Opening track and lead single 'I Gotta Praise' is the best thing on here, and easily up with their best songs both in the old band and as a duo, it's piano riff, harmonised chorus and jaunty rhythm jumping out at you.
Follow-up track 'He Wants You' has a fun swagger to it, sounding like the cousin of Lou Reed's 'Satellite of Love' in its funky rhythm. Sounding much more different to the duo's usual sound due to the production and a larger focus on the instruments this is quite a fresh take with hints of Scissor Sisters in the vocal effects, but it's difficult to ignore the Reed sound-a-like that delivers a lot of the appeal.
'If I May' is a slower, sultry number that boasts some cinematic strings and solid harmonies but it's not quite as distinctive as the opening two numbers, with the lyrics better than the tune, though it flows nicely as it reaches its gentle end.
My favourite track lyrically on the album is 'She Got The Garden' and it also feels like the contender for single two. With some witty lyrics about who's left with what in the wake of, I assume, a divorce, it's funny words are matched with a catchy radio-friendly chorus even if the theme is, as expected for Heaton, quite dark.
'People Like Us', track five, is a funky number with a call-and-response style in the vocals, with a jab at the haves, rather than the have-nots, wrapping up some thought-provoking words in the seventies-riffs. Abbott takes centre stage on 'Blackwater Banks', a folkier-style number that has a classic dance-feel to it with hints at Irish folk tunes, which works really well.
Hitting the second half of the album 'The Lord is a White Con' is a bouncy number focussing on religion and offering some biting criticism about it, as you'd expect from the title, but like most of the songs it's stabbing words are performed in a very poppy way.
'Silence Is' another uptempo tune that turns the rather downbeat lyrics into something more perky, with the calypso feel of the album title finally coming into play at the start. Throw in an almost a capella chant section and a Caribbean breakdown near the end and you get something quite bouncy for the duo, making it a great little listen.
The strings come alive on 'Love Makes You Happy', a dramatic Elvis Presley-esque number that's not quite as optimistic as the title would suggest thanks to the addition of the word 'apparently' in the song. 'The Fat Man' returns to the upbeat music and downbeat lyrics, with a take on the culture of obesity and who is to blame, with some rather tongue-in-cheek lyrics thrown at you.
'Your Bit of Stuff', the penultimate track, is a strong number continuing the style, before 'He Can't Marry Her', perhaps hinting back to one of the Beautiful South's older tracks at least in title if not musically, ties up the album nicely, with a smooth ballad with a bit of extra bite.
'Crooked Calypso' is another great collection of songs that combine lyrics with a message wrapped up in perky production and tunes with several stand-out numbers such as the opening track, 'He Wants To' and 'She Got the Garden'. Sitting between the last two albums in terms of enjoyment, this is still a strong LP without a duff track on it. Boasting more great lyrics from Heaton and vocals from him and Abbott that compliment each other very well, this is well worth a spin. (7/10)
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