 |  | Pleasures too subtle, but a personal favorite |  |
I'm sure even fans will think this weird, but aside from "Blue Is the Colour" I think "Painting It Red" might be my favorite BS album. I generally end up counting a few tracks off each BS album as among my all-time favorite songs, but find the full albums themselves inconsistent. Maybe it's just that at 17 songs, this time they have a lot of chances to land a punch, `cause I'll admit that I skip over five or six tracks most times I play. But I find it, along w/ BIC, the one I play the cd of most often, rather than just playing a track or two on my mp3.
But I suspect for newcomers it isn't a good place to start, and lots of fans will probably be disappointed (my wife, who got me into the BS in the first place, doesn't really like this one). For those new to the BS, the general m.o. is bitter relationship lyrics set to well-crafted pop music. The lyrics here are as smart as ever, maybe smarter (and darker), and beautifully audacious ("Til You Can't Tuck It In" deserves a place in the OED for adding "hair" as a verb to modern English). But the music's pleasures are all extremely subtle. Formal pleasure is by definition relative, and these songs are all about form--nothing intended to engage a broader musical culture, political context or genre, and so pop very much in theory only. The basic style is to establish a calm, almost nondescript background groove and then build a hook around a minor, but unexpected and usually beautiful, variation. If you're patient enough to get into each groove, the hooks will dig deep into you each time. But there's not a lot of good reason to expect that kind of patience form non-fans. A few should stand out even to those less patient though, and thus count as my favorites here. "Til You Can't Tuck It In" is just so clever and humane, anyone should be able to get inside. The groove of "10,000 feet" is pretty infectious, though the real punch at the end (the great double harmony on the final verse) is as subtle as anything on the disk.
December 21, 2007| | | What are the US record companies thinking??? | |
Do not buy this version!!! This is an incredible collection of songs that is ruined by the label that released it here in the US. How can the title track "Who's Gonna Tell" be edited off this album for US release? That is the song that contains the "Painting it Red" lyric. Did the morons editing this record for US release listen to 5 second samples of each song and make an "educated" decision?? The Beautiful South get absolutely no respect in the US. Why? Because we base our opinions on pure media hype not artisitic content. Do you think Gaze will ever get released in the US? I recommend purchasing the double CD of Painting it Red plus the new CD Gaze today! You won't be sorry. FYI. Munch, the DVD release by the Beautiful South will work on your computer DVD player!
THE BEAUTIFUL SOUTH FOREVER!!!!!!
December 8, 2003This album breaks my heart because it is the last I will hear of my beloved Jacqueline, with the band. I love Paul, but my heart has always been partial to Jacque. Saying that, I am looking forward to the new record and many more fantastic adventures from Paul and the gang.
October 29, 2003Mainly, I bought this album on the strength of Blue is the Colour, which was a great album, with one of the best kick-off songs of all time in 'Don't Marry Her.' This music, on the other hand, is bland, banal, and boring; utterly unconvincing. I doubt it would even help if I was British; These love songs just don't transfer well through the ear or to the heart. Buy it for your mother who's home alone all day, though, and it just might be your good deed for the month.
December 20, 2002I bought all the collection of TBS, so I hope my opinion would help you. For me, Painting It Red is the worst album of all. Only the track number 10 and 12 are really good. The rest of the songs are realy poor. Another albums of TBS like "Miaow" or "Choke" are really better.
February 22, 2002More reviews at Amazon.com ...
(20 reviews)