A BBC review of the album stated "Often misunderstood and overlooked by the barometer of cool, Heaton and his minions have beavered away nevertheless and become two of the finest exponents of pop Britain has ever had", [2] while the Manchester Evening News declared "the early work shows them as being a jewel in our pop heritage." [3] Chart performance [ edit ] The album came into being as two of The Housemartins, Paul Heaton and Dave Hemingway formed The Beautiful South upon the former's breakup in 1988. The Beautiful South therefore were seen as the next guise of The Housemartins. Both bands had already had two greatest hits albums: The Housemartins in 1988 ( Now That's What I Call Quite Good) and 2004 ( The Best of The Housemartins), and The Beautiful South in 1994 ( Carry on up the Charts) and 2001 ( Solid Bronze). Taylor, Stella (14 June 2007). "A poignant musical dissertation on student life and dreams". Gazette and Herald . Retrieved 1 November 2019. In return, they will remind festival-goers of one of the great songbooks in British music. Heaton and Abbott were of course key members of The Beautiful South, one of the biggest-selling bands of the 1990s.

Contemporary Musicians, Volume 19". beautifulsouth.org. 1 September 1997. Archived from the original on 21 June 2007 . Retrieved 26 July 2007. In 1990, the Beautiful South released their second album, Choke. Two singles—"My Book" and "Let Love Speak Up Itself"—charted outside the Top 40, but the album also provided the band's only Number 1 hit, a Hemingway/Corrigan duet called " A Little Time". The video, featuring the aftermath of a domestic fight, won the 1991 BRIT Award for Best Video. [3] Third album and Corrigan's departure [ edit ] The Beautiful South". Brits.co.uk. 19 February 2014. Archived from the original on 20 October 2013 . Retrieved 30 March 2014. After a band meeting on 30 January 2007, the Beautiful South decided to split. They released a statement on 31 January 2007, in which they joked that their reasons for splitting were "musical similarities"—an ironic reference to "musical differences", which are often cited as the reason for a band's split. "The band would like to thank everyone for their 19 wonderful years in music", the statement also said. [2] The 1996 album Blue Is the Colour sold over a million copies, and featured hit singles " Rotterdam" and " Don't Marry Her". The album demonstrated the band's gradual shift towards a country music sound, and was well received by the public and on BBC and commercial radio. [ citation needed] In 1997, the Beautiful South headlined stadium concerts for the first and last time, in Huddersfield and at Crystal Palace National Sports Centre in London. Support for the Huddersfield concert was provided by Cast and the Lightning Seeds. [13] Quench [ edit ]Offiziellecharts.de – The Beautiful South – Carry On Up the Charts – The Best of the Beautiful South" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 17 October 2022. British album certifications – Beautiful South – Carry On Up The Charts - The Best Of". British Phonographic Industry. Abbott left in 2000 and was replaced by Alison Wheeler. The band released their final album, Superbi, in 2006. Famously, The Beautiful South blamed their split in 2007 on "musical similarities". It wasn't quite the end of the story however, as Heaton and Abbott reunited in 2013.

Carry On Up the Charts was released in November 1994, the same year as the band's previous album Miaow, with its only single, "One Last Love Song", being released in October 1994, only two months after "Prettiest Eyes"; the last single to be taken from Miaow. "One Last Love Song" reached number 14 in the UK Singles Chart. It’s such a wonderful song and another which is body positive. This time about someone you love getting older but still finding them attractive, knowing that the lines on their face chart your history together. European platinum certificates: 1996". ifpi.org. Archived from the original on 22 February 2012 . Retrieved 1 March 2010.Bourne, Diane (15 February 2007). "Why does it always rain on us?". Manchester Evening News . Retrieved 29 August 2023. These days, Hemingway is playing with a new band, Sunbirds, who rolled up at The Adelphi earlier this year. Briana Corrigan, meanwhile, went on to release an acclaimed solo album before becoming a music teacher.