 
On the 12th May Paul Heaton and Jacqui Abbott
are set to release their brand new studio album
‘What Have We Become’ which also coincides
with their UK tour which kicks off on the 20th
May which will see them play songs from the album
as well as a mixture of classic Beautiful South
and The Housemartins songs, the album and tour
see’s the two ex Beautiful South members
team up for the first time in 14 years and if
the album is anything to go by then the tour is
going to be a blast.
‘What Have We Become’ features 12
brand new tracks from Paul Heaton and Jacqui Abbott
and it seems that the solid musicianship the two
had all those years ago during their days in the
Beautiful South has not been lost as ‘What
Have We Become’ is a big fun instantly accessible
album which features so much lyrical wit, beautiful
vocals and a wide variety of instrumental work
which will keep you entertained for hours.
The album opens with ‘Moulding Of A Fool’
which features a really beautiful up tempo keyboard
piece running throughout whilst Paul Heaton and
Jacqui Abbott sing side by side in such an upbeat
style and with amazing confidence, the song has
all the element to be on heavy rotation on the
radio and music television mainly due to the fact
that these two have been in the music industry
for so many years that they have clearly mastered
the knack of writing, recording and performing
such stand out songs, lyrically the song is extremely
witty with Paul Heaton singing “The revolution
won’t be televised and neither will your
death... your death will pass unnoticed like a
hiccup or a cough”.
‘D.I.Y’ continues the upbeat pace
of the opening track and is a track where the
band go out with groovy guitar riffs, big keyboard
sounds and Jacqui Abbott covering a good 80% of
the vocals throughout the song where she really
shines with her loud, clear and confident vocals,
overall the song has elements of The Beautiful
South mixed with Caro Emerald and Imelda May giving
it a big radio friendly retro feel.
‘Some Dancing To Do’ opens in a more
deep and dark way and with gloomy keyboard and
as the song progressed it maintains the darkness
with the same keyboard lines running throughout
whilst Paul Heaton and Jacqui Abbott slowly lay
down their vocals in a serious manner.
‘One Man’s England’ is easily
one of the best songs featured on the album and
it happens to feature that big upbeat classic
Beautiful South vibe which used to run through
many Beautiful South songs back in the days of
these two being in the band, the song is about
the changing social landscape of England and is
lyrically well written and vocally perfect executed.
With ‘What Have We Become’ Paul Heaton
And Jacqui Abbott have gone on to create such
a diverse sounding where the majority of the album
is upbeat but then you have surprise moments like
the sleepy sounding ‘The Snowman’
which features minimal instrumental work and the
duo seriously shining as their vocals take centre
stage. ‘Costa Del Sombre’ is an seriously
upbeat song which is seriously going to get your
dad dusting down his finest shoes so he can show
off his dad dancing again. ‘Stupid Tears’
is extremely bouncy sounding and features some
of the best instrumental work on offer throughout
the whole album.
When The Beautiful South split in 2007 Paul Heaton
went down the solo route whilst many of the band
members went on to form a new band called The
South who are heading out on tour throughout the
whole of the summer but sadly The South lack the
excitement of The Beautiful South but luckily
you have no worry of ‘What Have We Become’
by Paul Heaton and Jacqui Abbott lacking excitement
as the album is extremely listenable right throughout
the 52minute running and I can clearly tell that
the fans will have an absolute blast listening
to the album and catching the duo on their up
and coming tour, whilst also keeping their fingers
crossed that this is the first of many albums
from them.
4/5
Paul Heaton And
Jacqui Abbott - D.I.Y
Review by Trigger
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