The Beautiful South Announce Split

[Si Hunt]

A sad day for Darren and I.

Pop group The Beautiful South - known for such melodious hits as Song For Whoever, A Little Time, Perfect 10 and Rotterdam - have split.
In a two-line statement, the Hull-based band, formed by former members of the Housemartins, attributed their break-up to "musical similarities".

"The band would like to thank everyone for their 19 wonderful years in music," the statement said.

The band's last album Superbi reached number six in the UK album chart.

But their most recent single - 2006's The Rose of My Cologne - barely bothered the singles chart, peaking at 99.

Melancholy tone

Known for their jovial melodies and darkly humorous lyrics, the Beautiful South were formed at the tail end of the 1980s by Paul Heaton and Dave Hemingway.

Their debut album, 1989's Welcome to the Beautiful South, reached number two in the UK and set the band's jaunty yet melancholy tone with such songs as I'll Sail This Ship Alone and You Keep It All In.


Paul Heaton released a solo album under the pseudonym Biscuit Boy
A Little Time - featuring original female vocalist Briana Corrigan - became their only UK number one in 1990.

The band's greatest success, however, came in 1994 with the release of Carry On Up the Charts.

A greatest hits compilation, it rode high in the album chart for several months and sold more than 1.8 million copies in the UK.

The same year saw Corrigan replaced by former supermarket worker Jacqui Abbott, who was herself replaced in 2003 by Allison Wheeler.

The band took a hiatus in 2001, during which time Heaton recorded a solo album under the pseudonym Biscuit Boy.

More recently, band member Dave Rotheray has formed his own group, Homespun, with vocalist Sam Brown.

I'll post my thoughts tomorrow on one of my favourite bands. They haven't been great for at least five years, but once they were fantastic.

Si.

[Dave Tudor]

It's funny, The Beautiful South are one of those bands for whom I have a lot of time, without owning any of their work. Great tunes and some of the cleverest lyrics in pop made for an irresistible combination. They were especially good when Jacqui Abbott was with them, but I'm not sure I've heard of their most recent material with the new vocalist. I was going to see them live a couple of times but never got round to it. That's not going to happen now, is it? They will be missed.

[Pip Madeley]

It's probably for the best I think - they've all got their own projects to carry on with.

[Matthew T]

I was a fairweather fan - bought quite a few of their singles between 1994-1999 but for the past 8 years nothing they've done has interested me, or many other people it seems. They had a good life.

[Darren]

Noooooooooooo.

How long's a tear take to dry?

[Simon R]

It seems pointless to split when they could just carry on making and touring an album every couple of years and then do solo work in between. It's a shame as we enjoyed the two concerts we attended and hoped to go to some more one day.

[SiHart]

A sad day for Darren and I.

Brave heart Tegan.

Si xx

[WhiteCrow]

I would be shocked if not for the fact I thought they disbanded in the 90s ...

[Si Hunt]

In a book I've got which they were heavily involved in, they said they would quit when people didn't want them anymore - well, that's happened and they've kept to their promise. At their peak, the Beautiful South were ace. Watch "Later... With the Beautiful South" from '96 and you'll see a fine band, able to both have hits in the charts, effortlessly score number one albums, and gel on stage like a fine soul act, Paul, Dave & Jaqui inviting guests acts like Sam Moore and James Dean Bradfield on stage between duelling with each other on a barrage of great songs. "Blue is the Colour" and "Quench" were wonderful, atmospheric albums full of great playing, catchy tunes and biting lyrics.

It all went wrong when Jaquii left. "Painting It Red" was too sprawling and experimental anyway, but when they returned after three years away the tunes just seem to have dried up. There was nothing WRONG with Lady Wheeler as a new vocalist, she was just like Jaquii except not quite as good. But the songwriting magic stick just went cold. Who can remember how "Angels & Devils" or "Cat Loves The Mouse" off the last album went? You can blame who you like, but the fact is that the magic touch of Heaton/Rotheray somehow dissapeared with Ms Abbott. I would say "Let Go With The Flow" was their only classic after 2001. And that's five years worth of recording.

It's such a shame. The last single got to #99! That's incredible for a band that, whilst never scoring continuous big hits, once could hope for a Top 10 single with every album. They were always great and popular live, even at the end, but sadly my memory of them will be the astonishing admission of Paul Heaton on the tour supporting "Gaze" - "Oh come on, I've got to do SOME songs from the new album". It's like he knew it was no good.

I'll remember the South with such fondness - they were one of the few bands who wrote genuinely funny songs, they had a rare, lush, country tone that made them like "The Carpenters" but more interesting, and who else ever writes verbal sparring songs between a male and a female singer? How many bands even have both?

But I guess all good things have to end, and their time was long ago up. The last song they released was called "Farewell". Wonder if they knew?

Si.

[Si Hunt]

Stop the cocks! A new ALBUM has sneaked out a month ago!



It's BBC sessions from down the years, is two discs, and includes a version of "You Keep It All In" for each female singer!

No wonder I didn't know it existed - it's not mentioned on either the MySpace or the official website! Talk about spread the word.

Best price: 9.99p delivered on HMV.co.uk or dvd.co.uk after research.

[Darren]

Whoooo!