does anyone still like Belle and Sebastian?

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Still love 'em. Didn't like FYH... or Storytelling much, but all the singles ("Legal Man," "I'm Waking Up to Us," "Jonathan David") are great. I prefer to take them together as the best B&S album since Sinister.

― mike a (mike a), Wednesday, 26 March 2003 21:20 (twenty-one years ago) link

Daniel - you meant "Everything's Gone Green" by New Order, of course, didn't you ?

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 !

― darren (darren), Wednesday, 26 March 2003 21:50 (twenty-one years ago) link

Somehow they've turned into a really great live band, when they used to just fumble through their performances.

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.

― DV (dirtyvicar), Wednesday, 26 March 2003 21:54 (twenty-one years ago) link

five months pass...

Oo-er! Stay Loose? Cor blimey missus! AKA Belle & Sebastian go Sting-style plod-reggae.

― James Mitchell (James Mitchell), Saturday, 30 August 2003 00:19 (twenty years ago) link

Stay Loose is fantastic and I commend it to the house.

― N. (nickdastoor), Saturday, 30 August 2003 00:21 (twenty years ago) link

That is the bassline from 'Walking On The Moon', though.

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

― James Mitchell (James Mitchell), Saturday, 30 August 2003 00:36 (twenty years ago) link

Good! (don't give up on it at the 'toast' line stage)

― N. (nickdastoor), Saturday, 30 August 2003 00:38 (twenty years ago) link

btw does anyone know why this is the only track that seems to be doing the rounds?

― N. (nickdastoor), Saturday, 30 August 2003 00:38 (twenty years ago) link

ive seen the new album kicking about on kazaa and ssk.

― brandon, Saturday, 30 August 2003 00:49 (twenty years ago) link

That is the bassline from 'Walking On The Moon', though.

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

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Saturday, 30 August 2003 05:04 (twenty years ago) link

there's a studio version of 'step into my office, baby'. it is OK.

― RJG (RJG), Saturday, 30 August 2003 05:06 (twenty years ago) link

I really like that track! It's very "Good Vibrations"!

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Monday, 1 September 2003 07:36 (twenty years ago) link

The Pinefox-Dublin jury feels that 'I'm Waking Up To Us' is an example of how late period B&S still have it.

― DV (dirtyvicar), Monday, 1 September 2003 08:42 (twenty years ago) link

'Stay Loose' is interesting. This is the first fruit of their Trevor Horn collaboration, right? It totally sounds like something from the time when the tinny, bitter little organ was king and if it wasn't Stiff it wasn't worth a fuck. It's got echoes of The Police, Elvis Costello, Joe Jackson, Squeeze. The way a 60s-sounding band has suddenly latched onto the 70s reminds me of Felt becoming Denim. (So maybe they should change their name: from Belle and Sebastian to, say, Starsky and Hutch?) Sure, it's a different part of the 70s, but it marks a similar transition from 'sincerity' to 'pop gloss'. Stuart's voice even sounds a bit like Lawrence's on the first Denim album: there's something a little too vulnerable and quavery in there for it to sit quite comfortably with the slick production. Which is nice. What's really odd, though, is how the track shifts back, two thirds of the way through, into the 60s B&S idiom. It's like hearing Joe Jackson turning into Paul Simon mid-song. Is it a sop to fans who want to hear the song in the kind of arrangement they're used to? Is it like doing an impression then going back into your real voice at the end? But the use of styles from two different decades within a single song brings a dizzyingly post-modern feel to the track. We're in a labyrinth of mirrors, being guided by the voice of Peter Sellers. Do we follow Clouseau or do we follow Strangelove? Which voice leads to the exit?

― Momus (Momus), Monday, 1 September 2003 09:00 (twenty years ago) link

not having heard any of the new B&S stuff, I am curious i) as to whether this will be the moment when they definitively go rubbish, and ii) what the implications for this would be for internet based B&S fandom.

ah well, time will tell.

― DV (dirtyvicar), Monday, 1 September 2003 09:20 (twenty years ago) link

boak! belle and Sebastian are the devil's spawn!

― jed_e_3 (jed_e_3), Monday, 1 September 2003 09:30 (twenty years ago) link

Gosh it is very Squeezy, isn't it? It even sounds like Murdoch is trying to put on a South London accent. I am moving to a house near Deptford next week - maybe it will sound better there.

― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Monday, 1 September 2003 09:39 (twenty years ago) link

Hey Momus did you read 'Crisis' back in the day?

― Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Monday, 1 September 2003 09:58 (twenty years ago) link

Wow. I like this.

― Cozen (Cozen), Monday, 1 September 2003 10:23 (twenty years ago) link

You mean Crisis magazine, 'politics, culture and the church'?

Me and Stuart both read that, as does anybody with a keen interest in ecclesiastical ephemera.

― Momus (Momus), Monday, 1 September 2003 10:25 (twenty years ago) link

No, I was prob being dumb

― Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Monday, 1 September 2003 10:32 (twenty years ago) link

This song cannot survive that organ.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Monday, 1 September 2003 12:43 (twenty years ago) link

If I had a pound for every time that's been said to me ...

― Mooro (Mooro), Monday, 1 September 2003 18:34 (twenty years ago) link

I was thinking about doing an article on accents in the songs of B & S and the Scottish doppelganger, huh?

