Paul Heaton / Jacqui Abbott - Crooked Calypso

2017 release, the third album from former Beautiful South vocalists Paul Heaton and Jacqui Abbott. Crooked Calypso boasts all the hallmarks of Heaton's peerless songwriting: songs buoyant with melody, and redolent with biting wit, but also real emotion. Opening track 'I Gotta Praise', a euphoric secular Gospel anthem, raises the roof and opens the record in style. 'The Lord Is A White Con', meanwhile, considers religion as an exploitative tool of empire builders, while 'She Got The Garden' is the wittiest divorce song since 'D-I-V-O-R-C-E'. And then there is 'Blackwater Banks', a gorgeous Irish waltz that the Dubliners would be proud to call their own.