Choke (album)

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Allmusic	[1]

Choke is The Beautiful South's second album. It was pushed to number 2 in the charts after the release of the South's first and only number 1 single "A Little Time".

The album was followed by two more singles, both of which were flops. "My Book", which became the band's first non top-40 single, peaked at number 43 and finally "Let Love Speak Up Itself", the last release from this album, only managed to reach number 51.

Earlier versions of the album, regardless of format, contained only 11 tracks. The twelfth track (appearing at the end of later presses of the CD) was intended for the album from the beginning, but was removed at a late stage of production. Only in much later editions of the CD did the track finally appear, added without explanation to the end of the album. Original copies of "Choke" on cassette tape feature a long silence at the end of Side One, possibly indicating that this would have been the location originally intended for the track.

Track listing

All tracks by Paul Heaton, David Rotheray unless otherwise noted

1. "Tonight I Fancy Myself" – 3:26
2. "My Book" – 3:18
3. "Let Love Speak Up Itself" – 5:04
4. "Should've Kept My Eyes Shut" – 3:27
5. "I've Come For My Award" – 3:14
6. "Lips" – 1:11
7. "I Think The Answer's Yes" – 5:15
8. "A Little Time" – 3:00
9. "Mother's Pride" – 2:03
10. "I Hate You (But You're Interesting)" – 3:46
11. "The Rising Of Grafton Street" – 3:05
12. "What You See Is What You Get" (Tony Hester) – 4:28 (German release only)^[2]

Non-LP/CD B-Sides

As was their usual modus operandi, The Beautiful South included unreleased material on the B-sides of the singles taken from their albums.^[2]

from the "A Little Time" 12" single and CDEP

• "A Little Time"
• "In Other Words I Hate You"
• "What You See Is What You Get" (Tony Hester)

from the "My Book" 12" single and CDEP

• "My Book"
• "Big Beautiful South"
• "Bigger Doesn't Mean Better"
• "Speak To Me"

from the "Let Love Speak Up Itself" 12" single and CDEP

• "Let Love Speak Up Itself"
• "Danielle Steel (The Enemy Within)” (this is a longer version of 3:39 later edited to 3:06, using an earlier fade-out for the limited edition bonus disc of Carry on up the Charts)
• "Love Wars" (Womack & Womack) (this is a longer version of 3:54 later edited to 3:41, using an earlier fade-out for the limited edition bonus disc of Carry on up the Charts)
• "Headbutting Husband"

Personnel

• Paul Heaton - vocals
• Dave Hemingway - vocals
• Briana Corrigan - vocals
• Dave Rotheray - guitar
• Sean Welch - bass
• Dave Stead - drums

Additional personnel

• Gary Barnacle – Flute, Saxophone
• Kevin Brown – Saxophone
• Damon Butcher – Piano, Keyboards
• Rupert Coulson – Engineer
• Mike Hedges – Producer
• Ben Kape – Engineer
• Jody Kitson – Percussion
• Lance Phillips – Engineer
• Tony Robinson – Trumpet
• Pete Wingfield – Piano

References