Could we please be objective cause the other POLLS are queuing up behind us - Artist Poll #94 - Belle & Sebastian - RESULTS

lol

Corrected link for There's Too Much Love at the Barrowlands

Belated tooOOOOoo low for this and 'It Could Have Been A Brilliant Career' (my #4 - though I did have suspicions it would not crack top 30)

Whoops, thanks for that.

I have to do some actual boring daytime stuff for a bit but I'll resume countdown within the next couple of hours, probably at a fairly leisurely pace.

this is the first real "too low" for me. I think it's one of their classics, trumpet solo and all. I like how ridiculously over the top the chorus lyrics are. He was very much about establishing their brand in the early days, and this establishes the hell out of it.

Love the trumpet. Imagine if they had gone full-kazoo instead!

this is the first real "too low" for me. I think it's one of their classics, trumpet solo and all. I like how ridiculously over the top the chorus lyrics are. He was very much about establishing their brand in the early days, and this establishes the hell out of it.

― Mario Meatwagon (Moodles), Thursday, December 13, 2018 5:53 PM (twelve minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

otm. tooooo loooooow

My Wandering Days Are Over... what a song. I'm surprised it's so low. The opening lines pop into my head on an almost weekly basis. 'I'm tired of looking after Michael and the rest of them...'. The verses are especially brilliant although the chorus maybe takes the wind out its sails slightly
I'm kicking myself that I didn't vote

'disenchanted poney' otm. I was going through a few B&S guitar tabs, doing covers for myself in the kitchen, and when it came to this song and that bit I just couldn't carry on through the song.

I'm Waking Up To Us is too low. I LOVE that song. So funny.

Always remember "you said it was a living hell / you said you were in hell" - he sounds so shocked, like it was a throwaway comment but he has taken it really fucking seriously.

― mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, December 13, 2018 9:38 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Oh but during this bit I welled up slightly while singing it and couldn't catch my breath for the stupid 'poney' section, which is actually the reason I probably had to stop playing

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41. Seymour Stein
From The Boy With the Arab Strap (1998)
Stevie Jackson solo in NY
Points: 258
Votes: 14
Number Ones: 0

this is one of the nothingy songs on Arab Strap I was talking about

i like all of these songs

I don't think of this song as nothingy. besides the greatness of the song itself, the piano, organ, guitar, handclaps, and syncopation in the outro to this - and the sound of the airplane taking off - always get to me

This is the song the record store guy who looks like me in High Fidelity plays, and for that reason I can never play it in front of anyone again

:) I had forgotten about that scene!

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40. Piazza, New York Catcher
From Dear Catastrophe Waitress (2003)
At Lollapalooza Berlin, 2015
Points: 271
Votes: 19
#1 Votes:: 0

Wow, I'm legitimately surprised by this. Figured it was a lock for the top ten.

such a great song

didn't vote for it, tho i do feel bad for mike piazza and his treatment at the hands of the ny sports tabloids

life outside the diamond is a wrench

poor stuart forgetting the words at lolla

you know, this is one of those ones people bang on about that I do not get the appeal of. not a highlight for me on an otherwise excellent album

Agreed. Think it might be my least favourite on the LP.

Never liked this one tbh

SS otoh was in my top 5, gorgeous song, incredible outro as mentioned

music-wise it's one of the rare later B&S tracks that feels like it could come from one of the early albums. and I love how it skips over the real life Mike Piazza into a private reverie

this is fun: https://www.fangraphs.com/not/did-belle-and-sebastian-see-mike-piazza-in-san-francisco/

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39. We Rule the School
From Tigermilk (1996)
Mark Radcliffe session 1996
Points: 276
Votes: 21
#1 Votes: 0

Twee image, perhaps. Doing something pretty while I/she can. :)

Also: seems kinda low.

after The State I Am In, this is my favorite track on Tigermilk

My fave Tigermilk song when I first got the album in ‘99, I found it slipping in my esteem a bit when I listened to everything again. I still like it, though; came in near the bottom of my ballot.

None of my top 10 have appeared yet but several from my 15-30. I had We Rule the School at 13, my highest yet. Such a gorgeous song.

In contrast, I can only assume the relatively low placements of “Dress Up In You” and “Another Sunny Day” are reflective of overall feelings about The Life Pursuit here. I had both in my Top 5.

Xp re: Piazza, New York Catcher, I like this quote from Stuart in Rolling Stone from 2016

“I think he’s a cool enough guy that he’d shrug it off, and be happy that there are a few daft hipster kids who know his name,” he says. “It’s funny, I’ve never met him, but my wife follows the Mets as well, and her folks are down in Florida, so one year we drove down to Spring Training in Port St. Lucie. We watched Piazza hit, and she went up with a baseball to get it autographed, and he didn’t even look down and realize she was a woman. He just said ‘Not now kid, I gotta run.'”

Piazza was known as a pretty big metal fan so I doubt he's into Belle and Sebastian.

I remember reading part of an article where Stuart’s dad was asked to review TBSTAS and the only track he found exceptuonal was Seymour Stein.. At least that’s how I remember reading it.

I personally think the album is my favorite because the tracks let me zone out and there are lots of great, sunny ones at that. Also none of the songs have the annoying earworm quality that you would get with some of the more upbeat songs in the B&S catalog. Anecdotally, a list of my top 50 favorite songs in the world would probably average out more on the lower end of a tempo spectrum.

37. (TIE)

http://i64.tinypic.com/219nzo8.jpg

String Bean Jean
From Dog On Wheels (1997)
Youtube audio track
Points: 283
Votes: 17
#1 Votes: 0

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The Rollercoaster Ride
From The Boy With the Arab Strap (1998)
Youtube audio track
Points: 283
Votes: 18
#1 Votes: 0

Speaking of low tempos and TBWTAS...

Another consideration: while we don’t know where the members of Belle and Sebastian will have been every day of the time periods being considered here, we do know when they would have been playing shows. According to the band’s official site, the group had no live shows scheduled during the relevant timeframe in August of 2002.

What fangraphs doesn't know is that SM married a gal from San Francisco, and spent a lot of time here during the courtship.

*there ;-)

I didn't know that!

I think The Rollercoaster Ride should have placed much higher

Both of those were ranked very high for me.

The Rollercoaster Ride was the fourth of my top 10 to appear so far (with Jonathan David, Piazza, New York Catcher, and Seymour Stein). I expect most of the rest will also show up

Rollercoaster way too low, an extreme grower for me during the voting process, starting off the ballot and moving into my top ten

both on my ballot as well. i think rollercoaster was my second highest vote from TBWTAS, which i didn't expect when i started ranking them

I love the blown-out quality of the recording too

Yes, Rollercoaster was prominent on my ballot as well.

xp by blown-out I mean that in parts it's so closely microphoned it's blurry. What I think David Keenan would refer to as “dilated sound”