The Housemartins / The Beautiful South – Soup: The Housemartins Condensed / Cream Of The Beautiful South

The Housemartins / The Beautiful South – Soup: The Housemartins Condensed / Cream Of The Beautiful South

Soup brings together two hugely influential strands of Paul Heaton's career on one 22-track compilation: the witty, jangly indie pop of "The Housemartins" and the more expansive, bittersweet songwriting of "The Beautiful South". Originally released in November 2007 by Mercury Records in association with Go! Discs, the collection presents seven Housemartins tracks followed by fifteen Beautiful South favourites.

The Housemartins section covers their principal singles from 1985–1987, including “Flag Day”, “Happy Hour”, “Think For A Minute”, “Caravan Of Love”, “Five Get Over Excited”, “Me And The Farmer” and “Build”. It neatly captures the Hull band's distinctive mixture of melodic guitar pop, sharp humour, social observation and infectious hooks before their split in 1988.

The remaining fifteen tracks trace the evolution of The Beautiful South from their 1989 debut through to 2003, including “Song For Whoever”, “You Keep It All In”, “A Little Time”, “Old Red Eyes Is Back”, “Rotterdam (Or Anywhere)”, “Don't Marry Her”, “Perfect 10” and “How Long's A Tear Take To Dry?”. The compilation therefore works particularly well as a concise overview of the songwriting partnership of Paul Heaton and Dave Rotheray, while also highlighting the band's distinctive combination of pop melodies, indie rock and often darkly humorous lyrics.

With recordings spanning 1985–2003, Soup provides a 22-track overview of almost two decades of some of the UK's most recognisable indie and alternative pop songwriting. For fans of The Housemartins, The Beautiful South, Paul Heaton and the wider Hull indie scene, it is a straightforward introduction to both bands and a useful single-disc collection of their major singles.

Tracklist:

1. The Housemartins – Flag Day – 3:33
2. The Housemartins – Happy Hour – 2:22
3. The Housemartins – Think For A Minute – 3:32
4. The Housemartins – Caravan Of Love – 3:40
5. The Housemartins – Five Get Over Excited – 2:44
6. The Housemartins – Me And The Farmer – 2:56
7. The Housemartins – Build – 4:47
8. The Beautiful South – Song For Whoever – 4:05
9. The Beautiful South – You Keep It All In – 2:54
10. The Beautiful South – I'll Sail This Ship Alone – 4:06
11. The Beautiful South – A Little Time – 3:00
12. The Beautiful South – Old Red Eyes Is Back – 3:35
13. The Beautiful South – 36D – 5:16
14. The Beautiful South – Good As Gold (Stupid As Mud) – 3:49
15. The Beautiful South – Everybody's Talkin' – 2:37
16. The Beautiful South – Prettiest Eyes – 3:48
17. The Beautiful South – One Last Love Song – 3:35
18. The Beautiful South – Rotterdam (Or Anywhere) – 3:24
19. The Beautiful South – Don't Marry Her – 3:22
20. The Beautiful South – Perfect 10 – 3:38
21. The Beautiful South – How Long's A Tear Take To Dry? – 4:37
22. The Beautiful South – Just A Few Things That I Ain't – 2:46