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Underground > Radio & Music >

I like Belle & Sebastian

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18:36 / 21.04.02

Am I wrong?

uncle retrospective

19:28 / 21.04.02

I'm afraid so. I went to one of their gigs a few years back and the lead singer did nothing but sulk for the whole gig then 50 minutes in he threw down the gituar down and stormed off. End of gig.
had I paid for the ticket I would have been pissed.

Oh and the music was so wussy. In such a dull way.
Yuck.

Warrington Minge

22:56 / 21.04.02

No you're not wrong.

They write really good tunes daddy-o.

Good Job!

Never seen them live though perhaps they're just an album band.

Warrington Minge

22:58 / 21.04.02

if you like Belle and Sebastian then why not try Salako who are on the same label but much better in my opinion. they are nicely eclectic in their musical diversity.

Blimey I really am feeling pretentious tonight!!!!

08:39 / 22.04.02

You know, I don't like Belle & Sebastian. But I like lots of groups who sound like Belle & Sebastian.

As in, I have a great liking for the kind of thing they do, but for some reason they just rub me the wrong way, so to speak.

Most odd.

09:16 / 22.04.02

belle and sebastian piss me off because their marketing is so tactical and weird. and all their fans dress in the same way and are into twee and cardigans. there's no need for any of that malarkee.
and i think of all this and i think to myself, 'i hate belle and sebastian and their twee ways' and then i hear the music and i like it. i do like their music.
it's the other stuff that pisses me off.

09:47 / 22.04.02

Belle and Sebastian are the voice of non-ned Scottish youth. Or at least they used to be. For a while.

09:48 / 22.04.02

I think they rock.

Under the sea!

13:48 / 22.04.02

My ex-roommate introduced them to me, and I quite like them. I used to listen to them while I was drawing, but since my roommate moved away and took her CDs, and I never buy music, I am currently without.

Fun fact. For some reason Haus reminds me of Belle and Sebastian. I can't say why, he just does.

Matthew Fluxington

14:12 / 22.04.02

Belle And Sebastian can be really, really good. Don't think about marketing or their fans, those are sort of shallow concerns. The first three B+S lps are all gems - Tigermilk, If You're Feeling Sinister, and Boy With The Arab Strap. Some of the songs on their EPs are quite wonderful too, most notably "Slow Graffiti", "Legal Man", and "Lazy Line Painter Jane". There's some really weak stuff on the EPs though, and they really hit a wall on Fold Your Hands Child..., mostly because so much of the songwriting is surrended to Stuart Murdoch's bandmates. I wish that they'd break up so Stuart Murdoch could go back to doing entire records of his own songs, like on Tigermilk.

There are a few decent songs on Fold Your Hands... : "Don't Leave The Light On, Baby" and "Women's Realm" are two of the best B+S tunes, by my reckoning.

The Return Of Rothkoid

14:28 / 22.04.02

Well, I'm quite fond of The Boy With The Arab Strap and Tigermilk - but they are the only two that I've got. Or that I have the desire to get, really. The PR side of it tends to get to me more than their music does, though...

Matthew Fluxington

14:36 / 22.04.02

Rothkoid, if you have and enjoy those two records, then I would think you kinda owe it to yrself to get If You're Feeling Sinister, which is generally considered to be the "Classic" in their catalog...

Sinister is not my favorite though - I think Tigermilk is the most solid LP, and Arab Strap has the highest concentration of songs which I really love ("The Rollercoaster Ride", "Dirty Dream Number Two", "Simple Things", "Chickfactor", the title track...)

All said, I haven't intentionally listened to B+S for a really long, maybe even a year.

The Planet of Sound

17:08 / 22.04.02

Glint, you are not wrong. You are joyfully, hopelessly, deliriously right. I saw them a couple of weeks ago at the Brixton Academy, and it was pop, it was ethereal, it was strings, and steel bands, and lisping choruses and funky dancing. If it hadn't been for the prattling morons at the back yelling 'turn it up' rather than shutting the fuck up and listening, it would have been A Perfect Gig.

All this, and they're Scottish, too. We should all be thankful, and the buffoons playing their Limp Bizkitz LPs can go and fuck themselves, all the while whinging about being forced to clean their rooms and how girls are all bitches, no doubt.

17:14 / 22.04.02

I have ... Arab Strap and If You're Feeling...
To me they feel like a box of diet cookies, with that bland, cardboard-like flavor where you can feel the taste of saccarine...
Then all of a sudden you find 1 or 2 chocolate cookies with extra sugar, nougat and caramel which almost make the whole box worth the price you paid ("Like Dylan In The Movies", "Fox In The Snow" etc)

17:48 / 22.04.02

but anything compared to limp bizkit sounds good. don't cha think?

17:52 / 22.04.02

Stuart Murdoch's voice is really lovely live. It's a shame none of the recordings capture it.

18:07 / 22.04.02

Suds: Agree com-ple-tely. nu metal makes slamming doors and rusty engines sound like heavenly choirs

The Return Of Rothkoid

09:51 / 23.04.02

Hey, in the right hands, they do anyway!

14:07 / 23.04.02

Fun fact. For some reason Haus reminds me of Belle and Sebastian. I can't say why, he just does.

Haus? Stuart Murdoch?

hmm..

..someone assemble the appropriate photographs and do a comparison..

Matthew Fluxington

14:45 / 23.04.02

Another thing about Stuart Murdoch that you only pick up on if you've seen the band live: he's a very handsome fellow, he's very athletic and muscular without being musclebound, and bears a strong resemblence to a young Sting.

16:26 / 23.04.02

Tigermilk is one of my top 5 favorite albums of all time. The others don't do it for me quite as much, but are still pretty damn brilliant.

