it's the sound of octopuses giving infinite high-eights
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I adore the Beautiful South and even I was stunned at quite how fantastic this Heaton album is. Lyrically (of course) it is tremendous, as you'd expect from a man whose biting satire has decorated the charts for two decades. It is harder than the Beautiful South's sound - more driving guitar and of course the absence of a female vocalist - but this retains the jauntiness of the Beautiful South with a more crisp edge. It's also liberally sprinkled with swearing, and no album can be faulted for that. "Everything is Everything" - Heaton's seven minute Grumpy Old Men rant is a spectacular highlight.
If you're no Beautiful South fan then the mere sound of Heaton's voice is likely to put you off, but if to any degree you are, I guarantee you won't be disappointed by this album.
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It's simple enough - 38 minutes of jaunty indie-pop - and whilst top 20 hit "I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You" may be the stand-out tune the rest of the album is likeable enough. There is some 80's influence here (which is going to meet with no disapproval from me) and it's a perfectly decent enough debut.
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This is so far from the sequinned cabaret crooner of the 1970s it almost beggars belief and Diamond underlines his (recent, it seems) growing critical acclaim by providing a simply wonderful collection of songs. I bought this on the same day as four other CDs and I have barely been able to remove it from the player (the Paul Heaton album is the only one that runs it close). A superb, superb record. Buy it at once!
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