. Power, Mark (28 July 2020). "When REM created a Monster: inside the tour that almost destroyed them". The Daily Telegraph . Retrieved 30 August 2023.

Using Ms. Corrigan's chirpy passion, Mr. Hemingway's boyish murmur and his own torchy voice, Mr. Heaton has perfected the sort of vocal arrangements he had experimented with on the group's two previous albums. The vocalists don't sound like soul singers, but they do sing soulfully. The Beautiful South is now able to present emotional contrasts throughout the album's various pop styles, ranging from 50's dance beat to British music-hall patter. Clark, Graham (8 August 2022). "Interview With Dave Hemingway - Ex Beautiful South Singer". The Yorkshire Times . Retrieved 30 August 2023. is a brilliant display of restraint mixed with creativity. But this album isn’t all about grumpy-old-man English sarcasm. The Beautiful South – the Band". BBC News. 29 November 2001. Archived from the original on 24 April 2011 . Retrieved 29 August 2023. This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sourcesin this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.

Bourne, Diane (15 February 2007). "Why does it always rain on us?". Manchester Evening News . Retrieved 29 August 2023. The album Quench (1998) was released with similar commercial success, again reaching number one in the UK album charts. " Perfect 10", the first single to be released from the album, also provided the band with further singles chart success. The album is also notable for being more uptempo, and being the first on which Heaton and Hemingway's former Housemartins colleague Norman Cook (Fatboy Slim) was used in a consultancy role. [14] Painting It Red release and Abbott's departure [ edit ] Welcome to the Beautiful South is the debut album by English band The Beautiful South, released in October 1989 by Go! Discs and the next year in the United States by Elektra Records. Three singles were released from the album, which became top 40 hits in the United Kingdom: " Song for Whoever" (#2), " You Keep It All In" (#8) and " I'll Sail This Ship Alone" (#31). a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t "British certifications – Beautiful South". British Phonographic Industry . Retrieved 7 May 2023. Type Beautiful South in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.

Loftus, Johnny. " Welcome to the Beautiful South – The Beautiful South". AllMusic . Retrieved 15 August 2009. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas (9 October 1995). "Carry on Up the Charts: The Best of the Beautiful South - The Beautiful South". AllMusic . Retrieved 28 February 2014. Other nice touches include the brass band on The Next Verse and the country jamboree feel of From Now On, just two examples of the revitalising effect that producer Ian Stanley (former member of Tears For Fears and producer of Tori Amos‘ finest moment Little Earthquakes) has obviously had on the album. The lovely ballad Bed Of Nails is another example of Heaton at his finest, the gorgeous melody hiding some typically clever lyrics. If you never knew you could bop your head to lighthearted songs about murder, well, welcome to The Beautiful South. After politically minded Hull-based indie pop outfit The Housemartins went their separate ways in 1988, vocalist Paul Heaton and drummer Dave Hemingway formed The Beautiful South, the name being a glib nod to Southern England from a band with Northern roots. Their first single—a deeply cynical love song called "Song for Whoever”—was released in September of 1989 and laid out the band’s musical framework of pairing darkly tongue-in-cheek lyrics with jazzy piano riffs and sprightly melodies. The band’s first foray climbed to No. 2 on the charts and their equally bitter romp, "You Keep It All In", with vocalist Briana Corrigan providing a sweet counter note, followed suit. A month later, they released their debut, Welcome to the Beautiful South, sharing their caustic musical humour with fans who were in on the joke. Their peppy breakup anthem "A Little Time" from their 1990 album Choke went to No. 1 as fans related to its spurned lover’s revenge theme, and the singles compilation, Carry on Up the Charts, which they released in 1994, was so popular it reportedly could be found in one in every seven UK households. Over the course of the next 10 years, the band released a steady stream of albums that told grim stories and bleak romances all wrapped in jaunty tunes, as well as jazz-pop covers of songs like Pebbles’ “Girlfriend” and Fred Neil’s “Everybody’s Talkin’”. The band broke up in 2007, spinning off into solo acts and other iterations. On their way out the door, they released a statement saying they were splitting up “due to musical similarities”—a fittingly cheeky farewell. HOMETOWN Hull, England

Find sources: "The Beautiful South"– news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR ( November 2021) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) Waller, Don (13 May 1990). "The Beautiful South, 'Welcome to the Beautiful South,' Elektra / Beats International, 'Let Them Eat Bingo,' Elektra". Los Angeles Times.