Welcome to the Beautiful South

The Beautiful South: Sean Welch, Dave Hemingway, David Rotheray, Paul Heaton, David Stead.
Additional personnel: Brianna Corrigan (vocals); Gary Barnacle (saxophone, flute); John Thirkle (trumpet, flugelhorn); Peter Thoms (trombone); Pete Wingfield (piano, keyboards); Mel Wesson (keyboards, drum progamming); Martin Ditcham (percussion).
Producers: Mike Hedges; John Rowley.
Engineers: Ian Grimble; Dave Meeghan.
Formed from the ashes of the Housemartins, The Beautiful South became one of England's most successful bands. Released in 1989, their debut, WELCOME TO THE BEAUTIFUL SOUTH, introduces the band's style. Musically, the songs are often deceptively sweet sounding, while lyrically brutally sardonic, even cruel. This combination keeps their records extremely edgy and sometimes uncomfortable, though there's no denying the band's skill.
A perfect example of this is "Woman in the Wall," which is musically energetic and triumphal, though its lyrics owe something to Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart," telling a horrifying story of spousal abuse that results in murder. Other standouts include "Song for Whoever," which starts as a sweet love song before the narrator confesses that the song was written for at least 10 different women, "Straight In at 37," which takes a couple of memorable potshots at popsters Simon Le Bon and Paul Young, and the epic "Love Isà," featuring three different vocalists, including Briana Corrigan, who eventually became a full-fledged member of the band.