Blue Is the Colour explained

Blue Is the Colour
Type:studio
Artist:the Beautiful South
Cover:Blue Is the Colour.jpg
Released:21 October 1996
Genre:Alternative rock, pop rock
Length:49:56
Label:Go!, Ark 21
Producer:Jon Kelly
Prev Title:Carry On Up the Charts
Prev Year:1994
Next Title:Quench
Next Year:1998

Blue Is the Colour is the fifth studio album from English band the Beautiful South, released in October 1996 through Go! Discs and in America through Ark 21 Records. The album was released following the two singles "Pretenders to the Throne" and "Dream a Little Dream", which never featured on any album until the release of the second greatest hits Solid Bronze in 2001.

The album continued the melancholic tone of its predecessor Miaow, and is generally considered to be the band's darkest effort, reflecting Heaton's life at the time. This comes across in songs such as "Liars’ Bar" (about alcoholism), "The Sound of North America" (a sarcastic look at capitalism), "Mirror" (Prostitution), "Blackbird on the Wire", "Have Fun" (which Heaton has cited as his saddest song), and the self-explanatory "Alone".

The album spawned four singles, the first being "Rotterdam", which peaked at No. 5 on the UK Singles Chart in September 1996. The follow-ups were "Don't Marry Her", which reached No. 8 in December, "Blackbird on the Wire", which peaked at No. 23 in March 1997, and "Liar's Bar", which stalled outside the top 40 in June. On "Liars' Bar", Paul Heaton's vocal consciously imitates the style of Tom Waits, while in "Alone" the bass line serves as another allusion to him. The album debuted at #1 on the UK album chart on 2 November 1996 and went on to sell over 1.5m copies, becoming the groups best-selling studio album.

Track listing

All tracks by Paul Heaton & Dave Rotheray (except where noted)

  1. "Don't Marry Her" – 3:23
  2. "Little Blue" – 3:17
  3. "Mirror" – 4:05
  4. "Blackbird on the Wire" – 4:57
  5. "The Sound of North America" – 4:02
  6. "Have Fun" – 4:44
  7. "Liars' Bar" – 5:53
  8. "Rotterdam (or Anywhere)" – 3:37
  9. "Foundations" – 2:44
  10. "Artificial Flowers" – 3:58 (Sheldon Harnick & Jerry Bock)
  11. "One God" – 4:12
  12. "Alone" – 4:58

B-sides

As was their usual modus operandi, The Beautiful South included unreleased material on the B-sides of the singles taken from their albums.[1]

from the "Rotterdam" CD5

from the "Don't Marry Her" CD1

from the "Don't Marry Her" CD2

Note: The French version of "Dream a Little Dream of Me" ("Les Yeux Ouverts") was recorded for the movie French Kiss. It was re-used in the film The Devil Wears Prada.

from the "Blackbird on the Wire" CD1

from the "Blackbird on the Wire" CD2

from the "Liars’ Bar" CD1

from the "Liar's Bar" CD2

Personnel

The Beautiful South

Additional musicians

Technical

Charts

Year-end charts

Chart (1996)Position
UK Albums (OCC)[2] 9
Chart (1997)Position
UK Albums (OCC)[3] 21

Notes and References

  1. Web site: King. David. The Beautiful South Discography. xmission.com. 15 November 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20120219222511/http://user.xmission.com/~dking/bsdiscog.htm. 19 February 2012. dead.
  2. Web site: End of Year Album Chart Top 100 – 1996. Official Charts Company. 13 February 2021.
  3. Web site: End of Year Album Chart Top 100 – 1997. Official Charts Company. 13 February 2021.