Gaze (Spec) [Extra tracks, Import, Special Edition]

Beautiful South | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 27, 2004)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Extra tracks, Import, Special Edition
• Label: Universal UK
• ASIN: B0000DBPHO
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #179,153 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Pretty

2. Just a Few Things That I Ain't

3. Sailing Solo

4. Life vs. The Lifeless

5. Get Here

6. Let Go With the Flow

7. Gates

8. Angels and Devils

9. 101% Man

10. Half of Him

11. Spit It All Out

12. Last Waltz

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.co.uk

The world doesn't need a new Beautiful South album, but here's Gaze anyway. Paul Heaton's motley crew are now nearly three years on from their previous album, Painting It Red. Their last major hit (and decent tune), "Perfect Ten," came back in 1998. Not much has changed in the songs (although they're noticeably not as dark as they were in 2000), but new addition Alison Wheeler has a beautifully haunting voice that puts all of the Pop Idol contenders to shame. Openers "Pretty Things" and "Just a Few Things That I Ain't" possess simple, shuffling arrangements of balsa-thin longevity and "Sailing Solo" takes navigational and exploration metaphors in human relationships to dull, Arctic Circle extremes.

Songwriter Heaton finally hits his stride with track four, the instant Beautiful South classic "Life vs. the Lifeless" ("That's why cynics deep-sea dive / Just to watch someone healthy lose breath"). "Let Go with the Flow" is understated but lyric-heavy--something that has become a trademark over the years, but which needs addressing here. An editor is badly needed, something that's particularly evident on "101 Per Cent Man." Ideas and phrases are drowned in a biblical flood of words. The best is saved for both the album's end and Wheeler herself, who delivers a stunningly warm and evocative vocal on "Half of Him"--a stirring, sitting-out-under-the-stars, campfire song to which her voice is completely suited. If she'd been given more songs here, the album would have been much stronger. As it stands, this is fine for fans, but others could find it lacking. --Cortman Virtue

Product Description

'Persistently popular and defiantly uncool' (Time Out UK), The Beautiful South return with their ninth studio album. Illustrating why one in seven households in the UK own one of their records, 'Gaze' ('It's a short word that means a lot. It has depth. Plus it's a double meaning. And there is a song on the album about gay men' so says the singer, Paul Heaton) features 12 more vignettes of true pop and real life - all penned once again by the invincible Paul Heaton and Dave Rotheray partnership. Another stunning mix of luscious melodies and delightfully subversive lyrics, standout tracks include the bittersweet 'Let Go With The Flow', the barbed '101 per cent Man' and the gorgeous, closing 'Last Waltz', featuring the band's fantastic new female vocalist, Alison 'Lady' Wheeler. Features 12 tracks including the single 'Just A Few Things That I Ain't', & packaged in a die-cut slipcase. Go Discs! 2003.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Somewhere between Jaqui and Briana, but not going South, December 3, 2003

By 

Greg Danilek (Port Washington, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gaze (Spec) (Audio CD)

While Gaze has a similar quality to many previous releases from this unique band, it also goes further in many respects. First, we have a new female vocalist in Alison "Lady" Wheeler. At first listen I could have sworn I was hearing Jaqui. Listen closely though and on a track like Get Here you can hear a distinct similarity to Briana as well.

As for some of the other tracks, I dare anyone to try to get Let Go With The Flow out of their head after just two or three listens. It has a hook that goes beyond any other Beautiful South tune. On Life Vs. The Lifeless we hear an almost reggae approach that is most refreshing.

There are, of course, other tracks that are 100% Beautiful South. Just a Few Things That I Ain't, Sailing Solo, and Angels and Devils are quintessential Heaton/Rotheray songs, with the rhyme and melody that can only be penned by such tunesmiths. Not a weak track on the entire disc.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Superb renewal in B. South's career, February 12, 2006

By 

camcas5 "camcas5" (Hatfield, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gaze (Audio CD)

It is virtually criminal that "critics" are allowed to pen the vile driven seen on this page. So what are we to make of a review that BEGINS with "the world doesn't need..." -- any axes to grind here? Well, fans of great music, you don't need to worry: Beautiful South are quite alive and doing very well. "Painting It Red" was not an easy album, and left many folks scratching their heads because it didn't quite fit with their "happy-go-lucky cynics" image; for me, it is their grotesquely underrated, rather intensely melancholy masterpiece. A few years later, without North American distribution, "Gaze" follows it up with one of their most acoustic and sharply percussive albums. Just listen to the production of the guitar and cymbals! "Critics" are clearly so ill at ease with B. South because P.D. Heaton and company are so unconcerned with what it takes to keep a band at the edge of coolness and they do such odd things: this musical partnership revels in the power of the human voice, then spin it in all directions with such intense and tense lyrics -- followed up by a passionate or tender song, enough to keep us thinking and laughing. "Gaze" is fresh and passionate and new, and the Heaton/ Rotheray partnership is as sparkling as ever.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Yet another load of BS, December 27, 2004

By 

Martin Hamann (Kennesaw, Georgia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Gaze (Spec) (Audio CD)

Overall a very good disk with some very snappy, poppy tunes with the acerbic wit and observation that the Beautiful South are known for. In part, I think their inclusion of POP rather than purely CEREBRAL tunes is part of the reason that some don't like this record. If you are one who's looking for something profound, there are other places you should look. However, if you are looking for a very listenable continuation of what first drew you to the Beautiful South I don't think you'll be disappointed. They continue to present the ironic and sometimes-too-close-to-the-truth in well-written and clever ways.