― Cozen (Cozen), Tuesday, 2 September 2003 10:20 (twenty years ago) link

It is a good idea.

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 2 September 2003 10:21 (twenty years ago) link

T.Horn + Jock Fops = Skinny Tie New Wave!!

Maybe I'll *start* to get interested now.

― Dr. C (Dr. C), Tuesday, 2 September 2003 11:25 (twenty years ago) link

I was scouring the old B&S threads for research this morning and came across an epic throwdown between N., PF, Tim H, JtN & Starry vs the good Dr. C. Entertaining stuff. I'll revive the thread when I have something and if I have something interesting to say.

― Cozen (Cozen), Tuesday, 2 September 2003 11:53 (twenty years ago) link

on first listen to the album this track is one of the best things on it. the album sounded ok, but it didn't really do much for me. on the other hand, i don't think i've cared about a b+s song since if yr feeling sinister, so i'm probably not the person to ask.

― toby (tsg20), Tuesday, 2 September 2003 11:55 (twenty years ago) link

Maybe best not to revive it Cozen

― Dr. C (Dr. C), Tuesday, 2 September 2003 11:56 (twenty years ago) link

It was like something out of WWF Extreme.

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 2 September 2003 11:57 (twenty years ago) link

OK. It wasn't too bad actually. Not nasty but argued. I printed it out and read it in the library toilets.

I think this may be the the best B&S song. Memory is an elusive wriggly character.

― Cozen (Cozen), Tuesday, 2 September 2003 11:59 (twenty years ago) link

I like 'Step Into My Office, Baby', but I don't think my opinion on such matters should be trusted.

― Larcole (Nicole), Tuesday, 2 September 2003 12:03 (twenty years ago) link

I think Toby is right. Didn't think much of 'Stay Loose' on first listen, but compared to the rest of the album - which makes me think of some happyclappy Godspell meets ELO meets Free Design neatfreak-out - it seems pretty great.

― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Tuesday, 2 September 2003 12:05 (twenty years ago) link

Cripes that doesn't sound good at all.

― Tim (Tim), Tuesday, 2 September 2003 12:08 (twenty years ago) link

Cripes, that sounds great!!!

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 2 September 2003 13:47 (twenty years ago) link

Stay Loose has been one of the best B&S songs ever. It's tremendous, and also surprising with those 1979/80 sound - the Steve Nieve organ, and the vocals very similar to the young Chris Difford from Squeeze. I'm proud that I heard the same similarities as you all did.
The whole LP should be listened a few times more, but still seems to be a pleasant surprise after Storytelling.

― Bence Inkei, Sunday, 14 September 2003 17:07 (twenty years ago) link

I'm really VERY fond of "Stay Loose" too. Love the treatment on Stuart's voice...

― Douglas (Douglas), Sunday, 14 September 2003 19:41 (twenty years ago) link

is "Stay Loose" the one that people say sounds like The Police? I'm not hostile to The Police, but I wouldn't encourage bands to sound like them.

― DV (dirtyvicar), Sunday, 14 September 2003 21:24 (twenty years ago) link

the only record i know by this band is that one everyone was saying is their worst. i like it.

― duane, Sunday, 14 September 2003 21:36 (twenty years ago) link

This confuses me... why, in a place where virtually every band evah can get ILM hate, do what appears like 100% of you like, or at least own product by, this limp 57th-rate Delgados excuse for a band? Why why why? They - are - so - fucking - weak!

― The Lex (The Lex), Sunday, 14 September 2003 21:42 (twenty years ago) link

i like to crochet too.

― keith (keithmcl), Sunday, 14 September 2003 21:47 (twenty years ago) link

The new Lp of B&S is wonderful, really 70s...

― C11 (C11), Sunday, 14 September 2003 21:49 (twenty years ago) link

eat a dick or two, the lex.

― RJG (RJG), Sunday, 14 September 2003 21:52 (twenty years ago) link

what appears like 100% of you like

As long as Dan and I are around, you need never worry about this percentage coming true.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 14 September 2003 22:12 (twenty years ago) link

the delgados, they sound real good too but i only ever heard 1 song by them

― duane, Sunday, 14 September 2003 23:41 (twenty years ago) link

the delgados are great and don't sound like belle & sebastian.

― RJG (RJG), Sunday, 14 September 2003 23:43 (twenty years ago) link

i can only boggle at what a 57th rate version of a fifth rate band like the delgados would be like

― the surface noise (electricsound), Sunday, 14 September 2003 23:43 (twenty years ago) link

(actually that's unfair, i don't dislike the delgados, but for crimony's sake)

― the surface noise (electricsound), Sunday, 14 September 2003 23:44 (twenty years ago) link

the new B&S album is their best since Sinister, that's for sure. Yes Stay Loose is one of their best and catchiest songs ever, the guitar solo kills me and it repeats 3 times! Not enough for me, the song could be eight minutes and I'd still want more. The non-Stuart songs on this are so strong (but I like how he comes in at the very end of Stay Loose).

― anthony kyle monday (akmonday), Monday, 15 September 2003 06:57 (twenty years ago) link

I still love tigermilk, especially that one that sounds like Procession by New Order

you mean Electronic Renaissance. There's a lot of hate for this song, but I happen to love it.

I'm worried abt B&S sounding like the Police.

― MarkH (MarkH), Monday, 15 September 2003 08:15 (twenty years ago) link

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