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

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/

http://i65.tinypic.com/30t75lt.jpg

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

http://i68.tinypic.com/2iscmqr.jpg

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”

*of it is*

amazing to think there are 30+ tracks more loved, yet to come

String Bean Jean is so great -- so fun and yet so much sadness

“string bean jean” was my first favorite b&s song. just jumped right out at me on barman

I remember thinking "The Rollercoaster Ride" was a "Waterloo Sunset" for its day. Haven't revisited either enough to see if it holds up.

I didn't expect "String Bean Jean" to rank even this high. A pleasant surprise.

http://i63.tinypic.com/f22eld.jpg

36. You're Just a Baby
From Tigermilk (1996)
Youtube audio track
Points: 285
Votes: 17
#1 Votes: 1

that's my #1, and the rest of you are fucking LIARS

another one of my favorites from Tigermilk

Arguably a bit much seventies knitwear in this section.

No fucking such thing.

nag, if it isn't too much trouble, could you post a recap when you reach a good benchmark?

So kiss me on the cheek before you go to sleep

XP: I shall do so, yes. Actually, I'll post one more track and let things rest for a bit.

Shocking confession: I voted for way more Tigermilk tracks than IYFS tracks but have always found the fourth track on each side of the former ("YJAB" and "IDLA") to be a bit tiresome. They seem more accomplished at things other than repetitive guitar chugga-chugga and the part of my brain that likes "Jonathan David" craves a few more chords, or something. :)

B&S sound cool as shit on You're Just A Baby. the recording and the reverb are absolutely perfect.

yes

plus the "and what's the score?" part during the chorus is weirdly perfect, just one of those things you start singing along with without thinking about it. and then the switch-up on the last chorus, when he's like "so what's theeeeeee ...reason for all the looks we gave?" is so good! and those repeated Befores at end, resolving in a very Beatles-esque pleasing way? you all are insane, that is a top 3 song

and the organ-led instrumental rave-up in the middle is really good, too, one of my favorites in a catalog stuffed with them. unlike a lot of the others, it feels really fun and a bit intoxicated and sloppy. it's wonderful that they developed into such good musicians and cleaned up their recordings, but something was lost in that same gradual transformation, too.