The Beautiful South (Beautiful South in general)

Name: davepridd

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Product:	Beautiful South in general
Date:	03/07/00 (18 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A classic group, something for everybody

Disadvantages: Very little

The Beautiful South are probably one of the best bands of recent times; this is because of the wide variety of influences in their music, and the talent of the members of the group.

Their sound is very hard to describe because it is so varied but there are elements of pop in the interplay between three lead vocalists, the basic rock backing of guitar, bass and drums, and a strong soul influence shown through the frequent use of brass sections and gospel choirs. Therefore the Beautiful South are unique and cannot be put into any genre, which is probably why they have never met any great success in the USA.

The group have a seemingly endless resource of great songs, and despite having written well over 100 songs they rarely put a foot wrong, constantly experimenting with new things yet never being in step with the trends of the music industry; for example whilst 'Britpop' was beginning, The Beautiful South released 'Miaow' which is a melancholy, orchestral album along the lines of REM's 'Automatic for the People'.

Central to the group's appeal is frontman Paul Heaton; his erratic personality, fantastic voice and clever, unique lyrics are fascinating, and he is certainly one of the most talented songwriters of recent years. But the group is not seen as Paul Heaton with backing musicians; they work as a socialist co-operative and Dave Rotheray co-writes the songs.

Summary: