| Welcome to the Beautiful South | |
| Type: | Album |
| Artist: | the Beautiful South |
| Cover: | Welcometo.jpg |
| Caption: | Original cover art by Jan Saudek |
| Released: | 23 October 1989[1] |
| Recorded: | 1988 |
| Genre: | Indie pop[2] |
| Length: | 50:17 |
| Label: | Go! Discs, London |
| Producer: | Mike Hedges, The Beautiful South |
| Next Title: | Choke |
| Next Year: | 1990 |
Welcome to the Beautiful South is the debut album by English band the Beautiful South, released in October 1989 by Go! Discs and the next year in the United States by Elektra Records. Three singles were released from the album, which became top 40 hits in the United Kingdom: "Song for Whoever" (No. 2), "You Keep It All In" (No. 8) and "I'll Sail This Ship Alone" (No. 31).
The original album cover depicted two pictures by Jan Saudek, one of a woman with a gun in her mouth, and another with a man smoking. Woolworths refused to stock the album, in the words of the band, to "prevent the hoards [sic] of impressionable young fans from blowing their heads off in a gun-gobbling frenzy, or taking up smoking";[3] An alternative cover featuring a picture of a stuffed toy rabbit and a teddy bear was therefore made. A second alternative cover was also prepared for the Canadian edition of the album; this version omitted the picture of the woman, and featured only the smoking man.
NME included it in their "Top 100 Albums You've Never Heard" list in 2012.[4]
All songs written by Paul Heaton and Dave Rotheray, except where noted.
As what was to become their usual modus operandi, Welcome to The Beautiful South included unreleased material on the B-sides of the singles taken from their albums.[5]
from the "Song for Whoever" 12-inch single and CDEP
from the "You Keep It All In" 12-inch single and CDEP
from the "I'll Sail This Ship Alone" 12-inch single and CDEP