POLLercoaster Ride - ILM Artist Poll #94 - Belle and Sebastian - Discussion/Campaigning Thread

Looking forward to relistening to those old songs I used to obsess over, and giving the last two albums a go.

I suspect my tolerance for the teenage girl character songs will have dwindled.

After listening to the first three albums and EPs, this has proved the case, or, more specifically, I tend to prefer Stuart's songs when he's singing in the first and second person. I think I'm OK leaving all his early character songs about girls and women that refer to them wholly or partly in the third-person (She's Losing It, Judy and the Dream of Horses, String Bean Jean and Mary Jo) off my ballot.

Something I've never noticed till today: the title tracks of both Sinister and Arab Strap end with references to masturbation. I'm sure if Tigermilk had had a title track he's have managed it there too.

Pretty sure it would be a plushie manifesto.

'funny little frog' will almost certainly be in my top 10

― devvvine, Thursday, November 29, 2018 1:40 PM (twenty-seven minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i'm gonna vote for it too

Funny Little Frog is the Frog Chorus of Belle & Sebastian's career.

"she's losing it" is a song about me imo. also don't cut "she's losing it" my god

"She's Losing It" is a manic-pixie-dreamgirl movie in song form.

oh we can't go down the 'that one is about me' road because obviously so many people feel that these songs are about them -- it's what makes B&S songs so great!! so intensely personal and also mundane <3

i might vote in this poll. the songs i love, i love pretty fiercely.

"She's Losing It" is a manic-pixie-dreamgirl movie in song form.

― enochroot, Thursday, November 29, 2018 12:48 PM (four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this is completely untrue?

two angry and sad young women with ptsd transfer to a school where everyone is gay afaict, it's a perfect narrative

is a classic but also one of the fifteen songs competing for my last five ballot places, this is impossible

well that's what i get for not paying attention to lyrics.
next you're gonna tell me "Funny Little Frog" is about jesus or something.

as they teach psalms, jesus is the funniest little frog of all

https://theredkrayola.bandcamp.com/track/baby-jesus-frog

Wow, why didn't I notice that "I Don't Love Anyone" rips Hootie & the Blowfish?

― I like queer. You like queer, senator? (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, November 29, 2018 5:44 PM (four hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This is sheer contempt of this poll.

I've cut to 30. That was painful.

Current favourite lyric: 'big pockets for the pharmaceuticals she takes to fix her brain.'

Bollocks, forgot 'I Know Where The Summer Goes'.

He's not been mentioned as an influence so far, but 'I'm Waking Up To Us' is pure Cat Stevens.

doesn't he have a song called "I love my dog" too? (Quoted in "I love my car")

Wow, why didn't I notice that "I Don't Love Anyone" rips Hootie & the Blowfish?

bbut u wrote that in your blog

I was listening to a shuffled B&S playlist on spotify and I decided to look up the lyrics of two songs: ‘Marx and Engels’ and ‘Lazy Line Painter Jane’. I thought I would get a better understanding about the girls in these two songs but there really wasn’t much more to gain from the lyrics. Then I thought maybe I’m just stupid for not getting it.

Eventually I remembered that I really don’t know what the lyrics are *all* about for a lot of good songs and that can be a good thing. Plus I really don’t need to dig deeper to enjoy a song I already enjoy. And a lot if times lyricists don’t actually write anything deeper. They might prefer to leave some things open-ended.

Re-listening to everything in preparation for my ballot and, wow, "Lord Anthony" just snuck up. Hadn't thought of it in years. What a great song!

Wow, why didn't I notice that "I Don't Love Anyone" rips Hootie & the Blowfish?

Gotta say I genuinely love "Only Wanna Be With You" *and* "I Don't Love Anyone". Sang the former to my (dearly departed) cat.

here is the great 'loneliness of the middle distance runner' tv performance mentioned upthread

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_nlGHj8lKY

the future's looking colourful / it's the colour of blood, chaos, and corruption of a happy soul

Oh wow look at those cuties! Thanks for posting that: was great to see it again.

It has reminded me that I transcribed the lyrics with a few question marks ("the dog lies down?") and posted them to the Sinister mailing list. Then out of the blue I got an email from Stuart Murdoch saying yes, that's right. Sent from one of those Amstrad email phones. What a moment!

And yet you had the cheek to mock his line about his phone being "full of silicon chips"!

Ha ha, i was listening to that on the way in to work today and it made me smile again. I put it in a special category with "She's got it all on computer disk / Cause she's a marketing analyst". TECHNOSTRAUN.

Thanks for posting, devvvine, but it says it's blocked in the US :(
I'm seriously considering signing up for a VPN just so I can watch that.

Ah figured out how to get the link to show in the US (try this)

That looks like the same configuration of band members as they had on the tour where I first heard them perform that song... about 2000 or 2001. I think Isobel quit the band mid-tour, but Stuart David was already gone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZGVgg-QI6w

"Your Cover's Blown" is a top three track for me, lovely evolution. My underrated campaign nom.

it's such an outlier in their catalogue but absolutely one of their best moments

Verses of Stay Loose were definitely ripped off by Of Montreal at some point

Not that I remember much about the show, but I found a copy of the setlist they played in Chicago in 1998!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/18097936@N00/2574704491/in/set-72157605587414204

That was sooooo long ago.

I love the epic structure of Your Cover's Blown. Definitely making my ballot.

Cover’s Blown is one of 4-5 tracks in competition for #1 for me

First listen to Your Cover's Blown. It's got more than a whiff of William Onyeabor!

That version of Loneliness ^^ is lovely. The B A E F#/F#m progression is the most Belle and Sebastian of them all.

That’s the Stars of Track and Field chorus, right?

Listened to Tigermilk for the first time ever to vote for this poll. For some reason, I was expecting something of demo quality, light on instrumentation. It's actually quite filled out, probably more interesting arrangements than Sinister. It's sad that I never listened to "The State I Am In" before now; some other great tracks too

Also listened to Life Pursuit, which was nice, but only "We Are the Sleepyheads" really caught me, which is kinda XTC-like?

We Are The Sleepyheads is wonderful, for some reason it was picked as a weak track in some reviews though.

My "everyone go listen to this now" track today is Play For Today from 'Girls in Peacetime'

That’s the Stars of Track and Field chorus, right?

Among so many others, aye.

I always loved the Dirty Dream #2 video, even if its American-ness makes it a bit strange for B&S. Might be my #1 track by them too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvqhSMAlkhQ

Noted elsewhere, but that video is packed with folks from the Athens E6 scene, plus Corin Tucker (whose husband Lance Bangs directed).

a rarity i adore: their rendition of 'o come, o come emmanuel'

I always loved the Dirty Dream #2 video, even if its American-ness makes it a bit strange for B&S. Might be my #1 track by them too.

it's my no. 1, still, and i've almost finished my discography run. perfect in every way. the strings, the guitar jangle after the chorus, the insistent motown pulse, one of murdoch's best melodies, ugh

lyrics are perfect too
i'm lucky i can open the door and i can walk down the street <-- i think about this all the time for some reason

Love that the video is obviously the American South, but the people and the film stock and clothes and general kissy kissy tweeness makes it feel exactly like the other early B&S vids.

New @bellesglasgow album artwork leaked
pic via @pipterino pic.twitter.com/reVtpaSw1m

— Avalanche Records (@avalanche_edin) November 30, 2018

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ljpDsU3raE

Will be ranking Electronic Renaissance highly. Wish they had explored this low-fi synth pop zone a bit more. "Monochrome in the 1990's / You go disco and I'll go my way" is a kind of mission statement for early B&S