Fatboy Slim Drops Beats On New Beautiful South Record

Fatboy Slim mastermind Norman Cook has joined former Housemartins bandmate Paul Heaton in the studio to help Heaton on the rhythm tracks for the Beautiful South's new album, "Quench.

While a publicist for Beautiful South told "New Musical Express" that the recent sessions do not indicate a reunion for the Housemartins, the Cook-Heaton collaborations mark the first time the two have been in a studio together in almost 10 years.

Cook and Heaton were integral members of the mid-'80s jangle-pop outfit the Housemartins, who scored a series of U.K. Top 10 hits and awards in its relatively brief four-year career before disbanding in 1988.

Heaton then went on to found the Beautiful South with Housemartins drummer David Hemmingway, while Cook pursued his remixing interests as a part of Beats International and Freakpower before releasing his first single as Fatboy Slim in 1996.

Fatboy Slim will release his sophomore album, "You've Come a Long Way, Baby," -- a title

which openly refers to the slogan for Virginia Slims' cigarettes -- on October 20.