Belle and Sebastian - who on ILX will be right about Write About Love?

every few years when i lived in philadelphia i would see a roving band of skinheads! for real! they would be drunk and throw things at old ladies and kick dogs or whatever. so cool! i have no idea where they came from. just passing through.

have nostalgic feelings about getting into a hardman staredown/near fight with gross philly proles at a B&S show once upon a time. fuckers...

the famous philly thing is they cancelled their very first show there! it was a VERY big deal, i'll have you know. everyone was waiting for them to go on, but penelope or someone had the sniffles and they couldn't go on. they played like a year later or something for everyone who came that night. or something like that. many twee tears shed that night! many damp sweaters.

this must have been at their fifth philly show or something, like 2005. no big deal. was kinda itching for bloodshed tbh, cuz i busted my knuckles at a belle & sebastian show would have been a good story. but nothing came to pass.

LOL at "Penelope or someone had the sniffles"

are there still pop art retro art movie 60's girls like the one on the real cover?

The girl on the cover is in a Glasgow band called "Zoey von Goey" that S. Murdoch produced.

the boy with the arab strap is classic; the eps preceding it are mostly classic as well. it's just pop/rock music, guys, no need to wind yourselves into a tizzy. fold your hands is 2/3rds dogshit but dear catastrophe waitress truly surprised me w/its greatness so i am very much interested in hearing this new one.

"it's just pop/rock music, guys, no need to wind yourselves into a tizzy."

^^^^ totally. In fact when I heard them for the first time the thing that grabbed me was how Lazy Line Painter Jane channelled the Velvets Live 1969 sound.

That said, I reckon they peaked with Tigermilk and the first 3 eps. It's been steadily diminishing returns ever since.

Yeah, DCW is my favourite overall, though I just couldn't get into TLP and that God Help the Girl thing. So, I'm not exactly clamouring for the newie. Just hope it's a Return To Form yo.

I've only seen B&S live once, and some of the audience were the most obnoxious people.

I don't think I'm one of the annoying twee types people are talking about although I have met some and yes, they were British.

― o sh!t a ˁ˚ᴥ˚ˀ (ENBB), Thursday, August 12, 2010 3:48 AM (5 hours ago) Bookmark

LOL

I thought DCW and Life Pursuit were both great, so I'm stoked for this.

Hooray for B&W brunette hipster woman on the sleeve. Murdo's back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

stuart murdah

didn't like life pursuit at all but loved waitress. of course I'll listen to this, and I'm seeing them live as well (but only because they're playing the treasure island fest with other bands I want to see).

x-post Didn't Stuart Murdoch start the Philly show in boxing gloves and shorts, entering the stage to the "Rocky" theme? I'm not joking.

i thought everyone had to do that when they played a show in philly...?

That would explain his guitar playing anyway

i thot they all listened to very truly yours and the motifs these days

― kshighway61 revisited (electricsound), Wednesday, August 11, 2010 7:24 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

weird, people outside of Chicago know about Very Truly Yours? I assumed they were just a local deal.

x-post Didn't Stuart Murdoch start the Philly show in boxing gloves and shorts, entering the stage to the "Rocky" theme? I'm not joking.

― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, August 12, 2010 1:44 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

Yes. Later in the show Stuart brought out a box of t-shirts and asked which audience members had been at the canceled performance. Those who had raised their hands, walked in an orderly fashion to the stage, waited patiently in line to be handed t-shirts, and returned to their seats without incident. Yes, there were many sweaters and eyeglasses. It was twee as fuck, and one of the most splendid moments in humanity I have witnessed on earth. The show then resumed and frankly I wish it were still going on right now.

weird, people outside of Chicago know about Very Truly Yours? I assumed they were just a local deal.

i came across them by accident on emusic, but i love their record. found out that a friend of mine also was into them.. so yeah they have a modest oz fanbase as well

Yeah, VTY has made its way around the internet/tweeverse (same thing?). A little too amateurish and sloppy for me but I guess some people find that charming.

just be thankful none of their fans get their knitting out during a gig ;)

― pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname)

B&S fans are being encouraged to knit about love.

