Paul Heaton
The Mighty Several
★★★★
EMI
Your Dua Lipas and Coldplays may have nabbed the prime slots and confetti cannons, but at Glastonbury 2024 Paul Heaton felt the love, too. Formerly with The Housemartins, then The Beautiful South, this mellifluous kitchen-sink dramatist has become synonymous with a less showy, more egalitarian mode of pop stardom. Heaton likes to share the spotlight, likes his anorak, and has affordably-priced shows. Hell, he’s even put cash behind the bars of venue-proximate pubs so his ticket holders can enjoy subsidised drinks.
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READ MORE: Paul Heaton at Glastonbury reviewed: Fatboy Slim joins Housemartins bandmate for heart-stirring set
The term ‘national treasure’ – also the title of the opening track here – seems apposite, then, but Heaton won’t wear it. “I’ve got my one award, thanks!” he recently said, referring to 2022’s criminally overdue Ivor Novello for songwriting. His song National Treasure’s spry pop looks outward, of course, hymning the actual pillars of our topsy-turvy society, ie, the nurses and carers who are “unknighted, unsung”. Like his old pals The Proclaimers he’s still miffed about stuff – see also Small Boats – but he leavens his anger with lighter fare. Chas & Dave-like Mockney/ska knees-up Quicksand, we’re told, was written about the difficulty of extricating himself from a particularly great pub in Limburg, Germany.
Produced by Lightning Seed Ian Broudie at Salford’s Blueprint studios, The Mighty Several is wry, politically engaged, and worldly-wise. With typical largesse, Heaton shares lead vocals across its 12 songs of injustice, human frailty, and bonhomie-led boozing. Glaswegian Rianne Downey was recruited via her YouTube feed, and duets brilliantly with able Manchester-scene singer Yvonne Shelton on Silly Me. A ballad thick with self-recrimination, it runs the gamut of star-crossed lovers, name-checking Romeo & Juliet – and TV soap opera Coronation Street’s Ken and Deirdre Barlow.
The other guest singer is Danny Muldoon, likely destined for a life of blues covers until Heaton stumbled across him in – you guessed it – a pub. Muldoon’s an animated, engaging presence on Small Boats and a soulful one on Pull Up A Seat, which starts out like Vangelis before going all Sam Cooke. We also get Balearic drum’n’bass departure/good pub guide Walk On, Slow Down – “If the people stood at the bar/Are talking makes of car/Then walk on”, counsels our host – and a ’50s Elvis-influenced, Neil Young-aware look at longevity-tested amour titled After The Sugar Rush.
As with many previous Heaton compositions, these songs’ lyrics were written in pubs while on a cycling break in the Netherlands with his wife. That’s probably why they ring so true, and are so well-observed: Heaton is of and in among the people, hearing myriad takes on universal themes. Five solo LPs in, The Mighty Several vouches for his continued worth, fostering unity and empathy in divided times.
The Mighty Several is out October 11 on EMI.
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Tracklisting:
National Treasure
Quicksand
After The Sugar Rush
Fish ‘N’ Chip Supper
H Into Hurt
Silly Me
Small Boats
Just Another Family
Pull Up A Seat
The Blues Came In
Couldn’t Get Dead
Walk On, Slow Down
Main photo: Tom Sheehan