Paul Heaton is the voice of the best songs I heard. If you hear his voice you know the Housemartins or Beautiful South, this voice is special and he is a good songwriter.
I absolutely love The Housemartins especially since I'm from Hull too! I always blast them out on the machines in Manchesyer as thatsbwhere I live now. Never forget where you're from!!
Race or color does not matter. This is a totally different interpretation and it has earned Isley/Jasper/Isley a lot of money. I'll bet more that the original. As far as 'Smoking' them, you need to look at the 5 year career of the Housemartings, the 19 years of The Beautiful South, Pauls Solo career and then him teaming back up with Jacqui. That is 40 years performing and this performance at the Royal Albert Hall is the 4th iteration od Paul's career. The Housemartin's version (featuring Paul Heaton, was a top 10 song in at least 12 countries, getting to number 1 in 3 of them. Isley/Jasper/Isley wrote a great song but no way could they 'smoke' Paul Heaton.
