Track Listing

1. Tonight I Fancy Myself
2. Let Love Speak Up Itself
3. I've Come For My Award
4. I Think The Answer's Yes
5. Mother's Pride
6. Rising Of Grafton Street
7. My Book
8. Should've Kept My Eyes Shut
9. Lips
10. Little Time
11. I Hate You (But You're Interesting)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #41067 in Music
• Released on: 1993-03-30
• Number of discs: 1

CD Description
The follow-up to the Beautiful South's lauded debut, WELCOME TO THE BEAUTIFUL SOUTH, 1990's CHOKE furthered frontman Paul Heaton's vision of equally tuneful and cynical pop. Whilethe standout track is "A Little Time", a breezy-yet-bruising duet with Briana Corrigan that managed to top the British singles chart, CHOKE also presents a number of other Beautiful South classics, including the lively "My Book" and the soulful "Let Love Speak Up Itself". Given that Heaton and company lost a little momentum after this outing, CHOKE is widely deemed to be the end of the U.K. ensemble's first golden era.

Customer Reviews

Choke
Choke, the second studio album from The Beautiful South, brought together a fine collection of songs, which did their establishment as one of the finest original bands around no harm whatsoever.

On the one hand all the songs share a similar style and composition, they nearly all feature a big band - swing type sound with much emphasis on a good solid brass section, on the other hand they are all unique and creative they can all stand out on their own as credible songs in their own right.

Personal favourites include the gentle toe tapping "I think the answer's yes", the bluesy "Let love speak up itself" and the more raucous "I've come for my award". "The Rising of Grafton Street" is another great song; this instrumental offering has a real sound of the Housemartins running through it.

The only criticisms I can level is that another great favourite song, "Mother's Pride", with its fantastic bass line, is far too short and could have happily carried on for another couple of verses and the self indulgent "I Hate You (But You're Interesting)" probably wasn't necessary and doesn't really prove anything.

Final mention to "A Little Time" which I believe to still be their biggest hit to date, this lovely song of lost love has really stood the test of time very well and remains a great catchy tune.

A solid album, not too heavy
The Beautiful Souths second album, this is a relaxing and not too hard on the brain experience. It runs short at just under 40 minutes ( though my version doesn't have What you see... )

A cracking tune opens the album, good lyrics in the typical Heaton style. Many will be familiar with My book , Let love speak... and A little time form the 'carry on up the charts' compilation. Let love.. is in a slightly longer from here though.

Corrigan is a great soloist on 'Should have kept my eyes shut' a slightly disturbing tale of abuse , though its all done with tongue placed firmly in cheek.

the lively I've come for my reward and Mothers pride contrast well with the very melodic I think the answers yes. Lips for me is the only weak track but at only just over a minutes length its not too bad.

As an answer to their first album's I love you but... , is this i hate you but.... It is a bit discordant but worth listening to if only for the ragtime piano at the end. Slightly ironic music.

The instrumental Rising of Grafton St refers to the place in Hull of the same name. It is slightly orchestral , and percussion based with just the one line- "Yes, i saw it!"

If you're a fan of the BS you probably have this already , maybe on the strength of 'A little time'. For anyone browsing or if you haven't got it, well worth the money. Short, but in their weird way, sweet.

Short but Sweet
This is only the second album by the Beatiful South in the days when Briana was still in the band. I have only recently bought this album which was released in 1990. The first track has a very Housematines sound which was true of a lot of the previous albulm. After the first track the style changes. One of the things I admire about the band is the fact that all their songs sound different to each other My favourite track on this albulm is 'Let Love Speak Up Itself'. This track features an excellent vocal performance from Paul Heaton. The instumental track at the end is good too.

This is a pleasant album but not one of my favourites