About a year ago, I stumbled across this disc on the bargain rack of a local CD store. I had never heard of The Beautiful South before, but the name of the band intrigued me; it sounded like the name of a poetic and literate band, so I bought this album on a hunch that it would be something I might like.

0898 has far surpassed my expectations. Over time, I have enjoyed this album more and more, and it now ranks on my list of all-time favorites! The music is catchy, poppy, and melodic; the lyrics are light, satirical, and unusual. The band's performance is superb, and I love the blending of vocals from Paul Heaton and Briana Corrigan. (I understand that after the release of this disc, Corrigan left the band.) 0898 is the first but definitely not the last Beautiful South disc I will own.

there's no BS in the beautiful south. i might be mistaken, but i believe this album spawned a couple of hit singles in the UK, despite what the amazon review opined.

0898 features some of the beautiful south's greatest singles: 'old red eyes is back,' 'we are each other,' and '36D.' each song showcases dave rotherway's classic songwriting skills and paul heaton's incredibly clever lyrics. other tracks, like the mournful 'the rocking chair,' the biting 'something that you said, (with the brutal lyric 'when you walk into your house and she's cutting up your mother, she's only trying to tell you that she loves you like no other' and 'the perfect love song, it has no words, it only has death threats) and 'i'm your no. 1 fan' also proudly show off the beautiful south's impeccable gifts for arrangement and melody. and paul heaton, for my money, has one of the best vox's around: it's husky and powerful at times, but suprisingly tender and effective when it needs to be. the man has range like few others (check out 'let love speak up itself' off 'choke') and comes off even sounding better when he's up against the incomparable brianna (who sadly left after this album). the call-and-response of 'we are each other' alone is worth the price of this album.

top to bottom, 0898 is their most complete album. most beautiful south albums have a miss or two, but 0898 is dud-free. more recent beautiful south albums seem to have lost an ounce or two of the spark that made them so great, but they're still a great band and worthy of your hard earned caish. i remember seeing the beautiful south in SLC back in 1992 supporting this disc. i saw them again in 2000 in hollywood at the house of blues. both shows were incredible. unfortunately, the beautiful south seem doomed to relative obscurity in the states, and that's a shame because everone deserves a trip to the beautiful south.

Great tongue-in-cheek lyrics, great memorable quality songwriting, great musicianship... this band should be up there with the best pop/rock bands, period. Why they haven't achieved commercial success here in the U.S. as they have in the U.K., is shockingly beyond me! TBS is one of my favorite bands ever, and that comes from someone with over 1,800 CD's and hundreds of albums in my collection, spanning several decades.

This album it's difficult if you want to give your own opinion. The song "The Rocking Chair" is one of my favorites, "36d" and "You Play Glockenspiel, I'll Play Drums" are quite good but the rest of the songs one day I love them and another I hate them... that is the reason of my low rate for this album.

TBS is one of my favorite groups, and they have so many great discs, but I'd have to call this one their best (with "Quench" and "Painting It Red" tying for second). Every song is fantastic, particularly "Old Red Eyes Is Back," "We Are Each Other" and "36D." If you don't have any TBS, this is a good place to start. Their music is hard to describe. A friend once compared them to Squeeze, but they're a little more refined than that (not to slight Squeeze...I love them too). If Squeeze used occasional orchestrations and listened to some older-period Elton John, they would probably sound a lot like this. Witty, biting (and very British) lyrics, coupled with lush, gorgeous melodies. Paul Heaton possesses one of pop/rock' most beautiful voices. One of my all-time desert island discs.