Paul Heaton

Acid Country, Proper ***

Paul Heaton, formerly an anchor of the Beautiful South, is now riding solo. This is his second album, and if there is a more vitriolic example of angry aging this year I'll be surprised. The title track is an epic 26-verse, eight-minute dicing and slicing of life in Britain today, coursed stiltedly through a couple of musical movements. As with most of the 10 tracks, it is thoughtful and provocative lyrically, but laboured musically. Heaton, for all his colourful detestation of life in Blighty, is quintessentially British, from his namechecking of idioms and institutions to the generally innocuous pub-rock rhythms and melodies in which he wraps his vexations. The Old Radio, It's a Young Man's Game, The Ladder's Bottom Rungand This Houseare the pick of the bunch, dealing as they do with the snarlingly honest concerns of a self-confessed hard-drinking, left-wing atheist with a passion for football and an ear for a tellling phrase.

See paulheatonmusic.com

Download tracks: The Old Radio, The Ladder's Bottom Rung