Anywho, I'm hoping for more TLS-type stuff from this. Wasn't maybe as consistent as some of their other albums but I return to the high points ("Another Sunny Day", "Sukie", "White Collar Boy", Dress Up In You" especially) again and again (thank you, Lord, for the iPod). Strangely, DCW never really clicked with me. If they're going back to their fey roots or whatever, I can probably do without that.

Super stoked for Vengeance Rising, too.

glad people are hearing VTY, it's not my favorite kind of music but they are nice people and opened at my former band's last show

actual album cover:

http://cdn.pitchfork.com/media/bs.jpg

Are you serious? They're lowercasing "about"?

nothing wrong with knitting, btw (I have never seen anyone knitting at a Belle and Sebastian gig, or at any other gig).

It really does look like the B&S equivalent of the fake Studio album covers in that thread.

we need a thread of sleeves made by band members who shouldn't be entrusted to design sleeves. it's a nice typeface though.

meanwhile you can hear a bit of one of the songs here:

http://www.belleandsebastian.com/newsstory.php?id=505

it joins the ranks of some other fine b & s kitchendancing classics

they have leaked their first song, title track:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZ7ZYSNrn-Y

God I really hoped that was fake. The cover at the start of the thread is a million times better.

Well, I'll go next then. The song is... slight. I like it. It has many of my favorite chords. As you know, the title track to 'The Life Pursuit' never made it to the actual album, despite being a good song. I'm looking forward to a US tour. I'm grasping at straws. No, it's fine.

Will be fine when buying coffee on cold, early mornings this winter.

not very thrilled

I like it. It has many of my favorite chords.

haha

man, descending (then briefly rising) progression at the start is lifted, like directly, from something, but i can't for the life of me say what. songs is the kind of thing they do now, note perfect 60s/70s pop pastiche, owes everything to squeeze but strikes me as lifeless.

i hate this?, but at least it is related to the officeplace

The cover at the start of the thread is a million times better.

Yes.

owes everything to squeeze but strikes me as lifeless.

well, duh!

(only kidding)

Maybe there's some magic missing in the youtube sound quality but this sounds rote, almost dreary.

"Lifeless" is probably a better description.

The intro - Tragedy by the Bee Gees? The verse is a thousand 60s soul-tinged pop records. Lame chorus though.

Intro made me think a little bit of a major key version of Reach Out I'll Be There...maybe there's something else that's closer.

That new song is really not that great at all. Over the last few albums it sounds like they are too busy trying to prove to everyone that they are a real pop band and not a twee indie one, the thing is they actually had much better tunes when they were doing twee indie. I know I will get a lot of stick for saying this but it's the same way I see Suede, three classic albums and an amazing compilation of B-Sides/Singles then just a handful of good songs spread out over the rest of their careers. Belle & Sebastian's dip in quality might not be as big but they are both bands who, to me seemed like they used up all their great material early on.

Belle & Sebastian do get the big pop sound right sometimes, Your Cover's Blown and Stay Loose are two of my favourite songs of theirs but I remember hearing Funny Little Frog for the first time and knowing that my love of them was well and truly over. I will probably still listen to the new album when it comes out but that new song is just more of the same to me.

Oddly, I liked the God Help The Girl thing for the most part. Definitely more than anything B&S has done in a while. Maybe it's time for Stuart to just write for other people for a while. I'd be especially interested to see him collaborate w/Neil Hannon some more...

i think this sounds like a god help the girl side project

Sounds to me like a God Help Us All project.

Heard this on Radio 2 last night. Sally Sparrow just about passes muster as a singer, but this song has a "Kick Me" sign sellotaped to its back.

.. whereas ... ?

who is the girl singing on this?

It's the actress Carey Mulligan (An Education).

Leakage. Magiska.