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]

years later and “Song for Whoever”, with its subverting and brilliant pulling apart of love song tropes, is still my favourite Beautiful South song. So why didn’t I buy Welcome to The Beautiful South at the earliest opportunity? Because I was ten years old when it came out, that’s why. A few years later there would be a copy of the The Best of The Beautiful South: Carry On Up the Charts compilation in our house. This compilation opened with “Song for Whoever”, and contained pretty much every Beautiful South number that I had any affection for, and as a teenager with very limited disposable income, I never really investigated The Beautiful South any further, outside of being partial to their tunes when I heard them on the radio. 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. Stavropoulos, Laura (9 May 2023). " 'Welcome To The Beautiful South': The Beautiful South's Subversive Pop Debut". udiscovermusic.com . Retrieved 22 July 2023. Heaton has always been that most British of songwriters, and that tradition continues here, from the celebration of that famously rain sodden city of Manchester (“If rain makes Britain great, then Manchester is greater”), or the vicious disillusionment on the duet of The Cat Loves The Mouse, those very English emotions of disappointment and melancholy are fully on display. It's All Two Beautiful". NME. 23 November 2000. Archived from the original on 29 January 2009 . Retrieved 14 August 2008.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”.

Contemporary Musicians, Volume 19". beautifulsouth.org. 1 September 1997. Archived from the original on 21 June 2007 . Retrieved 26 July 2007.The third initial bandmember was Dave Rotheray, a songwriting guitarist who'd previously played with Hemingway in two other Hull bands, the Newpolitans and the Velvetones. At the time, Rotheray was studying for a PhD at the University of Hull and living on Grafton Street, where Heaton also lived. Rotheray and Heaton became the songwriting team for the Beautiful South, which was conceived as a quintet with Heaton and Hemingway (who was no longer drumming) as the two lead singers. The core band was completed by Dave Stead (ex-Luddites/Vicious Circle) on drums, and former Housemartins roadie Sean Welch on bass guitar. Also important to the band's sound was studio keyboard player Damon Butcher — though never an official member of the group, he would end up playing virtually all the piano and keyboard parts on the band's albums. Find sources: "The Beautiful South"– news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR ( November 2021) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) Even if you were caught off guard by the lilting harmonies and finger-snapping choruses, the controversial cover hinted at the dark comedic streak that would become the thru-line of the band. Conceived by artist Jan Saudek, the cover depicted a woman with a gun in her mouth, and another with a man smoking, which was famously banned by the American retail chain Woolworths, resulting in an alternative cover with an innocuous teddy bear. 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 ] 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).

Clark, Graham (8 August 2022). "Interview With Dave Hemingway - Ex Beautiful South Singer". The Yorkshire Times . Retrieved 30 August 2023. 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. Bourne, Diane (15 February 2007). "Why does it always rain on us?". Manchester Evening News . Retrieved 29 August 2023. 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.In 1994, St Helens supermarket shop-worker Jacqui Abbott was brought on board to fill in as the new third lead vocalist for the band. Heaton had heard her sing at an after-show party in St Helens and remembered her vocal talents. Heaton referred to her as "the lass from the glass" [9]—a reference to the Pilkington factory in St Helens. Abbott's first album with the band was Miaow in the same year. Hits included "Good as Gold (Stupid as Mud)" and a cover of Fred Neil's " Everybody's Talkin'", previously popularised by Harry Nilsson. 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. Choke and "A Little Time": Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010 (PDFed.). Mt Martha, Victoria, Australia: Moonlight Publishing. p.27.

I am going to select a band/artist who is still going - as I realise the past couple have concerned artists no longer in operation. The same can be said for The Beautiful South. They are one of my favourite bands ever and, in my view, they are underrated and do not get the credit they deserve. If you are a bit new to The Beautiful South then here is a bit of information: 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?

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Taylor, Stella (14 June 2007). "A poignant musical dissertation on student life and dreams". Gazette and Herald . Retrieved 1 November 2019. Obviously, the Beautiful South are never going to be the most fashionable group in the world, and there’s a good chance that Superbi will sell to their fanbase without making any big splashes in the chart. Yet Paul Heaton and company have never been particularly bothered about being hip, and Superbi is another example of this most resolutely British of bands quietly getting on with what they do best” – MusicOMH 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 The Beautiful South". Brits.co.uk. 19 February 2014. Archived from the original on 20 October 2013 . Retrieved 30 March 2014.