Defend The Indefensible: The Beautiful South

Perhaps I have forgotten it.

(i quite like it actually)

I suppose I quite like "A Little Time". the South's later stuff is horrendous.

I used to ADORE the Beautiful South . . . funny and witty and tunes. Good songs sung well . . . what more could you want?

Their pinnicle is the Blue is the Colour album. It is, without doubt, one of THE darkest albums ever made. But it's not dark in a dead-of-night kinda way . . . it's dark in a grey-day kinda way. You know . . . when the day is so boring, so bad, and so terrible, life looks like its viewed through a monochrome TV set with the contrast turned right down. The songs are great individually, but brilliant together, creating a kind of middle-class darkness thats far more convincing than your usual feel-my-pain Pink Floyd derived proclamations.

It least, that's what I thought at the time.

I listened to this album about a fortnight ago . . . it's still not bad. The full impact has been lost over time, but it's still good rousing stuff, especially Have Fun and Mirror, and Blackbird on a Wire is a lovely, lovely song.

Even if everything else they've done is a dud (which it isn't - Red Eyes is Back and Song for Whoever, despite the tweeness, are great songs) this album redeems them. Indefensible? Hardly.

"And the Sunday sun shines down on San Francisco bay" . . . that bit.

As far as I can see it contains no bridge - ie. no third element that departs from the see-saw of verse and chorus.

Admittedly, though, I cannot instantly hear a tune when I look at all of these lines. Some of them are a touch ungainly.

I do not care for the obscenities, either.

DON'T MARRY HER

Think of you with pipe and slippers
Think of her in bed
Laying there just watching telly
Then think of me instead

I'll never grow so old and flabby
That could never be
Don't marry her, fuck me

And your love light shines like cardboard
But your work shoes are glistening
She's a PhD in "I told you so"
You've a knighthood in "I'm not listening"

She'll grab your sweaty bollocks
Then slowly raise her knee
Don't marry her, fuck me

And the Sunday sun shines down on San Francisco bay
And you realise you can't make it anyway
You have to wash the car
Take the kiddies to the park
Don't marry her, fuck me

Those lovely Sunday mornings
With breakfast brought in bed
Those blackbirds look like knitting needles
Trying to peck your head

Those birds will peck your soul out
And throw away the key
Don't marry her, fuck me

And the kitchen's always tidy
And the bathroom's always clean
She's a diploma in "just hiding things"
You've a first in "low esteem"

When your socks smell of angels
But your life smells of Brie
Don't marry her, fuck me

And the Sunday sun shines down on San Francisco bay
And you realise you can't make it anyway
You have to wash the car
Take the kiddies to the park
Don't marry her, fuck me

And the Sunday sun shines down on San Francisco bay
And you realise you can't make it anyway
You have to wash the car
Take the kiddies to the park
Don't marry her, fuck me

I thought it was lots of verses punctuated by an occasional middle 8.

If you aren't that bothered by the lyrics, you'd find it a bit tedious, I guess. But why does the absence of a middle 8 necessarily make it boring? Lots of cool songs don't have a middle 8 (or a chorus, depending on your point of view)

But this song needs more musical variation than it has. As it stands I find it unbelievably pedestrian. That's leaving aside the lyrical problems.

I think it's better on the album than as a stand-alone track. As a gentle introduction into the fug, it's great, but as a stand alone track, it can be a little dull.

"Don't marry her, fuck me" isn't half as good as "Don't marry her, have me", either. The latter is too shocking, too callous - the former is vague and subversive. It would underpin the albums "Where have all the morals gone?" theme better than the version taht eventually ended up on there.

You get what I mean though. I'm a fighter, not a writer!

Also, I'm in America - where you have to turn over a lot of stones to find anyone even remotely familiar with The Beautiful South.

-Eric

The first Housemartins album was great, but after that: Nothing much.

Some of their stuff is crap. CRAP.

It's like a lucky dip without the cellophane.

-The Hideous North

Actually if you read your original post I'm sure you'd be be ashamed at its presumptuous, exuberant, bolloxicity.

I'd like to withdraw the vehemence of last night's statement but retain the sentiment.

The Beautiful South invented indie.

Or at least what we nowadays see as "indie" in the top 40, Diet Coke Zero-drinking, Tim Lovejoy-quoting ViewPigeonDetectivesKaiserChiefsRazorlightMilburn bands. Britpop as influencing modern indie is the biggest music critic red herring ever invented. 80s indie influnces + "I am soooooo drunk" lyrics + hoolie appreciation = both.

i remember quite liking paul heaton's solo album thing he did in 2001.

Something about biscuits and asylum seekers, yes?

i agree with tom that the beautiful south are the worst band ever produced by britain. they're the aural equivalent of that time travelling sitcom that starred nicholas lyndhurst and the fat guy from 'bread'. or 'my hero'.
-- pulpo, Monday, 18 August 2003 09:24 (3 years ago) Bookmark Link

that makes them sound like the second best band ever thou. the best band ever would sound like "the piglet files".

The Beautiful South invented Belle & Sebastian but that's about it. Unfortunately.

There was that letter into the NME in about 1998 that was just a list of Beautiful South/B&S similarities. They lost me about the same time they claimed that "A Perfect 10" and "String Bean Jen" were basically the same song.

That's pretty small.

"Song for Whoever" may be the smuggest song ever as well. Not sure if that's "in a good way".

They were great when Brianna was there ("Would you still love me if I lost my legs?"= classic!) but after that I totz stopped paying attention...I hate that new chick.

Indefensible? C'mon, the first four albums are full of gems. I loved the whole iron fist in a velvet glove thing. Lyrical bile presented in a public-friendly muzak style. And it sold! I just bought the BBC Sessions, lots of their best tracks. They lost me after -Miaow- though.

Paul Heaton's, Dave Rotheray's and Sean Welch's audio commentary on the Munch DVD is one of the most entertaining I've ever heard (the videos themselves though are almost all complete shite, which kind of helped).

This is definitely a question that means something different in the US than in the UK. In the US they've just been another British indie band that never sold very well, but that a few Anglophiliac college kids dug. (I was one of in the early 1990s.) The voices aren't remarkably bad...I'd even say they're great compared to the competition at that level of UK import at the time (e.g. Charlatans, Soup Dragons). I still love the first record, esp. "From Under the Covers", which inexplicably utterly destroyed me when I moved far from home to college. "36D", "We Are Each Other", the cover of "Girlfriend" on the first record...these are catchy, bouncy pop. From what I'm seeing on the thread the band comes with a lot of cultural baggage in the UK, but I don't think this ever translated over here (thankfully).

"Song for Whoever" may be the smuggest song ever as well. In a great way.

By the way, if you thought Heaton or anyone who wrote songs was the problem: http://www.newbeautifulsouth.co.uk/

I'd kind of forgotten how great "My Book" and "We Are Each Other" are.

My mind is kinda blown at noting Lex talking about how he doesn't mind them way upthread!

this revive was spawned by a coworker IMing me "What was that song that started 'I love you from the bottom of my pencil case'?" and me going on a Youtube binge shortly thereafter

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welcome_to_the_Beautiful_South

also I'd never seen the alternate album cover, lololol

"prevent the hoards of impressionable young fans from blowing their heads off in a gun-gobbling frenzy, or taking up smoking"

Indeed.

I am hoping that isn't a US/UK spelling thing and that they really do mean hoards of fans

The New Beautiful South have changed their name to 'The South'.
You can find The South at www.thesouth.uk.com
Its all about the songs!

Thank you