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

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.

happy happy joy joy

really looking forward to this.

single's terrible but...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snailu0RnLg

that image ilxor posted upthread is still totally classic

http://i39.tinypic.com/24g7rm0.jpg

norah jones is on the album. haven't made it to her song yet. oh, it's started now, it is very norah jones so far even with stuart singing. eh, was monica queen not available? when will monica queen release another record? her last was marvelous. the belle and sebastian record for your mom and dad?

I can actually imagine Murdoch having a solo hit someday within Norah's adult-alternative market (or whatever it's called now). It'd be a one-off like with Edwyn Collins' one-hit wonder.

it's a pleasant record, i am sure everyone here will despise it but whatever. it fits them, for where they are now- hanging with hollywood starlets and norah jones. who sings on the first song? is it Sarah Martin?

I think it's Sarah Martin singing on the first track.

The whole thing feels really slight and understated. I can't remember one of Stuart's melodies, the title track feels like a God Help the Girl leftover, Stevie's one contribution doesn't play to his strengths. I have only played it once, so I could very well change my mind about all of this, but it sounds almost as if there's nothing to really dig into, like they consciously shied away from everything that made their last two records so good to make a record that would sound like a Belle and Sebastian tribute band (and one that didn't understand the appeal of anything the band did after Fold Your Hands Child, which is the only record that seems as weak as this one, and they at least took risks with that).

here is the tracklisting:

Belle & Sebastian Write About Love (also known informally as Write About Love) is the upcoming eighth studio album by Belle & Sebastian, slated to be released on October 11, 2010 on Rough Trade in the UK and on October 12, 2010 on Matador Records.

1. "I Didn't See It Coming"
2. "Come On Sister"
3. "Calculating Bimbo"
4. "I Want The World to Stop"
5. "Little Lou, Ugly Jack, Prophet John" (Featuring Norah Jones)
6. "Write About Love" (Featuring Carey Mulligan)
7. "I'm Not Living in the Real World"
8. "Ghost of Rockschool"
9. "Read the Blessed Pages"
10. "I Can See Your Future"
11. "Sunday's Pretty Icons"

invaluable information -- an absolute quality post

don't worry, i will be posting a lot less...soon.

i hope that isn't so. i like the individual album-threads you set up. anyway, up to you, obv., but i hope you stick around.

just in case anyone in this thread missed the tracklist

here is the tracklisting:

Belle & Sebastian Write About Love (also known informally as Write About Love) is the upcoming eighth studio album by Belle & Sebastian, slated to be released on October 11, 2010 on Rough Trade in the UK and on October 12, 2010 on Matador Records.

1. "I Didn't See It Coming"
2. "Come On Sister"
3. "Calculating Bimbo"
4. "I Want The World to Stop"
5. "Little Lou, Ugly Jack, Prophet John" (Featuring Norah Jones)
6. "Write About Love" (Featuring Carey Mulligan)
7. "I'm Not Living in the Real World"
8. "Ghost of Rockschool"
9. "Read the Blessed Pages"
10. "I Can See Your Future"
11. "Sunday's Pretty Icons"

if belle & sebastian do ever record a disc called vengence rising, i hope norah jones will sing on it.

norah jones is so cool.

on first listen i thought this record was really disappointing

norah jones one was kind of the best song, altho i don't really like her voice at all

my wife loves norah Jones; I think she's dull as dishwater.

so maybe i should explain to Jordan why i posted that info. the post right before that was talking about Sarah Martin singing on the first track. she might be but they only credited two outside singers. also when i looked up the info i thought it was interesting that the album was called Belle & Sebastian Write About Love and not simply Write About Love.

invaluable information -- an absolute quality post

― J0rdan S., Monday, September 20, 2010 8:21 PM (53 minutes ago)

^ invaluable information -- an absolute quality post

^ invaluable information -- an absolute quality post

Although it hurts my heart to say it, I have not been as shockingly disappointed with an album since 'The Hunter.' Disastrously, 'I'm Not Living In The Real World' is not a Blondie cover. This album is inexplicable.

I hope I am missing something and my opinion changes.

I was wrong. I forgot about 'Aerial.'

i should get my wife some chalk and let her do some twee graffiti

― ('_') (omar little), Wednesday, August 11, 2010 10:53 PM (1 month ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Tweefiti?

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, August 11, 2010 10:55 PM (1 month ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

gratweetiti

― ('_') (omar little), Wednesday, August 11, 2010 10:56 PM (1 month ago) Bookmark

ilx i <3 u

jeff tweedy

found this somewhere:

Belle & Sebastian Write About Love (also known informally as Write About Love) is the upcoming eighth studio album by Belle & Sebastian, slated to be released on October 11, 2010 on Rough Trade in the UK and on October 12, 2010 on Matador Records.

1. "I Didn't See It Coming"
2. "Come On Sister"
3. "Calculating Bimbo"
4. "I Want The World to Stop"
5. "Little Lou, Ugly Jack, Prophet John" (Featuring Norah Jones)
6. "Write About Love" (Featuring Carey Mulligan)
7. "I'm Not Living in the Real World"
8. "Ghost of Rockschool"
9. "Read the Blessed Pages"
10. "I Can See Your Future"
11. "Sunday's Pretty Icons"

^ invaluable information -- an absolute quality post

featuring norah jones, you say?

the singer

invaluable lite jazz

waiting for norah jones to be featured on a cee-lo green song. dynamite vocal combo imo.

f--k you (featuring norah jones)

What a non-event this album is on first listen; it should have been called Belle & Sebastian Write Innocuously About Love. Hookless, heartless and bland. I thought the last record was okay, and I loved Dear Catastrophe Waitress, but this is just there. It's not offensively bad - it's just nothing. Aural pap that fills up 40-odd minutes.

The first few tracks are quite decent and then it flatlines big time. "I'm Not Living in the Real World" is like some horrible combination of the worst tendencies of New Pornographers and Stephin Merritt. "The Ghost of Rockschool" is a spot-on '90s throwback sonically but the emotion just isn't there. Thumbs up for Side A though.

intro to title track was stolen from the refrain of "BAD GIRL" from hong kong cantopop sensation anita mui from 2:16

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nllfYE5jpDY

They were on Jimmy Fallon last night. With Questlove drumming!

they did "write about love". it didn't sound any better live

here it is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6Cg2eOHPVk

"Write About Love"'s beginning nicks the Byrds' "The World Turns All Around Her."

I really like "I Want the World to Stop"

http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2010/10/06/130382972/belle-and-sebastian-s-business-plan-a-taqueria-in-glasgow

rock stardom w/ murdoch- a road bike and a tacqueria.

He's been talking about opening up that taqueria for years. I think it's just a pipe dream.