Blue Is the Colour

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.

For the song of the same name performed by the Chelsea football squad, see Blue Is the Colour (song).

Blue Is the Colour
Studio album by
the Beautiful South
Released21 October 1996
GenreAlternative rock, pop rock[1]
Length49:56
LabelGo!, Ark 21
ProducerJon Kelly
The Beautiful South chronology
Carry On Up the Charts
(1994)		 Blue Is the Colour
(1996)		 Quench
(1998)
Singles from Blue Is the Colour
  1. "Rotterdam (or Anywhere)"
    Released: 23 September 1996
  2. "Don't Marry Her"
    Released: 2 December 1996
  3. "Blackbird on the Wire"
    Released: March 1997
  4. "Liars' Bar"
    Released: June 1997
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Christgau's Consumer GuideA[2]
The Guardian[3]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[4]

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 itself topped the album charts on 2 November 1996.

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.[5]

from the "Rotterdam" CD5

  • "Rotterdam" (single version)
  • "A Minute's Silence"
  • "Pollard"

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

  • Damon Butcher – Keyboards, Programming, String Arrangements
  • Martin Ditcham – Percussion
  • Andy Duncan – Percussion, Programming

Technical

  • John Brough – Producer, engineer
  • Jon Kelly – Producer
  • Ryan Art – Design
  • Art Murphy – Paintings, Cover Painting
  • Lawrence Watson – Photography

Charts

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[12] 5× Platinum 1,500,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References
  1. Schulte, Tom. "Blue Is the Colour – The Beautiful South". AllMusic. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
  2. Christgau, Robert (2000). "The Beautiful South: Blue Is the Color". Christgau's Consumer Guide: Albums of the '90s. St. Martin's Griffin. p. 22. ISBN 0-312-24560-2. Retrieved 6 July 2022.
  3. Sullivan, Caroline (25 October 1996). "Beautiful hit machine". The Guardian.
  4. Harris, Keith (2004). "The Beautiful South". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. p. 55. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  5. King, David. "The Beautiful South Discography". xmission.com. Archived from the original on 19 February 2012. Retrieved 15 November 2014.
  6. "Ultratop.be – The Beautiful South – Blue Is The Colour" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
  7. "Charts.nz – The Beautiful South – Blue Is The Colour". Hung Medien. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
  8. "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
  9. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
  10. "End of Year Album Chart Top 100 – 1996". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
  11. "End of Year Album Chart Top 100 – 1997". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
  12. "British album certifications – Beautiful South – Blue Is the Colour". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
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