[ October 25, 2000 ]
NME: Chicago Park West
NME
Chicago Park West
October 25, 2000
by James Brixey
For The Beautiful South, Wednesday night at Chicago's Park West is another night of everything but the girl.
Seemingly unfazed by the shock departure of singer Jacqueline Abbott days earlier, The Beautiful South are carrying on through the hits on a short U.S. tour that leads up to the American release of the bands new disc, 'Painting It Red', on October 31.
"I have to apologise for Jacqui not being here. She had to go home", says lead singer Paul Heaton, who nonetheless keeps the reason for her exit a secret.
"But were going to try to manage our best without her", continues the high-spirited Heaton early in the band's 80-minute set before a crowd of several hundred.
And manage well, they do. Reports from earlier stops on the U.S. tour indicated Abbott was hardly missed. In fact, her absence gives Heaton and fellow singer Dave Hemingway the chance to put an amusing and well-received twist on such singles as 'We Are Each Other' and 'Perfect 10'.
"This one we've had to alter a little bit, so just go with it", Heaton says in introducing the latter. Hemingway follows, "Just pretend I'm gay".
"You did a good job, Dave," Heaton says at the conclusion of this story of plus-size lovers, then turns to the crowd with a smile, "It fits him, doesn't it"?
Delores / Link to Here
[ October 23, 2000 ]
NME: Singer Needs A Little Time Alone
NME
Singer Needs A Little Time Alone
Oct 23, 2000
BEAUTIFUL SOUTH singer JACQUELINE ABBOTT has been forced to pull out of a promotional tour of the US and Canada and return to the UK, NME.COM can reveal.
The singer, scheduled to play eight dates with the band ahead of the October 31 North American release of their new album 'Painting It Red', left the US at the weekend due to "personal reasons".
A spokesperson for the band told NME.COM that further details were unavailable at present.
"Jacqueline had to come home for personal reasons," she explained, "and so will miss the five dates on the tour. The rest of the band will complete the dates in her absence."
The dates The Beautiful South will play without Abbott are:
# Boston, Ma, Avalon Ballroom (October 22)
# Toronto, Canada, The Warehouse at RPM (24)
# Chicago, Il, Ppark West (25)
# San Francisco, CA, Fillmore (27)
# West Hollywood, CA, House Of Blues (28)
Delores / Link to Here
[ October 22, 2000 ]
NME: Boston Avalon Ballroom
NME
Boston Avalon Ballroom
Oct 22, 2000
by Benjamin Wolford
The Beautiful South aren't doing half-bad, considering how hard it is to find a good babysitter these days. Mums of a median age and MOR mood don't go out that often anyway. Proof enough is that 'Little Deuce Coupe' sees more ass-shaking in than 'I See You Baby'.
"We're going to play a few songs we haven't played in a few years," says the anoraked Paul Heaton, adding "I said years not decades," before sleepwalking his all-star dad-band through another mid-tempo suburban soul number. Maybe the reason Dad won't take off his coat is that he's worried he might forget it. After all, he can't get through bread-and-butter songs like 'Old Red Eyes Is Back' without his reading-glasses and a cheat-sheet. "We managed to just about get through that one. What an achievement, " he says.
It's not that Dad can't sing. He and his drinking-buddy Dave Rotheray are sing rather well actually. The inspiration and perspiration just isn't there. The piss and vinegar is more chips and vinegar. Maybe the day-job is just sapping their energy after all these years. The she-doobie-wahs of 'Dumb', the shuffling jazz of 'Alone', the quashed wit of lines like, "You can tell where we've been shopping by the bags beneath our eyes" and lacklustre side-bars like, "I'm sure you'll get your money's worth -I think" make it all slightly depressing. Hell, it's practically 'Death Of A Salesman' when Dad plugs the new album like he's retiring from the real estate business.
To his credit, when Dad loosens up, he's a good time. 'Song For Whoever' is damned clever and catchy too. Dad isn't afraid to shake his rump and pulls some goofy tambourine tricks for that one. Then the a Queer-As-Folk-rendition of 'Perfect 10', featuring campy lines like "He's a perfect 10, but he wears a twelve", is fun, funky, and funny.
In the end there's no harm in Mom having a night out, right? If she's thinks Dad is funny and charming and she wants to cheer and boogie around, that's fine. She still loves you, but be warned: She'd probably leave you for Tom Jones without a second thought.
