| Welcome to the Beautiful South | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Original cover art by Jan Saudek | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 23 October 1989 | |||
| Recorded | 1988 | |||
| Genre | Indie pop[1] | |||
| Length | 50:17 | |||
| Label | Go! Discs, London | |||
| Producer | Mike Hedges, The Beautiful South | |||
| The Beautiful South chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Welcome to the Beautiful South | ||||
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| Alternative cover | ||||
 Amended album cover | ||||
Welcome to the Beautiful South is the debut album by the English band the Beautiful South.[2] It was released on 23 October 1989[3] by Go! Discs and the next year in the United States by Elektra Records. Three singles were released from the album, which became top 40 hits in the United Kingdom: "Song for Whoever" (No. 2), "You Keep It All In" (No. 8) and "I'll Sail This Ship Alone" (No. 31).
The original album cover depicted two pictures by Jan Saudek, one of a woman with a gun in her mouth, and another with a man smoking. Woolworths refused to stock the album, in the words of the band, to "prevent the hoards [sic] of impressionable young fans from blowing their heads off in a gun-gobbling frenzy, or taking up smoking";[4] An alternative cover featuring a picture of a stuffed toy rabbit and a teddy bear was therefore made. A second alternative cover was also prepared for the Canadian edition of the album; this version omitted the picture of the woman, and featured only the smoking man.
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [5] |
| Calgary Herald | B+[6] |
| Los Angeles Times |  [7] |
| NME | 5/10[8] |
| Orlando Sentinel | [9] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [10] |
| The Village Voice | A−[11] |
The Calgary Herald stated that "Paul Heaton and Dave Hemingway set killer-clever lyrics against clean, techno-free arrangements."[6] The Times noted the success of the first two singles, but opined that the rest of the album "offers little advance on that same tuneful but ineffably twee indie-pop formula."[12]
NME included the album in their "Top 100 Albums You've Never Heard" list, in 2012.[13]
All songs written by Paul Heaton and Dave Rotheray, except where noted.
As what was to become their modus operandi, Welcome to The Beautiful South included unreleased material on the B-sides of the singles taken from their albums.[14]
from the "Song for Whoever" 12-inch single and CDEP
from the "You Keep It All In" 12-inch single and CDEP
from the "I'll Sail This Ship Alone" 12-inch single and CDEP
The Beautiful South release their debut album 'Welcome To The Beautiful South' on October 23.
