London 0 Hull 4 is the debut album by The Housemartins, released in June 1986. It contains the singles "Flag Day" (#124 UK), "Sheep" (#54 UK), "Happy Hour" (#3 UK) and "Think for a Minute" (#18 UK).
The title refers to the band's home city of Kingston upon Hull and is in the format of a football score. It also refers to singer Paul Heaton's assertion that the Housemartins were only the fourth best band in Hull, suggesting London had no great bands at all. The other three Hull bands in question were Red Guitars, Everything but the Girl and The Gargoyles. The title "London 0 Hull 4" was used by various newspapers as a headline in October 2008 after the city's newly promoted football team, Hull City, beat West Ham United to take a fourth win out of four against London-based clubs (having previously beaten Fulham, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur).
The liner notes and lyrics reflect Heaton's interest at that time in Christianity and Marxism. For example, the back cover of the album contains the message, "Take Jesus – Take Marx – Take Hope".
The CD release of the album featured four additional tracks along with the front cover phrase, "16 songs – 17 hits!".
The album was re-released on 22 June 2009, as London 0 Hull 4 Deluxe, containing a second CD of bonus tracks, B-sides and live recordings.
Critical reception
Reviewing London 0 Hull 4 for Smash Hits, Sylvia Patterson called the Housemartins "quite possibly the brightest band in Britain",
Retrospectively, AllMusic critic Rick Anderson described London 0 Hull 4 as an album of "deceivingly simple and tuneful pop songs" masking "a world of class resentment, bitter economic disappointment, and strangled rage" in its lyrics, concluding that "Heaton is no simple lefty... but his views are brutally uncompromising, and they constitute a very iron fist wrapped in the velvet glove of the Housemartins' blissful guitar pop."
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Personnel
The Housemartins
- Norman Cook – bass, vocals
- Hugh Whitaker – drums, vocals
- P.d. Heaton<!-- Yes, Capital P, small d. P.d. Heaton, not p.d. or P.D., is how it is spelled on ALL Housemartins singles and albums. Do not change this. --> – lead vocals, guitar, harmonica, melodica
- Stan Cullimore – guitar, vocals
with:
- Pete Wingfield – piano on "Flag Day", "Get Up Off Our Knees", "Anxious" and "Lean on Me"
- Tony Pleeth – cello on "Over There" and "Think for a Minute"
- Jeffrey Wood – piano on "I'll Be Your Shelter"
Design
- David Storey – album cover design