Are Paul and Jacqui still recording? Seems like Paul is back doing stuff on his own and Jacqui seemingly gone silent again? Would they ever consider rebooting Beautiful South do you think?
The Beautiful South
- Thread starter Hudvar
- Start date
It would have been better for Solid Bronze to include the three missing singles and have nothing from Carry On Up The Charts.
Jacqui has been MIA since having to leave their N.K-Pop Tour on medical advice… she had missed a couple of shows due to health reasons and ultimately had to withdraw from all and hasn’t really been seen or heard of since which is a shame.
I believe she also left Twitter / X after Elon Musk took over it… I wasn’t watching closely so the real reason could’ve also been in line with her stepping out of the limelight.
Jacqui is greatly missed, and I really hope she is doing well and will return to the fold soon enough. Fans ask Paul a lot about Jacqui, and on the off chance he replies, he has simply said he doesn’t know how she is, and anything related to whats wrong he’s just said “you’d have to ask Jacqui”… I respect his loyalty with her regards to her privacy.
I will still be getting his new album, hopefully it’ll still have an edge over his total solo efforts as Rianne Downey appears on half of the tracks, and so I would imagine these were probably written with the hope of Jacqui having returned by now.
Oh that's sad new about Jacqui. I hope she's okay.
On a different note, anyone else here a fan of 'Gaze'? I think post Jacqui it's probably their strongest album. 'Just a Few Things That I Ain't' was a great lead single but 'Life vs. The Lifeless', '101 per cent Man' and 'Half of Him' are really brilliant too and should have been singles.
I also thought Alison Wheeler gave a great vocal performance throughout, especially on 'Half of Him'.
On a different note, anyone else here a fan of 'Gaze'? I think post Jacqui it's probably their strongest album. 'Just a Few Things That I Ain't' was a great lead single but 'Life vs. The Lifeless', '101 per cent Man' and 'Half of Him' are really brilliant too and should have been singles.
I also thought Alison Wheeler gave a great vocal performance throughout, especially on 'Half of Him'.
I liked it at the time, and there are highlights for sure, but when I replay it now it’s not one I enjoy as much. Superbi is far superior for me, and love The Rose Of My Cologne… would love to see Paul + Jacqui resurrect that one.
Might be in the minority but I also loved the covers album… I think if they’d been smarter with the single choices it would’ve performed a lot better.
The epic rework “You’re The On That I Want” with a alternate Grease style - tongue-firmly-in-cheek - video set in some quiet British seaside town with a fair should’ve been the lead single and would’ve been a lot more attention grabbing than the nice rendition of Livin’ Thing featuring none of the members in the video. It would’ve also given Alison more deserved exposure.
There are lots of interesting Paul interviews, particular a lengthy podcast video around the time of The Last King Of Pop with a few tidbits in it.
Not sure if it was in the above interview, or it might have been the TV doc on Paul Heaton around the same time, but Paul has stated with regards to TBS he feels that they should’ve ended it with Solid Bronze and not gone on, which is a shame as I enjoy those 3 Alison albums.
Don’t remember much about Alison’s story of how she joined the band etc even though I was a fan back then… I joined on the back of Quench, which is THE album for me!
Thank you to everyone who resurrected the discussion in this thread over the weekend, as you clearly manifested the copy of the Munch DVD that I found yesterday in a charity shop.
Interested as to how people rank the BS albums?
For me personally:
1. 0898
2. Miaow
3. Quench
4. Blue Is The Colour
5. Welcome 2
6. Choke
7. Painting It Red
8. Golddiggas, Headnodders and Pholk Songs
9. Gaze
10. Superbi
They stopped at the right time. Went downhill quickly after Quench. Gaze and Superbi I can barely listen to. Golddiggas only avoids being in the last two because it’s cover versions of mostly familiar songs.
I’ve seen Briana Corrigan live twice this year (Stoke and Leicester). She was really good and I’d recommend her. She does a fair few Beautiful South songs that she originally appeared on (also does Everybody’s Talking, which she wasn’t on, but apparently wanted them to cover before she left).
I've not really listened to the BS albums since the turn of the century, but something like:
1. Miaow
2. Quench
3. 0898
4. Blue is the Colour
5. Choke
6. Welcome To
7. Painting it Red
8. Gaze and the rest....
I should probably think about making deluxes of some, because Paul Heaton isn't into reissues I gather.
1. Miaow
2. Quench
3. 0898
4. Blue is the Colour
5. Choke
6. Welcome To
7. Painting it Red
8. Gaze and the rest....
I should probably think about making deluxes of some, because Paul Heaton isn't into reissues I gather.
I didn’t realise he’d said that. It’s ridiculous really as there was so much stuff released on singles. I haven’t made deluxes but I have split the tracks up into digital albums:
B-sides 1989-92 (18 tracks, one hour)
B-sides 1994 (14 tracks, 47 minutes)
B-sides 1995-2000 (15 tracks, 54 minutes)
B-sides 2001-2006 (15 tracks, 56 minutes)
By “B-sides” I mean just the exclusive tracks, not alternative mixes or live versions, which are instead split as follows:
Alternative Versions and Instrumentals (17 tracks, 64 minutes)
Live 1992-96 (12 tracks, 58 minutes)
Live 1998-2003 (11 tracks, 41 minutes)
Some of the “live” tracks originally used as b-sides were later included on The BBC Sessions and Live at the BBC.
Compilations:
Carry On Up The Charts remains exactly as released but my “Solid Bronze” only includes singles from 1995 to 2006, so starts with Dream A Little Dream and ends with The Rose of My Cologne (21 tracks, 74 minutes). Includes the single mixes of Liar’s Bar, The Table and Just Checkin’, none of which were included on the actual Solid Bronze album.
And one of the problems I (or anyone wishing to create compilations from the old CD singles) is faced with is that a lot of the ones from 1989-1994 were in the "PDO disk rot" timeframe.
I don’t think that’s happened to any of mine but then again, with the Beautiful South ones, I downloaded them into my iTunes in 2006 so haven’t touched the CDs since.
I have noticed some rot on other CDs I’ve acquired, but luckily was still able to download them. However, it’s not limited to early CDs. My “Ultimate Kylie” DVD from 2004 suffered some rot and is now unplayable - not because of how I’ve stored it as none of my other DVDs are affected.
And in the 80s we were told that CDs would last forever and to chuck away all your crackly old gramophone records. You could throw jam on CDs and probably even bash them with a hammer and they’d still play. And sound quality was so much better. And now it’s gone full circle and apparently vinyl was better all along. The recorded music industry will say and do anything to survive!
Ouch.
Poor 'Gaze'.
Super underrated that one.
Poor 'Gaze'.
Super underrated that one.
Yes, 36D was the last, in 1992, I think. I suppose it was a Roland Orzabal situation..the writer decided he wanted to sing more of his own songs.
Shame, Dave had a really nice tone to his voice.
The South's star was definitely in trouble when they saw fit to release Liars Bar as a single right at their peak.
Yeah it does feel like as soon as Jacqui joined, Paul just forgot about Dave as a potential singer to his songs. You wonder if it caused any bitterness but I guess it was probably seen as Paul's band. As you say, its a shame as he sounds great on 36D, Song for Whoever and Bell Bottom Tear, etc.
He was also the only eye candy in the band back in the day!