London 0 Hull 4

Housemartins | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Elektra / Wea
• ASIN: B000002H3Z
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #23,562 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #54 in Music > Alternative Rock > Indie & Lo-Fi > Jangle Pop
  • #86 in Music > Alternative Rock > British Alternative > Britpop

Track Listings

1. Happy Hour

2. Get up off Our Knees

3. Flag Day

4. Anxious

5. Reverends Revenge [Instrumental]

6. Sitting on a Fence

7. Sheep

8. Over There

9. Think for a Minute

10. We're Not Deep

11. Lean on Me

12. Freedom

13. I'll Be Your Shelter (Just Like a Shelter)

14. People Get Ready

15. The Mighty Ship

16. He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The band whose alumni went on to both the Beautiful South and (improbably) Fatboy Slim was a lot more like the former. Paul Heaton's laconic songs are nicely groomed and innocuous-sounding, with a happy jangle and rich harmonies (the group's interest in gospel extends to technique as well as sentiment), but there is a dryly vicious sense of humor lurking inside them--"Sheep" flips a familiar religious image on its back and leaves its legs waving in the air. London 0 Hull 4, the band's first album, is full of cheerful, taut little tunes about failures of the spirit, barstool sexism, and thermonuclear Armageddon--not to mention love of humanity, which underscored the fact that they weren't just nihilists, they actually cared. --Douglas Wolk

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't let their cuddly exterior fool you., June 5, 2003

By 

Saska Albright (Redmond, WA United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: London 0 Hull 4 (Audio CD)

The Housemartins have a message and they're not afraid to put it plainly. Coming from the 1980s British society that fumbled its way through massive political shifts, they house vitriol in lyricism, like the chorus of "Flag Day" - "It's a waste of time, if you know what I mean / Try shaking your box in front of the Queen / 'Cause her purse is fat and bursting at the seams / It's a waste of time if you know what I mean." But they're equally willing to poke fun at themselves, as with the frenetic and thoroughly uplifting "We're Not Deep" - even though you know they took a page from Twain's warning against symbolism in "Huck Finn".

The Housemartins remain my favorite "80s Nerd Alternative" band and will never go out of style in my house. I was reading Ayn Rand and Nietzsche while I was listening to "Get Up Off Our Knees", and the combined effect has lasted well into my adulthood.

I originally owned this on cassette, and the CD includes several bonus tracks that make it worth every penny paid - most notably, the gospel/a capella rendition of "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" that never fails to bring a tear to my eye while I'm belting along with it in the car. It's on tracks like "Heavy" that P.D. Heaton and his bandmates redeem themselves for the conniving way they've driving socialism deep into your brain with their pop hooks. At their core, the Housemartins are not about politics, they're about people, and their affection for humanity must be the root of the beautiful harmonies and charming pop melodies that put this album in my top 5 of all time.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pure Pop, November 20, 2001

By 

Simon Gibbons (Minnesota) - See all my reviews

This review is from: London 0 Hull 4 (Audio CD)

This is pop. 3 minute songs. Catchy melodies and memorable refrains. BUT it is not shallow. Good pop-songs take great skill to write. The Housemartins just said more so succinctly. Their music stands in stark contrast to so much other self-absorbed music with a message. And you can party to this music. When they were a pub band in the early eighties then they had no peers. It is one of life's great regrets that I never saw them in a smoky bar in Bristol (or Hull, or London) before Happy Hour made them nationally famous. Cheerful music that makes me think and makes me smile.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars it's Happy Hour, November 2, 2000

By 

C. Jess "Christoph3D" (Eagle Rock, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: London 0 Hull 4 (Audio CD)

Yes, this album is full of meaningful lyrics and clever opinions, but let's step aside from the conversation about the political interests of this band. London O Hull 4 is a guaranteed up-lift when you need some happy music. Songs like "Happy Hour" or "Get Up Off our Knees" are wonderful to listen to. The Housemartins were a band made up of great musicians with great voices, which reflects in them implementing gospel-like harmonies and even an accapella song at the end of a very well-rounded CD. I don't listen to this album every day, but I've had it since it was released and I still enjoy it a lot every time I listen to it again.