does anyone still like Belle and Sebastian?

Yup, on XFM.co.uk ("under Multimedia").

Truth, I started saying, "Oh God, more BS from B&S", but this new album is almost....happy-sounding.

so, have B&S blanded out their sound to appeal to cockfarmers who don't like B&S? time will tell.

And the weird thing about Dom's post is this comment from the band:

"The biggest studio creation and, ironically, one which Trevor was hardly involved in. This was the only song which wasn't fully written before we went into the studio. This was intentional, as we wanted a song Trevor could sing his teeth into. But Trevor didn't actually like the song. He did try a few things, but in the end, it was the band that saw it through. Tony Doogan mixed the song."

I don't think it's "blanded out" at all; except for those who think that any change is 'blanded' or 'sold-out' or whatever. That said, there is something very different about it (the singing maybe?) that makes me want to give up cockfarming altogether.

Roy Walker is the most disappointing song on the album for me. But give the album a few more listens, Chris, for I certainly found the songs in the middle (I'm A Cuckoo, You Don't Send Me and Wrapped Up in Books) grew on me after I'd repeated them a few times. I think it's prolly better than Fold Your Hands overall...I mean there were a couple of songs on FYH which were complete dross - Family Tree and Beyond the Sunrise.

I think you are wrong here. Stuart has the lead vocal on all the songs except Asleep on a Sunbeam and Roy Walker, as far as I can tell.

This is an extraordinary album, btw. I love it so much.

Damn right! This track is a winner! (among some pretty stiff spots elsewhere on the LP)

Does this song bear more than a slight resemblance to "The Boys Are Back In Town" or am I just being swayed by the line about going to Tokyo to listen to "Thin Lizzy-o"?

That is either a compliment or officially the most Geezaesthetic comment ever made about a pop record.

(I haven't heard it.)

it is 'The Boys Are Back In Town' altered enough to avoid legal hassles.

Gave it a couple more goes over the weekend, still saddened, and people are BOTM re: on broadway and Out in the country.

My favourite (for what it's worth) = the baseball-based acoustic number (don't have a track listing)

least favourite - either asleep on a sunbeam or stay loose

I'm not going so far as buying IC's album though, I've made that mistake before.

i) it does not really sound like it's by B&S; there are many bands in the world who don't sound like B&S so I don't really see the point of B&S becoming one of them.

ii) my suspicion is that the best thing about the record is the production - i.e. the songwriting is not very good. My opinion on this may change. This does not stop me enjoying the record.

I've not really made up my mind on this album.

I think I quite like it.

also on dear catastrophe waitress (the song) struan sings "town" and "clown" just like nico on femme fatale.

i think i like the album, but it does tail off a bit, esp if you find yourself caught in love which has horrendously trite lyrics.

I don't know whether the b&s practice of writing songs which are performed on Peel sessions or live but don't come out on records (or at least, don't for years and years) is something that a lot of bands do, but I don't get to hear about it coz I'm not into them as much, or whether b&s really do this more than anyone else. It is frustrating tho....I mean, I can understand why they delayed the release of Tigermilking on CD until '99 as the mystique surrounding the limited vinyl pressing did the band a lot of favours and stringing us along for so long contributed to b&s's success, but there is a bafflingly long list of unreleased songs. Ppl go on about Rhoda, presumably as it's the oldest, but what about Paper Boat, Magic of a Kind Word, Miraculous Technique? These 3 songs are better than most of the songs on DCW, IMHO.

The danger of doing this is that the live recording which we have heard becomes the standard in our minds and if the eventual release lacks something which we thought made the live versh great, then disappointment is the inevitable result. For example, I much prefer the versh of Loneliness of the Middle Distance Runner performed on The Tube to the sparser recorded versh which eventually appeared.

With regards to live gigs, some of the live sets I've heard are *very* good, far better than the album versions in some cases, plus there's the usually interesting cover versions. Paris from last year is especially good (I recorded it myself but thesound quality in that place was fantastic, and the songs were all good)

'Magic Of A Kind Word' - rubbishy and probably written by departed Campbell

'Miraculous Technique' - pretty good. Maybe it will come out eventually, like 'Lord Anthony' and 'The Loneliness Of A Middle Distance Runner' did.

'Pocketbook Angel' - good but I guess Murdoch sees it as part of his juvenilia now. Especially as it contains that 'ooh arr - it's full of silicon chips', which doesn't really sit well with his new iPod and DVD kitted technodad image. 'Hurley's Having Dreams' is better anyway.

'Shoot The Sexual Athlete' is the best of all.

Mark E H *wishes* he remembers.