A lot of people have told me that they hated Belle & Sebastian at first ("Too depressing!" "Too boring!"), but after constant exposure from friends, boyfriends, girlfriends, roommates came to love them. So they might be an acquired taste.

I'll be seeing them live May 3rd, and cannot wait. I'll report back here....

Regrettable Juvenilia

16:36 / 23.04.02

Fun fact. For some reason Haus reminds me of Belle and Sebastian. I can't say why, he just does.

Oh, completely. Hey, maybe we could match up other lithers with bands? Would kill a few hours, wouldn't it.

I like B&S too. 'There's Too Much Love' is probably my favourite song of theirs, although 'Don't Leave The Light On, Baby' and all of '3, 6, 9 Seconds of Light' = also great.

16:40 / 23.04.02

Audiogalaxy's got most of the tracks from Storytelling up now. Haven't downloaded them all yet.

I'm seein' 'em on Cinco de Mayo. It should be a fun show. They were good last time I saw them and supposedly the band is much tighter now.

Matthew Fluxington

17:53 / 23.04.02

Hm. I don't think B+S are really an "acquired taste", they are pretty accessable - I think it's the stigma and ubiquity that they've developed over time is the real trouble. I remember back when they first popped up, on The Enclave label on import, and Tigermilk was circulating as a bootleg tape/cd-r back in 96, and everyone I'd play those two records for just flipped for them. Sure, there was an element of novelty to it ("it's our little secret band"); but I think without having the stigma of twee-ness attached to it, it was easier to just enjoy the songs.

17:58 / 23.04.02

Yes, I'm afraid your opinion is malfunctioning. Liking certain types of music is wrong...

Regrettable Juvenilia

12:14 / 25.02.04

I like the Belle & Sebastian. La la la la la la, step into my office, baby!

I am glad to see they have become obsessed with sport again. I always picture a young sexually-confused person jogging across a windy heath when I hear their songs.

18:54 / 25.02.04

Haha - That's perfect, Flyboy. That's the promo ad for the mail-order 'Best Of', no doubt about it.

Flux has it on the money with B & S as far as I'm concerned - When it's Stuart Murdoch flying mostly solo it's extremely solid listening. 'Boy With The Arab Strap' didn't resonate at all for me, but I'll swear by Tigermilk and If You're Feeling Sinister. "She's Losing It " is a really great song. "Judy and the Dream of Horses" always makes me wanna shake my ass when it breaks down with the trumpet.

There's a kind of conviction of hyper-sensitivity with them that isn't patronizing or obvious, which is appealing. And Stuart Murdoch's 60's-pop-love doesn't hurt either.

So No. You Not Wrong.

16:30 / 29.12.04

You sure ain't. Dear Catastrophe Waitress is a great album, IMHO. I like the texture, tone and sensitivity of 'Piazza New York Catcher', the sweet concern (ok, so he' taking the piss) of the title track and the brilliance of 'Lord Anthony'.

Tryphena Absent

18:09 / 29.12.04

Belle and Sebastian are like skipping through a gently sloping field of daisies on a warm, fluffy afternoon. And if you don't like that than you don't like nice things. And if you don't like nice than you're wrong. Basically.

19:24 / 29.12.04

Indeed. A gently sloping field of very very slightly angty-about-their-sexuality daisies with crap-but-undemanding jobs they can't be bothered to quit.

Regrettable Juvenilia

23:34 / 29.12.04

I'm Rick Jones, bitch

11:26 / 30.12.04

I do not enjoy THE BELLE.

Haus of Mystery

12:12 / 30.12.04

I think they're great - I missed the bandwagon with them, only got into them a couple of years ago. The four ep's are the best, and 'Tigermilk' and 'If You're feeling Sinister' are nigh on perfect albums IMHO. They begin to lose it with 'Arab strap' and 'Fold your Hands..' is extremely patchy. didn't bother with the new one. It's pretty much like Flux stated - the strongest element is Stuart Murdoch, when he's not in control they begin to lose that beautiful fully formed sound. They exist for me in the same realm, as Simon & Garfunkel - beautiful melodic pop records for beautiful pop days. If I'm not in the mood it can be a bit twee, but the sheer perfection of a great many of their songs often find aplace in my heart. And with lines like

'He remembers all the punks and the hippies too,
And he remembers Roxy Music in '72'

you can't go wrong.

21:55 / 30.12.04

And if you don't like that than you don't like nice things. And if you don't like nice than you're wrong. Basically.

I think there's much more to them than that - altho I've only heard one album. There are some very clever arrangements on their latest album. Not all their lyrics are cutesy-pie: some of them are pretty thought provoking.

15:38 / 04.01.05

I like Belle & Sebastion- I just drove back to London listening to If your feeling sinister belting out every word and loving it after christmas at the folks place. Sinister is my fave- I loved Arab strap when it came out - but the Teachers soundtrack thing makes it sound really dated and crap. I love all the early EP's 369 seconds of light and Lazy Line Painter Jane are my faves.

On the live thing- they seem to have got a lot better- I saw them about 4 years ago at the Royal Albert Hall and although it was fun it was also shambolic and not brilliantly performed (i also had a dreadful seat) they encored with Lazy Line Paiter Jane with Monica queen joining them for her bit and was ace- then they did a sly stone cover (thank you falettinme be mice elf again i think) and it was fuckin aweful they killed there moment like I've never seen another band do... I then saw them at somerset House with The Shins supporting in the summer and they were bloody ace- really tight sounding, entertaining- just what you'd expect from them. stuart Murdoch even took the piss out of (now departed ) Bel by singing a piss takey rendition of the model from fold your arms... Finished with me and the Major- what more d'ya want?

All in all their early stuff is probably a bit better- I hated Step into my office baby but loved wrapped up in books- Whats opion on Storytelling? I quite like it but it does get a little repetitive...

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