The Beautiful South - Cover Songs, Volume 3: 2004-2020

This is the third and final volume of the Beautiful South performing cover songs. Although, I must admit there isn't much music here technically by the Beautiful South. as I will explain. 

The Beautiful South was a British band that existed from 1988 to 2007. The first three songs here are from the Beautiful South proper. But the rest are from key members after the band broke up. In my opinion, the key person to watch was Paul Heaton, the lead singer and main songwriter for the band. But he also often liked to have women sing his songs, either solo or in duets with him, and that continued after the band broke up. 

Jacqui Abbott was the female singer for band during their most popular years, 1994 to 2001. She reunited with Heaton in 2011, and went on to release four duet albums with him from 2014 to 2020 (with hopefully more to come). So there are three songs with just Heaton solo, and then six songs with Heaton and Abbott. In my opinion, all the songs have that same Beautiful South sound, and you can't really tell if it's solo or not unless you look at the credits.

About half of the songs here are unreleased. The released ones (tracks 1 through 3 and 8 through 10) generally are B-sides or from various artists compilations. The unreleased ones are from concerts or radio shows, and essentially have the same sound quality as the released ones.

I like the range of material covered here. For instance, songs in a row originally done by Whitesnake, Michael Jackson, and Oasis. That's range.

This album is 39 minutes long.

Here's a list of the original artists for each song:

01 I'm Living Good - Ovations
02 For the Good Times - Kris Kristofferson
03 Never Mind - Nanci Griffith
04 White Man in Hammersmith Palais - Clash
05 A Place in the Sun - Stevie Wonder
06 Career Opportunities - Clash
07 Islands in the Stream - Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton
08 Caravan of Love - Isley Jasper Isley
09 Loving Arms - Dobie Gray
10 Here I Go Again - Whitesnake
11 Heal the World - Michael Jackson
12 Some Might Say - Oasis

Here's the usual song list:

01 I'm Living Good (Beautiful South)
02 For the Good Times (Beautiful South)
03 Never Mind (Beautiful South)
04 White Man in Hammersmith Palais (Paul Heaton)
05 A Place in the Sun (Paul Heaton)
06 Career Opportunities (Paul Heaton)
07 Islands in the Stream (Paul Heaton & Jacqui Abbott)
08 Caravan of Love (Paul Heaton & Jacqui Abbott)
09 Loving Arms (Paul Heaton & Jacqui Abbott)
10 Here I Go Again (Paul Heaton & Jacqui Abbott)
11 Heal the World (Paul Heaton & Jacqui Abbott)
12 Some Might Say (Paul Heaton & Jacqui Abbott)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15124462/BeautifulSth_2004-2020_CverSongsVolume3_atse.zip.html

The cover photo shows the Beautiful South in 2006.

The Beautiful South - Cover Songs, Volume 2: 1996-2004

Here's the second of three albums of the British band the Beautiful South doing cover versions.

All the songs here have been officially released. The first one come from the album "Blue Is the Color." The rest are B-sides. Clearly, this band very rarely put covers on their albums, but they loved putting them on B-sides.

This album in particular showed the band members had deep and eclectic tastes in music. There are a few famous, classic songs, like "God Bless the Child" by Billie Holiday and "Lean on Me" by Bill Withers. But more of the songs are relatively obscure. 

This album is 40 minutes long.

Here's a list of the original artists for each song:

01 Artificial Flowers - Ron Husmann / Bobby Darin
02 God Bless the Child - Billie Holiday
03 Without Her - Harry Nilsson
04 You Just Can't Smile It Away - Bill Withers
05 You've Done Nothing Wrong - Iris DeMent
06 Lean on Me - Bill Withers
07 I Sold My Heart to the Junkman - Basin Street Joys
08 Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now - Smiths
09 Another Nite with the Boys - Carole King / Drifters
10 Lipstick Traces [On a Cigarette] - Allen Touissaint / Benny Spellman
11 Lovin' You - Lovin' Spoonful

Here's the usual song list:

01 Artificial Flowers (Beautiful South)
02 God Bless the Child (Beautiful South)
03 Without Her (Beautiful South)
04 You Just Can't Smile It Away (Beautiful South)
05 You've Done Nothing Wrong (Beautiful South)
06 Lean on Me (Beautiful South)
07 I Sold My Heart to the Junkman (Beautiful South)
08 Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now (Beautiful South)
09 Another Nite with the Boys (Beautiful South)
10 Lipstick Traces [On a Cigarette] (Beautiful South)
11 Lovin' You (Beautiful South)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15124452/BeautifulSth_1996-2004_CverSongsVolume2_atse.zip.html

The cover photo was taken in 1996, but I don't know any other details.

The Beautiful South - Cover Songs, Volume 1 (1989-1995)

It's been a while, but every now and then I like post albums of rare or unreleased cover versions done by a musical artist. Here's a series of three albums of that from the British band the Beautiful South.

The Beautiful South are much better known in Britain than they are in the US. They never had a single top forty hit in the US, but they had lots of them in Britain from their start in 1989 to their end in 2007. I'm not a fan of all their stuff, but their hits are very good. It appears many people in Britain feel the same way, because their greatest hits album "Carry On Up the Charts" went platinum five times over in Britain. They've sold 15 millions records worldwide.

Here's their Wikipedia link if you want to know more:

The Beautiful South - Wikipedia

Although I think their albums are uneven, they liked doing covers, and they had good taste in them, often picking unusual ones to do. So this is an album for people who like excellent songs played well, even if you're not a big fan of the Beautiful South per se.

All but one of the songs here have been officially released. That one, "Get Down on It," is from a concert bootleg, but sounds as good as the other songs here. Most of the others are from the A- or B-sides of singles. Plus there's a song from the band's first album, from a BBC album, and from a various artists compilation.

The band shows a lot of variety on this album, going from a ballad made famous by the Mamas and the Papas to a funk song by Kool in the Gang. In particular, there's a lot of funky, danceable music here.

This album is 39 minutes long.

Here's a list of the original artists for each song:

01 Girlfriend - Pebbles
02 What You See Is What You Get - Pretty Purdie & the Playboys
03 Love Wars - Womack & Womack
04 I Started a Joke - Bee Gees
05 You Should Be Dancing - Bee Gees
06 Everybody's Talkin' - Fred Neil
07 Java - Allen Toussaint / Al Hirt
08 Get Down on It - Kool & the Gang
09 Use It Up and Wear It Out - Odyssey
10 Dream a Little Dream of Me - Ozzie Nelson / Mamas & the Papas

Here's the usual song list:

01 Girlfriend (Beautiful South)
02 What You See Is What You Get (Beautiful South)
03 Love Wars (Beautiful South)
04 I Started a Joke (Beautiful South)
05 You Should Be Dancing (Beautiful South)
06 Everybody's Talkin' (Beautiful South)
07 Java (Beautiful South)
08 Get Down on It (Beautiful South)
09 Use It Up and Wear It Out (Beautiful South)
10 Dream a Little Dream of Me (Beautiful South)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15124460/BeautifulSth_1989-1995_CverSongsVolume1_atse.zip.html

It's hard to find good color pictures of this band. I don't know when this is from exactly, but it includes their first female vocalist, Brianna Corrigan, who was only with the band from 1988 to 1992, so it must be from that early time period.