Disco de The Beautiful South: “Gaze”

It is virtually criminal that "critics" are allowed to pen the vile driven seen on this page. So what are we to make of a review that BEGINS with "the world doesn't need..." -- any axes to grind here? Well, fans of great music, you don't need to worry: Beautiful South are quite alive and doing very well. "Painting It Red" was not an easy album, and left many folks scratching their heads because it didn't quite fit with their "happy-go-lucky cynics" image; for me, it is their grotesquely underrated, rather intensely melancholy masterpiece. A few years later, without North American distribution, "Gaze" follows it up with one of their most acoustic and sharply percussive albums. Just listen to the production of the guitar and cymbals! "Critics" are clearly so ill at ease with B. South because P.D. Heaton and company are so unconcerned with what it takes to keep a band at the edge of coolness and they do such odd things: this musical partnership revels in the power of the human voice, then spin it in all directions with such intense and tense lyrics -- followed up by a passionate or tender song, enough to keep us thinking and laughing. "Gaze" is fresh and passionate and new, and the Heaton/ Rotheray partnership is as sparkling as ever.

It's always exciting to get the latest Beautiful South album and bury yourself in their little catchy tunes and incredibly poignant and imaginative lyrics.

The tracks on Gaze are lyrically dominating, each with hooks that only singers Paul Heaton (get his Biscuit Boy CD if you can - it's well worth it), Dave Hemingway, and newcomer Alison Wheeler (replacing Jacqueline Abbott) can pull off.

One of the many things I've enjoyed about BS throughout the years is their incredibly broad instrumentation - even when performing live (Painting It Red tour, San Francisco, 2000, Fillmore).

Gaze fits quite well with the rest of the Beautiful South albums. Stand-out tracks are the single "Just a Few Things I Ain't" and the addictive "Pretty".

Their SF show a few years ago left me stunned (though I was a big Housemartins fan in the 80's and have been a BS fan since the beginning) that a band that gets absolutely no airplay (at least in the SF Bay area, including Sacramento) can have such a loyal following. However, this is just evidence of the fact that BS continually cranks out high-quality music that leaves your feet tapping and you wishing for more and more.

I'm going to keep this brief but I have been a diehard Beautiful South fan since 89, and the Housemartins before that as well. I think this new cd is BY FAR the best whole crafted cd they have done since the release of their debut. The melodies are unbelievably catchy. I'm so addicted to it, non stop playing of this cd. I can't get the songs out of my head. Not sure how someone could find this cd as sounding 'tired'. It's truly full of magic, a HUGE improvement over Painting it Red which I found completely bland! Really though, go buy Gaze, truly a gem.

It is virtually criminal that "critics" are allowed to pen the vile driven seen on this page. So what are we to make of a review that BEGINS with "the world doesn't need..." -- any axes to grind here? Well, fans of great music, you don't need to worry: Beautiful South are quite alive and doing very well. "Painting It Red" was not an easy album, and left many folks scratching their heads because it didn't quite fit with their "happy-go-lucky cynics" image; for me, it is their grotesquely underrated, rather intensely melancholy masterpiece. A few years later, without North American distribution, "Gaze" follows it up with one of their most acoustic and sharply percussive albums. Just listen to the production of the guitar and cymbals! "Critics" are clearly so ill at ease with B. South because P.D. Heaton and company are so unconcerned with what it takes to keep a band at the edge of coolness and they do such odd things: this musical partnership revels in the power of the human voice, then spin it in all directions with such intense and tense lyrics -- followed up by a passionate or tender song, enough to keep us thinking and laughing. "Gaze" is fresh and passionate and new, and the Heaton/ Rotheray partnership is as sparkling as ever.

Heaton is coming off terrible sales on the solo Lp "Biscuit Boy". Key songwriter, Rotheray, threatens to quit for lack of attention. Sole vocal female does quit. Result....find a chick who sounds just like the previous two (done), Give a full half the writting credits to Rotheray to keep him here (done). Dave and Paul go to Europe to write lyrics. Dave and Paul go somewhere else in Europe to write music. Dave and Paul return to their band in England and expect the band to be excited about all the stuff they did without them. (mojo not accopmlished). Just as on previous albums, you, the listener, get light Lightfoot and simple Simon. There is no rock. There is no connection between musicians and lyricist. You have an overly rhyming lyricist being accomodated by a dull band who wishes they were elsewhere. A big dud of an album because Paul Heaton is big headed, and thinks he's a popstar that can sell anything he can rhyme. Another bad albumn from a man who could do so much, but still tries to get you to pay for him taking the easy way out. Paul...try writing a song while you're with a band....remember Pollard.