Last Orders at the Liars Bar: the Official Story of the Beautiful South (Paperback)

This was never going to be 'Hammer of the Gods' part 2. However, it is an honest attempt to profile the life and works of Heaton, whose personality has always made him the central figure in the bands he has formed.

The difficulty in writing a convincing biography of Heaton is in distilling the many published utterances that the man makes into something that is

a) intelligible and

b) convincing.

Mike Pattenden, as the author and a supposed long term freind of Heaton, gives him an easy ride on subjects like his well-known and rather eccentric political philosophy.

Heaton has always backed up his draconian form of socialism, in which he appears to approve any form of action including killing people, by relating his own 'working class' background. However, Pattenden fails to square this with the fact that Heaton actually enjoyed a comfortable middle-class upbringing.

Heaton is certainily a notable songwriter and a telented storyteller. Although collecting crisp packets is hardly in the same league as driving cars into swimming pools, Heaton's prediliction for the demon drink is given a central theme in the book - witness the title - and yet again there is the tendency by the author to gloss over the issue's more sinister side - namely that if Heaton is really such an extreme alcoholic, then he is heading for the same musical death-trip as the legions before him. Bland comments suggesting that Heaton could actually stop drinking tomorrow should he wish do not make a convining argument after the author has spent hundreds of pages describing a serious drinker.

In all an interesting and mostly believable account of a man who has made an art form out of inconsistency.

But that interview was prior to the (reluctant) release of 'Carry on up the Charts' which went on to become their first number one album and the third-fastest selling album in British chart history. According to Rotheray the key to its success is that they are everyone's second favourite band. Their blend of jaunty middle of the road music combined with witty, cruel and accessible lyrics have an almost universal appeal; Pattenden observes that their concerts have different strata of society marked in the audience: the teeny boppers in t-shirts at the front, loutish football supporters bouncing in the middle, couples clinging on to each other at the sides and the polite middle classes clapping to themselves at the back.

The Beautiful South was formed in 1988 by Paul Heaton following the end of his successful group The House Martins.They have been enjoying a renaissance recently; Blue is the Colour and Quench, show a down-beat musical and lyrical maturity that Heaton was striving for - as well as reaching an appreciative audience.

Pattenden, inspired by the Vox interview, tries to get to heart of the band and, more importantly, Heaton via candid interviews with friends and members of the band, well researched secondary material (including some acidic reviews of the South's albums by Melody Maker) and cogent analysis of the bands output. There is a sense that this is an 'official' version of events and a chance for Heaton and the others to settle a few scores with the record company and detractors, as he has been given privileged access to the band on tour and their famous drinking sessions.

The best section of the book is concerned with The House Martins as it illustrates how things have changed in British politics in a relatively short period time. More than any band of the eighties they encapsulated the polarity of opinion within the country. The sentiments expressed in 'Happy Hour' and 'The People who Grinned Themselves to Death' were probably missed at the time that they were released, but in retrospect they captured Thatcherite Britain perfectly.

The Heaton portrayed in this book is an eccentric, complex, troubled character with a dark side and it is difficult at times to share the author's obvious affection for his subject when he reveals the singer's involvement in football violence. According to Heaton, "Football hooliganism has been the greatest scaffold in the fabric of English football." His appetite for self destruction is apparent in his outspoken comments and behaviour which can be seen as brutal honesty but it is also foolhardy.

At the time of writing this review I should be attending a Beautiful South concert in Manchester, It has been postponed due to Heaton having a throat infection. The tour which was followed by Pattenden last year was also cut short. It appears that, ten years on, The South may be calling time, if so then Pattenden's book will be an excellent and compelling record of their achievements.