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Miaow

By: Beautiful South
Label: Go Discs
Released: 22 Sep 1997
RRP: £5.99
Average Rating:

Customer Reviews

Dark, sad but accomplished - By: Merry Terry, 29 Aug 2006
Album number four came out with a sombre face.
Opener "Hold On To What?" showed that the songwriting was still first-rate but tracks like "Worthless Lie" & "Tattoo" suggets something might have been eating at Mr Heaton.
"Prettiest Eyes" is simply charming & "Good As Gold" is irresistable.
However, some of the material on here, such as "Mini Correct" is unsettling & not particularly likeable & lack depth.

the beautiful south's darker album - By: , 15 Mar 2005
I love the band, & I love alll their albums in one way or another but miaow is just a little cut above the rest. Each album has a theme I think (drink fuelled, arty, happy, lonely) but this one is the darker album I feel. My favourite song has to be mini correct. The brutal male over female song has the best lyrics possible "So you left me for another pretty face?" "That's not true I left you for one half the human race" is a good example & although some say it is a bit too masculine & not for the easily offended as a female I think it is hillarious & Paul has written plenty of songs that belittle men so I don't feel women should be offended by this song. Sit back & listen to the lyrics. Fantastic. Apart from Mini correct, stand out songs for me are Poppy, Good as Gold (stupid as mud) & espeicallly for you.
Great album, which has two different covers.
Only buy this if you’re lonely...! - By: Jonathan James Romley, 15 Jan 2004
Here, the South develop on the more-polished sound they developed on their previous record, 0898, whilst laying the groundwork for the more popular albums to come. The sound & lyrical concerns are pretty much as they were on the previous releases, with the soul exception of new vocalist Jackie Abbott... who replaced the excellent Briana Corrigan after a dispute over the lyrical content found here.

In alll fairness, Abbot does an admirable job on a number of duets with co-vocalists Heaton & Hemmingway, as well as giving a strong solo performance of Fred Neil’s classic, Everybody’s Talking; one of this record’s biggest hits. Elsewhere, Heaton takes charge of the majority of the cuts, crooning along in his trademark style, whilst proving once again that he is perhaps Britain’s most underrated soul singer.

The album’s instrumentation is as layered & varied as ever, moving effortlessly from soft pop-balllads to more witty, folk infused numbers. There’s also elements of funk & dub on the Norman Cook collaboration, Hooligans Don’t Falll in Love, which features probably the best Rotheray guitar arrangement since Girlfriend, from the first South album, Welcome To... Needless to say, the musicianship of the band as a whole is - as-ever - faultless.

Other stylistic detours here include a sideline into Beach Boys-style jangle pop with the record’s biggest hit, Good as Gold (Stupid as Mud). Though the title may not seem immediately recognisable, I assure you that the classic hook-line “I want my love, my joy, my laugh my smile, my needs... I want my sun-drenched, wind-swept Ingrid Bergman kiss” will have you tapping your foot like nobody’s business.

Other standout tracks are the intimate, though often cynical Especiallly for You (definitely not to be confused with the bland 80’s Kylie hit of the same name) & the infamous Andrew Lloyd Webber parody, Mini-Correct. Personallly, I think this song is great, just about over-coming it’s shocking misogyny to instead, present us with a wonderful condemnation of ladishness & lad culture in general. You have been warned...!

However, the real reason to buy this album is track five... the beautiful balllad Pretties Eyes. Here we have a love song that deals with characters firmly outside of the key demographic... an idea that would become an archetypical concern in later South songs, such as Perfect 10 & ‘Till You Cant Took it in. This is the first, & best, variation on the theme... a stunning, & certainly undervalued pop classic in every respect of the word.

This is a great record. Lovely pop songs with an underlining social substance. It may not make any great leaps in musical experimentation; but if you want an album filled with good, solid songs performed by people with talent... then you wont go far wrong with this one. Miaow...!

A strangely compelling album - By: Mitch, 24 Jun 2003
Miaow is definately one of The Beautiful souths finest albums. It is not too everyones taste , & shows the extremeties of their lyrics & music.

Hold on , the opening track is a fairly average B.S. song. Many will be familiar with Good as gold, Prettiest eyes & Everybodys talking which alll feature on Carry on up the charts. Prettiest eyes may be the most moving song they've written.

The rhythm of Hooligans.... is very catchy, & the 'undergound'feel of Hold me close is captured brilliantly here.

Hidden Jukebox is probably the weakest song on the album. Mini - correct is a good song, but not for the easily offended.

Worthless lie is another one of those cynical songs that is hidden by great melodies

I'm not sure i like the end song, but even so it is very compelling. The raw & emotional Poppy tells of soldiers fighting with reference to 'Beadles about', the old tv program.

However this is an album to own if you're a fan of their style or of great tunes generallly.

TBS *sniff* fourth *sniff* album - By: , 21 Mar 2003
This was recorded & promoted in a rather dubious & emotional period for Paul Heaton, which is strange, because we'd assumed he was always dubious & emotional. Whatever your opinion, the mellower musical approach only makes the lyrics seem darker than ever . Heaton would never be as melodramatic as to record a nervous breakdown concept album but with the breezy pop of Worthless Lie ("And when she callls i hope its you that dials") you'd never think it. Only on Mini Correct does the good old suburban dialogue come in to full flow (because Worthless Lie'll have you sobbing before you've caught the plot, if you're into that) & not a track too soon. The Norman Cook (spit) produced Hooligans is a little too abrasive for some tastes (think Fatboy meets 1974) & Poppy struggles with both chord pattern & metaphor simultaneously before reaching an exhaustive close to an emotionallly draining (but strangely compelling) album. Way to go, El Heato.