Product Description

This long overdue greatest hits compilation brings togetherthe work of songwriting superduo Paul Heaton and David Rotheray, and encompasses over twenty years of indie Brit pop quirkiness. Housemartins tracks range from breakthrough single'Happy Hour' to commercial hits 'Five Get Over Excited' and'Caravan Of Love.' Meanwhile the Beautiful South's selections provide an excellent overview of the band's unique brand of bittersweet pop, including classic tracks such as 'Rotterdam' and 'One Last Love Song.'

Track Listing

1. London 0, Hull 4 - The Beautiful South, The Housemartins
2. We Shall Not Be Moved - The Housemartins
3. We're Not Deep - The Housemartins
4. Home Video from the 80's - The Housemartins
5. Bell Bottomed Tear
6. We'll Deal With You Later
7. Old Red Eyes Is Back
8. Don't Marry Her
9. Perfect 10
10. Home Video from the 80's

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14101 in Music
• Released on: 2007-11-12
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: CD+DVD
• Running time: 3 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
You'll hear talk of national treasures, and there's no denying that erstwhile singer Paul Heaton is as quintessentially English as they come. Given his service to pop over the past 20 years, he's fairly valuable too. But he's certainly not the shiny sort, "bling" was just the sound a football made when it rebounded off rusting goalposts in the park when he started making records--his value is more akin to a warm mug of tea and a custard cream from the corner shop on a rainy afternoon. For a newer generation perhaps only familiar with the likes of The Beautiful South's "Perfect 10" it's worthwhile going back to the beginning to see why. The Housemartins (also the all singing--if not all dancing--apprenticeship for superstar DJ Norman Cook, aka Fatboy Slim) were a very fine singles band indeed, rushes of acoustic pop and Humberside barbershop harmonies with all the keenness that youth can afford. A virulent "Five Get Over Excited" and "Happy Hour", alongside peerless a capella cover "Caravan of Love", stand testament to an all too brief career. This is where the Beautiful South took up the reigns with a more mature, but no less catchy or vocally impressive, output, spinning timeless comforts like "You Keep It All In", "A Little Time" and "Old Red Eyes Is Back". Soup is the first time the work of the two bands has been collected onto one disc and while 22 tracks is never going to do justice to such an expansive back catalogue, it's a splendid starting point. --James Berry

Customer Reviews

Nice Dvd, Same old same old cd.
If you want to hear the music of either of these bands, this isn't the best place to get it. The cd in the package is a bare minimum 'greatest hits' from both of Heaton's old bands. Fans of either/both bands can get much better cds than the one here.

What IS good about this package is the dvd. You get a full 90 minutes of The Housemartins, including the half hour documentary 'London 0 - Hull 4', some tv appearances and a long home video compilation that adds up to demonstrate as well as anything what a charming band The Housemartins were. In addition (and I may be biased, being from Hull) you get a sense of how Britain's cities have changed from the mid-late 80's. That the band presented themselves so unassumingly draws your attention to the detail of the world young people lived in, in Northern England.

The Beautiful South dvd is okay, too. Some filmed for tv festival appearances, some Jools Holland and a shorter home video of a tour, which was pleasant enough.

So, if you want a dvd that could show someone how The Housemartins put themselves over and charmed themselves into a corner, you won't do any better than this.