Choke (album)

Last updated

Choke
Choke (The Beautiful South album - cover art).jpg
Studio album by
The Beautiful South
Released29 October 1990 (UK) [1]
Recorded1990
Genre
Length36:55
Label GO! Discs [2]
Elektra Records [3]
Producer
The Beautiful South chronology
Welcome to the Beautiful South
(1989)		Choke
(1990)		 0898
(1992)
Singles from Choke
  1. "A Little Time"
    Released: 24 September 1990
  2. "My Book"
    Released: November 1990
  3. "Let Love Speak Up Itself"
    Released: 4 March 1991 [4]
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [5]
Robert Christgau Five Pointed Star Solid.svg Five Pointed Star Solid.svg Five Pointed Star Solid.svg [6]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [2]
MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [7]
New Musical Express 8/10 [8]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide Star full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [3]

Choke is the second studio album by the English pop-rock group the Beautiful South, released in the UK on 29 October 1990. [9] [10] Upon its release, it was pushed to number 2 in the charts after the release of the band's only number one single, "A Little Time". It would remain in the charts for 22 weeks. [11]

Contents

The album was followed by two more singles, both of which were flops. "My Book", which became the band's first single to chart outside the top 40, peaked at number 43, and "Let Love Speak Up Itself" reached number 51.

The original release of the album contained 11 tracks. The twelfth track, exclusive to the German release, was intended for the album from the beginning but was removed at a late stage of production.[ citation needed ] The cassette release of the standard version feature a long silence at the end of the first side, possibly indicating that this would have been the location originally intended for the track.[ citation needed ]

Critical reception

Trouser Press wrote that "Choke makes it clear that the Beautiful South has ample pop sense and pure venom to keep its unique act going for quite a while." [12] The New York Times wrote positively that the album "reads like an 11-chapter novella from a criminally sane mind." [13]

In 1995, Q included Choke in its publication "In Our Lifetime: Q's 100 Best Albums 1986–94", a list compiled to celebrate its 100th issue. [14]

Track listing

All tracks by Paul Heaton, David Rotheray unless otherwise noted

  1. "Tonight I Fancy Myself" – 3:26
  2. "My Book" – 3:18
  3. "Let Love Speak Up Itself" – 5:04
  4. "Should've Kept My Eyes Shut" – 3:27
  5. "I've Come For My Award" – 3:14
  6. "Lips" – 1:11
  7. "I Think The Answer's Yes" – 5:15
  8. "A Little Time" – 3:00
  9. "Mother's Pride" – 2:03
  10. "I Hate You (But You're Interesting)" – 3:46
  11. "The Rising Of Grafton Street" – 3:05
  12. "What You See Is What You Get" (Tony Hester) – 4:28 (German release only)

Non-LP/CD B-Sides

The Beautiful South included unreleased material on the B-sides of the singles taken from their albums.

from the "A Little Time" 12" single and CDEP

from the "My Book" 12" single and CDEP

from the "Let Love Speak Up Itself" 12" single and CDEP

Personnel

Additional personnel

References

  1. ↑ Smith, Robin (27 October 1990). "This Week - The Next Seven Days in View: Releases". Record Mirror . p. 32. ISSN   0144-5804.
  2. 1 2 Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 1. MUZE. p. 494.
  3. 1 2 The Rolling Stone Album Guide. Random House. 1992. p. 46.
  4. ↑ "First Reports: South rise yet again". Sounds . 2 March 1991. p. 2.
  5. ↑ Choke at AllMusic
  6. ↑ "Robert Christgau: CG: The Beautiful South". www.robertchristgau.com.
  7. ↑ MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Visible Ink Press. 1999. p. 562.
  8. ↑ Collins, Andrew (27 October 1990). "Long Play: Sound and Gagged". New Musical Express . p. 37.
  9. ↑ "The Beautiful South | Biography & History". AllMusic.
  10. ↑ Buckley, Peter (5 March 2003). The Rough Guide to Rock. Rough Guides. ISBN   9781843531050 – via Google Books.
  11. ↑ "The Beautiful South | full Official Chart History | Official Charts Company". www.officialcharts.com.
  12. ↑ "Beautiful South". Trouser Press. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
  13. ↑ Schoemer, Karen (10 April 1992). "Review/Rock; So Smooth, So Smiling, So Nasty (Published 1992)" – via NYTimes.com.
  14. ↑ "In Our Lifetime: Q's 100 Best Albums 1986–94". Q (100). London. January 1995.
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