Delores / Link to Here
[ October 16, 2000 ]
NME: Painting it Red
NME
Painting it Red
October 16, 2000
They've got a gift, that's for certain. It's just one that we're a little tired of receiving. The Beautiful South's Paul Heaton and Dave Rotheray have always possessed the uncanny ability of translating life's little misfortunes into cold-cash radio hits. Their wry, easy-listening soul has so far helped them flog over eight million albums, and they're not about to declare an amnesty just yet.
Quite what's made them so successful is anyone's guess. While other groups wrestling with the inner workings of the British psyche attempt to spice things up with a bit of romance, glamour and imagination (Pulp, Black Box Recorder etc), The Beautiful South offer a grinding and remorseless cinima viriti, permanently chained to an Alan Bennett-inspired worldview of brown booze and Rich Tea biscuits that they never deviate from for an instant.
Their old Housemartins pal, Norman Cook - aka Fatboy Slim - might be down as "rhythm consultant", but everything else about 'Painting It Red' is all too familiar. The band are still rolling out the same unspectacular, red-nosed, Radio 2 Northern soul, while Heaton and Rotheray rehash the same cycle of dour reality songwriting.
While some people obviously think that this represents a refreshing alternative to all that strange Ibiza nonsense that constitutes the charts these days, for anyone under the age of 37, it's enough to make you lose the will to live.
It's hard to judge what will upset NME readers most about this record. On one hand, there's the endless lyrics about backache ('If We Crawl'), infidelity ('Just Checkin'') and tired love ('Final Spark') morosely quacked out by Heaton and Jacqueline Abbott. On the other, there's the pedestrian plod of the music (every other track).
'Painting It Red' is billed as a "back-to-basics" affair. Much like when Reef said the same thing earlier this year, you have to wonder how much more basic things could get. Ultimately, all it means is that there are no choirs or strings or brass sections or anything that will distract you from the aural porridge that gradually slides over your face as the record unfurls. There's not even a 'Song For Whoever' or an 'Old Red Eyes Is Back' to lighten the mood.
The Beautiful South's uncanny ability to soundtrack the mundanity of existence has served them well, but enough is enough. Life and music are about more than this. After 11 years, it's time the drizzle stopped.
Delores / Link to Here
[ October 14, 2000 ]
NME: Blue Over 'Red'
NME
Blue Over 'Red'
Oct 14, 2000
Thousands of copies of the new BEAUTIFUL SOUTH album 'PAINTING IT RED' have been recalled after they were sent to shops with two tracks missing.
According to a report in today's Daily Star newspaper, copies of 'Painting It Red' were scrapped after the first and last tracks, 'Who's Gonna Tell' and 'Chicken Wings', were omitted - even though the artwork and casing for the albums were correct.
A spokesperson for the Beautiful South told nme.com that the mix-up occurred during the manufacturing process, but has now been rectified. She continued: "There are three different versions of the album, a double 20-track CD, the 19-track UK version and a 17-track international version. Somehow the 17-track version ended up in the UK casing."
Fans who have bought the wrong version of the record can get it replaced at the point of purchase.
'Painting It Red' was released on Monday (October 9) and is currently fighting Placebo's 'Black Market Music' for the Number Two position in this Sunday's album chart. Radiohead's 'Kid A' is a virtual certainty to retain the number one position.
Delores / Link to Here
[ October 9, 2000 ]
NME: Closer Than Most
NME
Closer Than Most (Go!)
October 9, 2000
by Victoria Segal
Travel rugs. Boot sales. Scrabble. Rain. For their detractors, the world of The Beautiful South is one of dreary parochialism, music for people who don't like music, but do rather enjoy washing-up. And, maybe, while the plates are draining, a nice digestive biscuit.
Of course, this was the point where the 'spirited' defence of Paul Heaton and friends was supposed to come in, a) because the new album is actually very good, and b) there aren't many bands today who can sneak mad stuff like wit and empathy into sterile chart territory. Unfortunately, the brassy 'Closer Than Most' is a deeply irritating song, a jaunty comment on lasting love that's rhythmically reminiscent of being forced onto the dancefloor by an elderly aunt at a family gathering and damn well made to enjoy yourself. Not good.
Bah. Bring me my travel rug. And my biscuits. I feel a game of Scrabble coming on...
Delores / Link to Here
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