367) The Housemartins - The People Who Grinned Themselves To Death

We have already discussed Paul, Stan, Norman, and Hugh before when we wrote about their debut. A number one single has happened, and drummer Hugh has decided to leave and be replaced by Dave.

For their second album lead singer Paul Heaton and lead guitarist Stan Cullimore writes all twelve songs, it was looking like a long-term fruitful partnership but within a year the band were over although the split was amicable.

The title track opens the record and wins me over because it has a harmonica, all songs improve with a harmonica (see the throwaway instrumental Pirate Aggro for proof)  At the moment we have many issues with The Royal Family, the utter disgrace that is Andrew has really excelled himself and The Housemartins back in 1987 were already looking at people who loved the Royals whilst the country was falling apart, 1987 or 2026, you decide not for me to say but I am working class from Glasgow so you can probably guess.

I was never a huge fan of Heaton’s second group, The Beautiful South, have enjoyed some of his solo stuff but even when his second band stormed the charts the one thing I could not deny, the man had a wonderful voice. The almost samba/Latin start to I Can’t Put My Finger On It is lovely fand his falsetto on the chorus as the band backing vocals fit perfectly behind him. He is equally as strong on The Light is Always Green, drumming top notch on that track. Oh, and by the way he is taking the piss on The World’s On Fire, listen when he hits that note.

A song that just chugs along always will find me a willing listener, throw in the harmonica and you have reeled me in, there is nothing remarkable about We Are Not Going Back, but simply, I like it.

This record didn’t have a Happy Hour to appeal to the masses, but Me and the Farmer is a perfectly good single, Cullimore may have not looked like an axe god, but he is unleashed on this one, I’m sure Jeremy Clarkson is a huge fan of this song. Five Get Over Excited romps along where we have mentions of car crashes and poisoning and I cannot help but sing along to “My hair is curly, but I get it down,” clever men.

Johannesburg is Heaton backed by Stan on an acoustic, it’s a nice contrast and then Bow Down arrives all piano and trumpet and even St Winifreds Choir, thankfully no references to Grandma.

Build ends the record, also a single, and introduces drummer Dave Hemingway’s vocals on the chorus, we know where that would go with The Beautiful South, but him and Heaton combine well on a well-crafted pop song.

They came, they saw and they nearly conquered. If you lost interest after Happy Hour, give it a go, like The Young Ones and The Office they knew to leave it alone after the second offering.

75/10

GIVE IT A STREAM: We Are Not Going Back