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

"Nobody's Empire" is easily my favourite post-TLP track. Will be high up on my ballot.

this is going to be the first of these epic polls i will participate in

i'm finally qualified

this is going to be fun, i don't know the early stuff by them so looking forward to diving in. my favorite is The Life Pursuit as it sounds like a single collection more than an album.

also good job on the set up Nag! Nag! Nag!, as i don't think you have done one of these yet. it's a lot of work but also a lot of fun. have a good time!

New B&S makes me sad. I think Stuart David and Isobel Campbell shaped the band into something good. Upon their departure the shape of B&S was more volatile. It was a bright period of discovery in which they ventured down some untrodden territory; but at the same time they neglected their signature sound and space. That volatilty produced some random goodies alongside klunkers. However, it couldn’t sustain itself for very long. B&S slowly deflated into a “cool” (read as dull), spiritless, poo emoticon shape. Some say that on a particularly twee evening you can stick your head out the window and hear the ghost of Stuart moonlighting as his former self.

wtf @ that nonsense

Thry lost their innocence and you cant get that back.

every band falls off eventually. i don't think it's something to be sad about or lament

Jonathan David will place high in my ballot. Such a singalong (if you share my talent for hitting high notes)

Is Jonathan David the consensus favorite Stevie Jackson song? I like it a lot, but I've always found the chords and melody of the verses to be a little jarring. Can someone with a better grasp of theory explain what's going on there to make it so cartoonishly spooky and dissonant, like is it an abundance of diminished chords or something like that?

I'd go with To Be Myself Completely for top Stevie track--wistful pop-soul classicism with nice background vox from Stuart.

oh jeez "dirty dream number two" is the best song in the world

this is really great if yers haven't seen it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4de-RHHLCBA

(an hour long doc)

oh jeez "dirty dream number two" is the best song in the world

yup

it's really something

Is Jonathan David the consensus favorite Stevie Jackson song? I like it a lot, but I've always found the chords and melody of the verses to be a little jarring. Can someone with a better grasp of theory explain what's going on there to make it so cartoonishly spooky and dissonant, like is it an abundance of diminished chords or something like that?

not a theory expert, but there's a lot of modulation--the verse, pre-chorus/bridge, and chorus are all in different keys. and the verse chord progression is very chromatic with a lot of close chord changes (goes from G to G# a lot, which is an uncommon change in modern pop). also some shifts between the major and minor versions of chords. basically, they throw in every chord-theory trick in the book.

good song

Cheers Bee OK!

Not sure about the consensus, but "Jonathan David" is almost certainly my favourite SJ contribution. Likely top 10. And the promo video makes me laugh very reliably indeed. The other tracks on that single are also luvly, not least "The Loneliness of a Middle Distance Runner"...which I also need to hear without delay.

Stevie Jackson is a truly lovely individual, just saying

Jonathan David is essentially a Forever Changes/Alone Again Or homage, no?

listening to Write About Love for the first time, and although I like it better than Life Pursuit, on first listen, it's "I Want the World to Stop" that really stands out. the title track is pretty good, too

Oh, I've been following the other thread and completely missed that this was happening. I'm excited! It's been a while since we've polled a group where I knew all of their material inside and out like B&S.

DIrty Dream #2 is pure joy and the best of their 'Motown' songs.

I never liked DD#2 too much; the arrangement tipped into the wrong end of pastiche for me.

I will be participating in this poll.

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.

Aren't the Pocketbook Angel et al demos pre B&S?

My B&S deep-dive starts now! Is "Dog on Wheels" supposed to be an homage to/ripoff of "Maybe the People Would Be the Time or Between Clark and Hilldale" by Love?

Xps First listen to stuff from Peacetime - Play for Today is fabulous.

xp It's kind of like Love covering Summer Wine by Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood

I can’t dislike any album up through FYH.. because those albums all all blend together into their signature sound (or mix tape) that I like so much

XP: That was my very first impression of B&S. "So this Belle & Sebastian thing the Indiepop List has been going on about for months is basically...Love, if 'Dog On Wheels' is any indication. Groovy!" or similar.

Jonathan David is essentially a Forever Changes/Alone Again Or homage, no?

― everything, Monday, November 26, 2018 10:50 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This is how I feel about I’m Waking Up to Us (forever changes, not alone again)

I'm going to try and get a ballot together for this even though I only really like the early records - I just don't enjoy the post-'90s stuff apart from odd songs here and there.

Very easily found 20 tracks I can get behind, 30 is more of a stretch. Was able to shave it down a lot by eliminating any tracks whose tunes I couldn't immediately bring to mind.

I almost feel like doing a "worst" ballot would actually be fun for these guys -- I love them but they have a small minority of real clunkers. I sort of hate "I'm Waking Up To Us," "Sukie in the Graveyard" and a few others. Probably some of the Fold Your Hands deep cuts I've not listened to in a while.

Shocked we haven't polled them before! This is a band I've perpetually meant to dive into (past the three albums I have) so this seems the perfect time to do so

I was so fully obsessed with If You're Feeling Sinister -- don't listen to it THAT much anymore but I'm gonna be honest, it may be hard to identify a song on that album that doesn't rank among my top 30 B&S tracks.

barely started putting my ballot together but i think there's a good chance I'm A Cuckoo ends up my number one, it's such a perfect sunny pop song and really stands out in their catalogue

There's a lot of enthusiasm for this poll, glad to see it.

xp I'm a Cuckoo is brilliant, gonna be very high for me too

same

the most perfect thin lizzy pastiche

speaking of which I'm finally listening to their "Boys Are Back In Town" and it rules

i obviously love the avalanches remix, but i make time for both. there are little chordal flourishes in the original version that the remix steamrolls with flutes and percussion, but the remix is so lively and exuberant, an instant happy-maker.

As far as later tracks go, I'm a big fan of "The Blues are Still Blue."

who's voting for "legal man" aka my favorite pointless gilmore girls subplot

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBqjC1mmh3k

A few other tracks missing from the list initially posted, from various editions of Girls in Peacetime:

Born to Act
Two Birds
Piggy in the Middle
A Politician's Silence

Don't know that any would make my top 30, but I do play Politician's Silence a lot.

made it to fold your hands already:

- as has been stated 1000 times in this thread and the other b&s thread, tigermilk, sinister, and the three eps from '97 is just a perfect body of work
- boy with the arab strap is the slightest step down for me, it's just a lot looser than its predecessors, but i also love the way it feels kinda like an extended belle & sebastian ep with its swerves in and out of goofiness
- fold your hands starts off incredibly strong, "the model" may be in my top five. then "beyond the sunrise" happens

try the "only stuart songs" version of fold your hands!

Jonathan David

this song is a tuneless trainwreck and exactly the reason I stopped listening to this band

try the "only stuart songs" version of fold your hands!

― Karl Malone, Tuesday, November 27, 2018 1:23 PM (three minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i really love "the wrong girl" tho!