Have fun (The Beautiful South) (LP 4215)

The Beautiful South  Blue is the Colour (CD, Go! Discs Records, 1996) ***  

Genre: Pop rock

Places I remember: Real Groovy Records

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Don't Marry Her

Gear costume: Rotterdam (or Anywhere)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6

Active compensatory factors: I have already written about the other album I have by The Beautiful South (Quench) but for some reason I haven't yet written about the album that preceded it - Blue is the Colour, from 1996.

This was their fifth album, but the first album I bought (and kept) from the band formed in 1988 by Paul Heaton and Dave Hemingway, two former members of the Housemartins,

The participants on Blue is the Colour are Heaton and Hemingway on vocals, joined by Jacqui Abbott (she is brilliant on Don't Marry Her and elsewhere), Dave Rotheray (guitar), Sean Welch (bass), and Dave Stead (drums). 

Where do they all belong? A little goes a long way with The Beautiful South but Blue is the Colour does the trick as far as I'm concerned.

Window shopping for blinds (The Beautiful South) (LP 326)

The Beautiful South Quench (CD, Go! Disc Records 1998) ***

Genre:  English pop/rock 

Places I remember: Bought from a charity shop in Caterham before we left England and put onto my ipod.

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Pockets




Gear costume:  The Table

Active compensatory factors: Jacqui Abbott is a wonderful  singer and she is thankfully featured a few times on this record. No enough for my liking, mind. 

The best and worst aspects of The Beautiful South are also on display here. That would be some clever clogs lyrics that stick in my craw (whatever and wherever a craw is).

Nevermind - the gems and the instrumentation make up for that in their music .


Where do they all belong? This one came after my all time favourite record from TBS - Blue Is the Colour.

Stand up! Stand up! (The Housemartins) #173

The Housemartins 
Caravan Of Love/ When I First Met Jesus (Chrysalis, K 239, 1988)

I  have a soft spot for the two groups lead by Paul Heaton - The Housemartins (who also at one time contained Norman Cook - a.k.a. the future Fatboy Slim) and The Beautiful South.

He has a great voice, a keen wit and writes clever songs. Sometimes they're a little too clever (like 10cc) but generally he's an amiable companion.

This was easily their biggest hit - a version of the Isley Brothers song. The single even went to number one in the UK charts.

I can understand why. It's like Mull of Kintyre - a snazzy singalong that gets into the brain in a non annoying way.

Hidden gem: The B side is also an a cappella performance but this time a gospel song rather than a pop one. It reflected the band's christian stance.