From Planet Sound (PS) teletext on Channel 4  -  Special Thanks to Suzanne for the transcription!

HEATONS BEAUTIFUL ABBOTT

The Beautiful Souths singer Paul Heaton has told PS he regrets co-singer Jacqui Abbott leaving the band last year.

Abbott quit on tour last year, and Heaton said: "I think Jacqui perhaps felt undervalued in the band, that maybe some of the other members felt she was superfluous."

Heaton added: "I think Jacqui is the best singer in Britain, and maybe I should have told her that more often. I'd love Jacqui to rejoin."

Paul Heaton has been telling PS of how Jacqui Abbot quit The Beautiful South.

"Tours intensify any arguments you have, but it was still a total shock when Jacqui announced she'd had enough," says Heaton, who releases his debut solo single Mitch under the alias of Biscuit Boy on August 27th. [Well, not really... but you've read the news about the release dates already!]

"It's 10 years since the band praised me for a lyric," he added. "I'm fine with that, Jacqui needed reassuring - I regret not giving that to her."

PAUL HEATON: LIMP BISCUIT?

"Mid-life crisis? Nah. I'm not into that 'You're only as young as you feel' rubbish. I've always felt like I'm 50 years old to begin with."

Whatever Beautiful South singer Paul Heaton's protestations, realeasing your debut solo album when you're 39 - particularly under the alias Biscuit Boy - indicates something odd is afoot.

Is it fatherhood? Going teetotal? Ensuring you don't go stale? All these things and more, as Paul tells PS... "I like a good biscuit, but I'm not obsessed, honest," says Paul Heaton of his decision to release his solo album under the alias of Biscuit Boy.

"It's the first in a series of boy aliases, I'll be Pepperboy next time."

So what's wrong with Paul Heaton? "I'd be too embarassed if the album failed. To see my given birth name limping into the charts at no 40 and limping down to no 70 the next week. Really, who needs that kind of humiliation?"

Having told Beautiful South members for the past five years that he'd be making a solo album, the idea became a reality for Paul during the making of 2000's Painting It Red album.

"It sounds dead sneaky, but I found myself writing songs that were too personal, that didn't fit," he says.

"Beautiful South's a co-operative with seven people, so it can take a while before things get done. The band had a break, I wanted to do a quick album."

Drawing up a wish list of collaborators for his solo album, Paul Heaton had to rule out Bill Withers as "he's a hermit who's spent 14 years doing his own LP."

Joe Strummer was another possibility, but Paul ended up working with Joe's two Mescaleros band mates instead.

"Joe was a dating agency," laughs Paul "He said 'You should see these two guys I've got working with me' and left the room for us to get aquainted. Six weeks later, the album was finished."

Barstool on Paul Heatons solo album Fat Chance - out September 10 - is an effectionate tribute to drinking. I bit odd for someone who's teetotal, surely?

"I had 20 good years of drinking," Paul insists. "I'd encourage anyone to go drinking but it's not for me anymore."

Paul, who's only drink in the last 18 months was a glass of champagne when his daughter was Maisy, adds: "It's the athmosphere of pubs I like best - I go to pubs, but I drink no-alcohol lager."

Even more than finally going solo, the big change in Pauls life was the birth of baby daughter Maisy six months ago.

"I'm too old to let becoming a dad change my personality," Paul ponders. "That said, I've become more used to having a routine.

"Maisy saw me play at Cambridge folk - I made her pay, 'cause I'm a strict dad - and she didn't stop screaming. That's a worry, as Maisy's a quiet baby. Maybe it was a happy 'Yay, Daddy! Scream..."

Passionate about everything from the evils of Tony Blair to how addictive Bamboozle! is, Paul links Radio 1's decline to capitalism in music.

"It started with Thatcher rite statistics about 'one in three people are better off'," fumes Ugly Duckling and 07 fan Paul. "Record labels apply those same capatilist idea's to pop.

"Music is becoming niche marketing, insuring one in three 15 years olds owns Atomic Kitten. And Radio 1 go for it."

With Beautiful South to issue a second Best Of in November, don't mention to Paul the statistic that one in seven homes has a copy of the first hits set.

"That's as meaningless as saying me and Dave Rotheray are the new Lennon and McCartney," Paul sighs. "I don't like The Beatles but I'm sure they were concerned with quality, not sales.

"Sorry, I don't mean to rant. But every day, I put on my cowboy hat and get on my high horse for a few minutes..."