There were probably hit singles in the U.K. off this record, but I'm U.S.-based and would never know about it. "Closer Than Most" opens the CD with a dance beat and celebrates a one-night stand for taking the shortcut to intimacy. "‘Til You Can't Tuck It In" is particularly engaging, an upbeat song that says "grow old with me" but without the requisite icky sentiment. The rest are mostly love songs. Heaton, and occasionally Dave Hemmingway, trade vocals with Jacqueline Abbott, sometimes in the same song, giving male and female voice to the tribulations and complications of those man-woman relationships that one hears so much about, but rarely with as much perception and wit.

The lyrics are worth quoting, with lines like "Miles Davis played the black ‘n’ blues" and "kids grow up, parents down" and "you look like a younger more beautiful version of death," and many, many more. These alone are the work of someone who has their way with words, but on occasion entire songs deliver something more than clever lines strung together. Not often enough, however. The Beautiful South's debut album was short, nasty and delightful, their 1997 album (Blue is the Colour) a gem with 12 slick songs about drunks, prostitutes, loneliness and other happy thoughts. The first half of Painting It Red is rather good and rates with the group's best work, the second half less so, though on the whole it’s remarkably consistent for 17 songs. The problem is that at nearly 70 minutes long its consistency becomes a bit of a bore. A little editing might have made all the difference.