Solid Bronze – Great Hits Explained

Solid Bronze
Type:greatest
Artist:The Beautiful South
Cover:BeautifulSouth-SolidBronze.jpg
Released:November 2001
Genre:Alternative rock, Pop rock, jangle pop, Indie rock, Jazz, Country
Prev Title:Painting It Red
Prev Year:2000
Next Title:Gaze
Next Year:2003

Solid Bronze: Great Hits is The Beautiful South's ninth album and second greatest hits compilation. It was released in November 2001 and contains 19 tracks. The album contains two songs ("Pretenders to the Throne" and "Dream a Little Dream") that were released between Carry on up the Charts and Blue Is the Colour, and never made it onto any album.

It produced one single, "The Root of All Evil", released the same month as the album, and only getting to number 50 in the UK Singles Chart. The album got to number 10. The name of the album parodies other compilation albums e.g. "Solid Gold - Greatest Hits" by self-deprecating the popularity of the band.

CD Single/CDEP 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.[1] Three tracks on this compilation, all singles, had not previously appeared on a Beautiful South album in the UK.

from the "Dream A Little Dream" CD (only available on import in the UK in 1995 - the first two tracks also later appeared on "Don't Marry Her" CD2 in 1996)

from the "Pretenders To The Throne" CD (1995 non-album single)

from "The Root of all Evil" CD1 Enhanced (2001 single released to promote the compilation)

from "The Root of all Evil" CD2 Enhanced (2001 single released to promote the compilation)

Personnel

Charts

Year-end charts

Chart (2001)Position
UK Albums (OCC)[2] 33
Chart (2002)Position
UK Albums (OCC)[3] 172

Notes and References

  1. Web site: King. David. "The Beautiful South Discography". xmission.com. 15 November 2014.
  2. Web site: End of Year Album Chart Top 100 – 2001. Official Charts Company. 8 March 2021.
  3. Web site: UK Year-End Charts 2002. UKChartsPlus. 8 March 2021.