Although their band, the Beautiful South, broke up in 2007 and they got together as a duo in 2014, there are still signs that they have kept alive the spirit of the band, and that is very evident in this latest record. You have those typical Beautiful South-sounding songs. Although you may be familiar with the wall of sound in this fourth album, it is also their most original record.

Paul Heaton, as we know, is very set in his ways and doesn’t care for adapting his style for the modern world, but on this album, he gave most of the control to Johnny Lexus and his musicians to give the record a more modern feel blended with Paul’s timelessness.

From the opening bell, you are greeted with the in-your-face rock n roll track “the Only Exercise I Get is You”. Now, after just the first track, I am already paying full attention as an album that usually starts with a bang suggests it will keep improving. Then you have tracks like “All of My Friends” and “Big News in a Little World”, which follow in the same vein, but Johnny has added sprinkles of modern computerised technology in there with loops, electronic strings and samples over this 16-track record. It also works whether he has used ProTools, Cubase or Logic. Fair play to Paul for letting go and putting faith in his regular collaborator, Johnny, to give this album a different feel.

“MCR Calling”, however, is a darker sound, which fits in with the lyrics. Paul and Jacqui lament how the city has changed recently, has lost its originality, and is falling victim to the falseness we see infecting almost every city. I wonder if Gary Neville will enjoy the song’s last verse, which mentions his head being on a spike.

Regardless of the originality of this record, it is still quintessentially Paul Heaton with its timeless lyrics and catchy songs. There’s nothing artificial about it, and it focuses on Paul’s knowledge of life lessons, stories of real issues across the spectrum, embracing the losers and littered with comedy. A prime example would be “Somebody’s Superhero” and “If You Could See Your Faults”.

I love his wordplay and poetry on this album, and it is very much what Paul is known for. Although there have been severe and very personal issues on his tracks with the Beautiful South, as a solo artist or with Jacqui Abbott, it still has a very comedic feel despite the nature. For example, in “So in Love”, there is a verse that says “promise of wedlock” followed by “trapped in a permanent headlock”. That’s the kind of point I am trying to convey when I mentioned his songs laced with comedy, yet aggressive, too. This is a bit like the message conveyed in the Beautiful South song “Don’t Marry Her”, sung beautifully by Jacqui Abbott. It is hilarious, yet serious simultaneously with lines like “She’ll grab your sweaty bollocks, then slowly raise her knee, don’t marry her, fuck me”. Do you see? Funny and fucking violent.

On my coda (Most use the typical cliche of the final note.), it doesn’t matter what genre Paul might write for; he will always use his trademark lyrics and get the producer to get the music to compliment them. Although the Beautiful South have been disbanded for over thirteen years, they are kept alive in Paul’s music. When he and Jacqui get together, you feel like the band never went away. I have yet to say much about Jacqui in this review, which is not discrediting her contribution to the record, but Paul is the songwriter. I would be lying if I didn’t say Jacqui was as brilliant as she always is because she was. Her vocals still sound as fresh as when she took over from Briana Corrigan in 1994. The album hit a lull for me after the first four tracks but picked up after the halfway point, so all-in-all, it’s an outstanding, funny and sobering record. 8/10