Ask Paul Heaton how many songs he’s written and he’ll tell you he’s not really sure. Perhaps that’s unsurprising: this summer it’s 40 years since The Housemartins released their debut album, Hull: 0 London: 4, peaking at number 3 in Britain. Subsequently, he’s released, in various configurations – with The Housemartins and The Beautiful South, solo and with Jacqui Abbot, not to mention as Biscuit Boy –another 21 studio albums, plenty going gold, some multi-platinum, as they’ve risen to the charts’ highest reaches. For each, moreover, he’ll have written many many more songs than he’ll ever include.
Jenius, Heaton’s new album’s title, is a symptom of this unassuming style. “If anybody ever calls me a genius,” he explains, “I always say, ‘What?! With a J?!’ The spelling would obviously be wrong.” Fortunately, there’s nothing bashful about these songs, something reflected in the LP’s cover, the first to feature a photo of Heaton since the Housemartin’s debut album. Indeed, Jenius betrays the truth of his talents, and its songs – of love and loneliness, pubs and booze, community and counsel, a nod to football, the state of the nation, and the overall wisdom of kindness.
TRACKLIST:
1. Can’t Get Next To You
2. Favourite Kind Of Idiot
3. I Want The Job
4. Sad Songs And Lawsuits
5. She Ain’t Pretty
6. One Eye Open
7. Send In The Clowns
8. Do Not Ask Me
9. Don’t Lean On Me
10. Jet Black Sky
11. The Whisky Did
12. Before Before
13. Good For The Bees
14. GoUpstream
15. A Son A Father