does anyone still like Belle and Sebastian?

next time: me, hstencil, and shakey mo will karaoke it over "century of elvis".

(the above 's from the ile what-are-you-listening-to-today thread, though as to whether mark s did dig 'em or not... go figure)

The absolute worst B&S song is the duet that Isobel and Stevie sing on Fold Your Hands...I think it's called "Before The Sunrise". That song is painfully bad, I often think of it as being one of the worst songs I've ever paid to own a copy of.

I look forward to the *sound* of future B&S records, even if the songs might be a bit flimsy. I liked Storytelling quite a bit and I got the (perhaps entirely mistaken) impression that it was a Stevie-driven thing.

Do you like Bernard Sumner too?

Or: the pinefox is to B&S as Roy Hattersley is to 'socialism'.

I first heard it at THE VICAR'S HOUSE. (The Old Vicarage - it's just inside THE PHOENIX PARK.) It sounded surprising - as in: 'jeez, what's this - a new B&S record??'. It seemed to me to have arrived very suddenly.

It has some fine tunes. That comment looks blander than it should. It really does have one or two fine tunes.

Swearing should be banned from pop song titles, though.

it also has samples of dialogue from the film. They are great, particularly the one about how great New Jersey is. Having heard these snippets of dialogue I feel that the best of the film has been extracted for me. Thanks B&S!

tigermilk = the first one
if you're feeling sinister = the 5000 spirits....
arab strap = hangman's beautiful daughter

and after that will come a bunch more, none that are actually TERRIBLE but nothing essential or particularly inspired.

B & S have become an easy target now that they are no longer making the same kind of music and having the impact that they had a few years ago, when they were as loved as deeply and pointlessly as any schmindie band had been for years.

They are what they are - an oasis of mostly gorgeous sweet, inoffensive and occasionally beautiful well-crafted pop at a time when there is little like it around, and they should be cherished for it.

ps: I think Stuart Murdoch ought to give up trying to combine management duties at Wimbledon with leading B & S - it's affecting his workload !

this is worth emphasising - they have become such a kickarse big fun live band it's almost hard to believe, especially if you saw ye liveliest awfulnesse that was their gig in Dublin's Olympia (looooong gaps between songs, manifestly bad vibes onstage, Stuart smashing his guitar, etc.).

that said, Isobel leaving loses the band an air of entertaining onstage mentalism.

A bit of 'Ashes To Ashes' at the beginning, too.

bastards! i just ripped off that same bassline. back to the drawing board.

DCW is certainly the last album I loved. I didn't like the LIfe Pursuit at all so it was kind of a surprise.

TLP is strong, I'd say. Objectively as good as DCW if we're going song-for-song even though the tone is slightly less playful

I loved "Girls in peacetime.." but it did feel like time to get off the bus.

Welll....

Nobody reads anymore, neither my posts nor wayward books by indies.

"Come On Sister" from 2010's Write About Love is as strong as any song in their catalog.

I read the Stuart David book In the All Night Cafe and remember enjoying it. Stuart Murdoch's book I gave up on after a chapter or two. I don't remember why, the writing was bugging me

thank you erasingclouds <3

I'm only really here for the albums up to and including DCW, but the poll did lead me to 'Play for Today', which I now consider their best song.

nice, it's one of my favourites too, doesn't do itself any favours by taking like 5 minutes to get going though

My personal ranking - top tier albums I return to regularly; spotty but still some excellent stuff; and mediocre to bad

Sinister
Arab Strap
DCW
Tigermilk
Life Pursuit
—
Fold Your Hands
Write About Love
Girls in Peacetime
—
A Bit of Previous
Late Developers
Storytelling
Bagnold Summer

I love the slow unfolding of 'Play for Today' - makes the payoff even more powerful, imo.

Bagnold Summer = bad soundtrack for a terrible, terrible film.

oh it's not a Cure cover?

scttnnt, agree with that list 100%, and everything collected on Barman in the top rank too.

Oh, the movie...

I watched it with Alice, just before she started her music degree course. Kinda felt it was an introduction to what she'd be doing...

Anyway, I enjoyed it.

Lots of other people didn't...

Best Letterboxd Review of Stuart Murdoch's Debut Feature Film, "God Help the Girl".

still haven't brought myself around to watching that

EPs box set or Push Barman to Open Old Wounds would have be in my top four if it counts.

(along with tigermilk, DCW, and sinister of course)

xposts it's very amateur, some are very good (Olly Alexander) some are doing their best, shall we say?

You'll either find it charming, or, um, the opposite of charming...

Reminds me of that Boaby skit where Boab, Alan McGee and Stuart Murdoch do a Q&A at a college in the US...

Stuart begins a long answer on his film, "God Help the Girl".

BOAB (to Al): Here, whit's this aboot a film?
AL: He directed a film.
BOAB: Whit, that wee rat? Whit's it aboot?
AL: Glasgow, supposedly.
BOAB (suddenly interested): Glesga?

Boab decides to listen in to another question on the film.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Uh, I just wanna, um, bring up one of the, uh, criticisms levelled at your movie in certain quarters...
STUART (sitting forward in his seat): Mmm-hmm?
AUDIENCE MEMBER: ... uh-huh... the criticism was that there was a lack of diversity in your portrayal of Glaz-gow, specifically a lack of African-American characters and faces and, um.... how do you answer that, um, criticism?
STUART (squirming slightly): Well, I think that's a... (*clears throat*)... a good question... em... I mean, Glasgow isn't as ethnically diverse as most American cities...
BOAB: Bollocks.
MODERATOR: Pardon me?
BOAB: There's loats o' Asians in Glesga fur a stert.
MODERATOR: Really? I had no idea, do you have... like a Chinatown?
BOAB: Ye whit?
AL (to the moderator): He means South Asians.
BOAB: Aye, well a loat o’ them dae live in Pollokshields and Govanhill but ye dae get some north o' the river an' aw.
AL: Glasgow might not be that ethnically diverse, but it has got one significant group that seemed to be absent from your film, Stuart, if I may say so.
STUART: Oh, really? Who?
AL: Glaswegians.