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

Karl Malone, did you lock yourself up with that song at some point ? The way you describe it so minutely and passionately makes me want to hear you on other songs :)

^ this. We need a thread with you dissecting all your favourite tracks, Karl.

drummers know drummers!

i didn't vote because i ran out of time/these songs hit me too hard and i can't afford to be a mess right now. however i would like to share a small anecdote for posterity.

i saw B&S at Pitchfork 2013 and it was raining during their set. i was there by myself. i was near an area where there were pieces of wood to dance on rather than soggy grass, so i took advantage of it and danced myself silly. there was a guy next to me who looked sort of like a goth Ray Davies and after a few songs, he looked at me and commented "You musta used up all your moves on that one!" And I just looked at him and said "Not even close" and continued dancing. memorable for how FUN it was to dance to B&S and also because the songs didn't send me into a tear-spiral, i just had a great time and was all by myself (which is how i have enjoyed B&S 99% of the time that i enjoyed their music) memory keywords: solitude, dancing, rain, lols <3

i felt like the soggy star of my own little B&S song

that's very nice of you all, but i have sort of been down that road before. turns out i don't have that many good thoughts about music. the well is shallow. or narrow but deep, or wide but shallow. whatever the worst of those is.
but when i (think i) do, i usually share them!

I'm a little later than I thought I might be, but I shall drop a few more, I think...

http://i63.tinypic.com/2whktac.jpg

27. I Could Be Dreaming
From Tigermilk (1996)
The unabbreviated 1996 BBC recording, thanks to Jonathan Hellion Mumble
Points: 324
Votes: 16
#1 Votes: 1

Seems like there's already an unusually diverse scatter of #1 songs, probably because B&S is so suited for solitary listening. You develop strange awkward little attractions without friends looking on, just like the characters in the songs.

Also: much too low.

Nice story Lechera. B&S could be the patron saints of dancing by yourself in the rain.

For the record, my #1 vote.

wow way too low

The images are ace, by the way.

To be frank for a minute, I've had a right cunt of a few weeks at work and this poll has been a magnificent distraction. Thank you.

love this song soooo much

It rocks but maybe it suffers from the comparison to later songs, it's sort of a blueprint.

http://i64.tinypic.com/ouz67n.jpg

26. A Summer Wasting
From The Boy With the Arab Strap (1998)
In San Francisco, 2017
Points: 327
Votes: 15
#1 Votes: 0

i'm getting increasingly worried that some of my more low-profile favorites just aren't going to place at all.
(i mean, I'd love to see Marx and Engels in the top 20, but that seems like a stretch)

Also, nothing off of Girls in Peacetime has showed up yet.

I feared this one wasn't going to make it. In which case I would have wept. The votes were relatively infrequent (still a low vote count for a track at this level) but its fans tended to be fairly generous, points-wise.

It was in my top ten. It meant a lot to me in the autumn/winter of 1998 because I had spent the previous summer wasting.

my prediction is that 'mayfly' and 'boy done wrong' are the only sinister tracks not to place

Summer Wasting sets my imagination rolling to bright summer scenes. My #2 vote

Yeah summer wasting! My highest ranking song from the album.

http://i64.tinypic.com/25hg4s0.jpg

25. Electronic Renaissance
From Tigermilk (1996)
Black Session, 2006
Points: 335
Votes: 23
#1 Votes: 0

Does anyone know if Funny Little Frog was first written for God Help The Girl? Can't quite work out what it's really about but with the subject being a man it sort of makes sense that it's about God?

Electronic Ren, which I love, is the only song from those first two albums that sounds like an actual demo, imo.

I loved that song so much back in the day. Someone (possibly on Sinister) said Murdoch made it to prove to Beans that he could write that there electronic music just as good as any young whippersnapper, but that story seems spurious in the extreme to me. For a band who wore their influences on their sleeve ER's existence and it's placement on the first album seemed an important acknowledgement of a whole swathe of vital predecessors, and had a profound effect on me and I'm sure a whole bunch of other teenagers who only latched onto B&S in the first place because we prayed nightly for guidance and direction

iirc Stuart had the original played on the radio, and loved the muffled sound of his tape recording so much that he put it on the LP instead of the original

The lo-fidelity is important too, every one of my formative musical memories had tape hiss, mostly from being taped from Peel or whatever. Muffled vocals to reflect confusion and uncertainty
total xp

13 point increment! Counts as a major uptick here. :)

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24. Nobody's Empire
From Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance (2015)
Original promo video
Points: 348
Votes: 18
#1 Votes: 1

great song

My number one, really snuck up over the past few years in my estimation. The narrative arc helps make this zing, but it’s Murdoch’s best vocal which makes it so great.

To be honest, every time I hear the opening instrumental passage it strikes me as a bit stiff and Coldplay-ish, but by the final verse it's the most ridiculously affecting thing in the whole world ever.

never have been sure exactly what this song is about, but with every listen it seems more like a work of genius. wish I had put it higher on my ballot

Apparently at least partially inspired by Murdoch's emergence from chronic illness.

ok that makes sense, at least one verse almost sounds like an out of body experience during surgery

Someone on the nomination thread said it was about being saved iirc.

Oh I meant to say when "I Could Be Dreaming" came up, lyrical (sorta)quotation from this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIgv4Tvx3V0

Always a minor joy noticing shit like this in the pre Genius etc days

“nobody’s empire” is the best belle and sebastian song

guess i can stop hoping “play for today” or “the cat with the cream” will place

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23. The Loneliness of a Middle Distance Runner
From Jonathan David (2001)
TV performance, Apocalypse Tube, 1999
Points: 365
Votes: 20
#1 Votes: 0

toooo loooow, my no. 2

'everything is possible' is my take-away from this song

the Jonathan David EP is one of my favorites, this song included

Toooo low indeed. My #3.

been obsessed with that live clip for years, such a beautiful performance

Excellent poll so far!

Wow Beautiful is crazy low.
Woah Piazza.. i thought that was a lock for maybe even Number 1 just goes to show ya.
How had i forgotten Ease Your Feet Into The Sea was so great.. baffling.
Great to see a recent track (Nobody's Empire) being so lauded. I'm guessing that's the last we'll see from the last couple of albums.

Wish i could've voted just didn't have time.

Can't understand why this was relegated to a B-side. It's miles better than the flip side.

yes, Beautiful and Piazza both I thought would be much higher! not really disappointed though, so many great ones have placed and are yet to come

xp Middle Distance Runner link doesn't work for me, blocked by youtube for some reason

The content is blocked in the US.

are you meaning the vinyl, enochroot? if you're referring to the A-side being jonathan david, I disagree

Comparable levels of greatness by my reckoning, with "Carriage Clock" not all that far behind.

it's the same vid from the ballot thread: https://tubeunblock.com/watch?v=w_nlGHj8lKY