POP MUSIC REVIEW : Beautiful South: Tuneful Polemics

The fresh, wonderful debut album from the new English quintet the Beautiful South stands, in its own unique way, as almost as sizzling a polemic on the state of pop music as was the Mekons’ “Rock ‘n’ Roll” last year. The South embraces the formal elements, if not the cliches, of that which it would satirize. Besides being the most subtly funny album so far this year, “Welcome to the Beautiful South” is also one of the most touching and tuneful.

But, for all the left-leaning English politics and influences, the recordings of the band--formed by singers Paul Heaton and Dave Hemingway out of the ashes of the Housemartins--sounds even more at home on an adult contemporary format than on college radio. So there were no complaints when the South invaded the Roxy on Thursday considerably beefed up both in lineup and in sound, with the horn section putting some punch in the soul ethic from which the band often operates.

Those horns, along with the penchant for commentary, recalled the Style Council a little bit. But you could find plenty of Squeeze play in the precise melodies and dry, poignant domestic scenarios, or detect the scent of Morrissey-style lyrical indulgence within a fairly tight pop framework--all brought home with an utter lack of reverence for pop conventions and deep regard for the human soul. Beautiful, indeed.