Track Listing

1. Hold On To What
2. Good As Gold
3. Especially For You
4. Everybody's Talkin'
5. Prettiest Eyes
6. Worthless Lie
7. Hooligans Don't Fall In Love
8. Hidden Jukebox
9. Hold Me Close (Underground)
10. Tattoo
11. Mini Correct
12. Poppy

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #20983 in Music
• Released on: 1997-09-22
• Number of discs: 1

Customer Reviews

Dark, sad but accomplished
Album number four came out with a sombre face.
Opener "Hold On To What?" showed that the songwriting was still first-rate but tracks like "Worthless Lie" and "Tattoo" suggets something might have been eating at Mr Heaton.
"Prettiest Eyes" is simply charming and "Good As Gold" is irresistable.
However, some of the material on here, such as "Mini Correct" is unsettling and not particularly likeable and lack depth.

the beautiful south's darker album
I love the band, and I love all their albums in one way or another but miaow is just a little cut above the rest. Each album has a theme I think (drink fuelled, arty, happy, lonely) but this one is the darker album I feel. My favourite song has to be mini correct. The brutal male over female song has the best lyrics possible "So you left me for another pretty face?" "That's not true I left you for one half the human race" is a good example and although some say it is a bit too masculine and not for the easily offended as a female I think it is hillarious and Paul has written plenty of songs that belittle men so I don't feel women should be offended by this song. Sit back and listen to the lyrics. Fantastic. Apart from Mini correct, stand out songs for me are Poppy, Good as Gold (stupid as mud) and espeically for you.
Great album, which has two different covers.

Only buy this if you’re lonely...!
Here, the South develop on the more-polished sound they developed on their previous record, 0898, whilst laying the groundwork for the more popular albums to come. The sound and lyrical concerns are pretty much as they were on the previous releases, with the soul exception of new vocalist Jackie Abbott... who replaced the excellent Briana Corrigan after a dispute over the lyrical content found here.

In all fairness, Abbot does an admirable job on a number of duets with co-vocalists Heaton and Hemmingway, as well as giving a strong solo performance of Fred Neil’s classic, Everybody’s Talking; one of this record’s biggest hits. Elsewhere, Heaton takes charge of the majority of the cuts, crooning along in his trademark style, whilst proving once again that he is perhaps Britain’s most underrated soul singer.

The album’s instrumentation is as layered and varied as ever, moving effortlessly from soft pop-ballads to more witty, folk infused numbers. There’s also elements of funk and dub on the Norman Cook collaboration, Hooligans Don’t Fall in Love, which features probably the best Rotheray guitar arrangement since Girlfriend, from the first South album, Welcome To... Needless to say, the musicianship of the band as a whole is - as-ever - faultless.

Other stylistic detours here include a sideline into Beach Boys-style jangle pop with the record’s biggest hit, Good as Gold (Stupid as Mud). Though the title may not seem immediately recognisable, I assure you that the classic hook-line “I want my love, my joy, my laugh my smile, my needs... I want my sun-drenched, wind-swept Ingrid Bergman kiss” will have you tapping your foot like nobody’s business.

Other standout tracks are the intimate, though often cynical Especially for You (definitely not to be confused with the bland 80’s Kylie hit of the same name) and the infamous Andrew Lloyd Webber parody, Mini-Correct. Personally, I think this song is great, just about over-coming it’s shocking misogyny to instead, present us with a wonderful condemnation of ladishness and lad culture in general. You have been warned...!

However, the real reason to buy this album is track five... the beautiful ballad Pretties Eyes. Here we have a love song that deals with characters firmly outside of the key demographic... an idea that would become an archetypical concern in later South songs, such as Perfect 10 and ‘Till You Cant Took it in. This is the first, and best, variation on the theme... a stunning, and certainly undervalued pop classic in every respect of the word.

This is a great record. Lovely pop songs with an underlining social substance. It may not make any great leaps in musical experimentation; but if you want an album filled with good, solid songs performed by people with talent... then you wont go far wrong with this one. Miaow...!