Painting It Red is the seventh album by the Beautiful South, released in 2000. A concept album about impending middle age, Painting it Red is among the band's longest. A two-disc UK bonus version contains 20 tracks. The American release on Ark21 has only 17 tracks. The album made it to number 2 in the charts, and two singles were produced: "Closer Than Most", which reached number 22 in September, and the double A-side "The River"/"Just Checkin'", which reached number 59 in December.

Critical reception

Exclaim! wrote that the album "shows the strains of a band running out of new ideas [although] the music is certainly not terrible and there are good moments, such as 'Baby Please Go' or '10,000 Feet'." The Washington Post wrote that it "does occasionally muster an assertive beat--in part thanks to the assistance of Norman 'Fatboy Slim' Cook, who formerly played with Heaton and Hemingway in the Housemartins."

Track listing

British, European, Canadian & Japanese versions

US version

All songs written by Paul Heaton and David Rotheray.

CD single/CDEP B-sides

As was their usual practice, the Beautiful South included unreleased material on the B-sides of the singles taken from their albums. from "Closer Than Most" (CD1) from "Closer Than Most" (CD2) from "The River/Just Checkin'" (CD1) from "Just Checkin'"/The River" (CD2)

Personnel