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

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22. Expectations
From Tigermilk (1996)
Live at Barrowlands (again)
Points: 380
Votes: 24
#1 Votes: 0

the lyrics to this are so amazing

this is a great song but i kinda find it inseparable from the also great 'she's losing it'

The Model was my #1. It's one of those songs I have to play like 3 times in a row every time I hear it because of the head-spinning density of the lyrics and the gorgeousness of the arrangement.

The Model is amazing. That rush of words reminds me of that story about how Dylan thought nuclear war was coming so he just took all the stanzas he'd jotted down intended as starting points for various songs and just threw them all into A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall before it was too late.

This is a great comparison. Lyrically it's kind of a one-off for Murdoch, though The State I Am In has a similar oblique surreal logic to it.

Also, Elec Renaissance way too low :(

"Middle Distance Runner" is one of those songs that feels familiar even though I only heard it for the first time last week. Really beautiful song that I probably put too low on my ballot

Can't believe we haven't seen a Sinister song yet! I guess the album results hinted at this, but there's only one song on there that I think is average; the rest very good to great. Wonder if every song will place

Glad to see "Nobody's Empire", I had that at #5 I think. Voted for "Play for Today" too, but I doubt that'd be higher.

Hoping Play For Today makes it somehow. It was in my top 10.

A slide from this morning's motivational band talk. pic.twitter.com/NHYtWMfzPF

— stuart murdoch (@nee_massey) December 14, 2018

lol

First track with TWO first place votes!

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21. Your Cover's Blown
From Books (2004)
Promo video for the Miaoux Miaoux remix
Points: 398
Votes: 20, including 1 vote for the Miaoux Miaoux remix.
#1 Votes: 2

legendary

So that just leaves the top 20. I'll give it a rest for now.

I'm interested in opinions on the best time to roll out the remainder (including the ideal time of day for Euro and American folk) Weekends on ILM are usually too quiet, no?

For stats fans:

Rank Title                                              Pts    Votes  #1s
60   I Don't Love Anyone                                156    11     0
59   If You Find Yourself Caught in Love                157     9     0
58   I Want the World to Stop                           158    11     0
57   The Blues Are Still Blue                           168    13     0
56   I Fought in a War                                  177    13     0
55   Put the Book Back on the Shelf/Songs for Children  178    12     1
54   I Know Where the Summer Goes                       179    13     0
53   Beautiful                                          181    10     0
52   Ease Your Feet in the Sea                          187    11     1
51   Is It Wicked Not to Care                           206    12     0
50   Dress Up in You                                    209    10     0
49   I Didn't See It Coming                             216    13     1
48   Jonathan David                                     221    12     0
47   Photo Jenny                                        228    16     0
46   There's Too Much Love                              238    15     0
44=  It Could Have Been a Brilliant Career              244    15     0
44=  I'm Waking Up to Us                                244    18     0
43   Another Sunny Day                                  248    12     0
42   My Wandering Days Are Over                         257    16     0
41   Seymour Stein                                      258    14     0
40   Piazza, New York Catcher                           271    18     0
39   We Rule the School	                                276    21     0
37=  String Bean Jean                                   283    17     0
37=  The Rollercoaster Ride                             283    18     0
36   You're Just a Baby                                 285    17     1
35   Funny Little Frog                                  287    14     1
34   Le Pastie de la Bourgeoisie                        292    20     1
33   A Century of Fakers                                293    15     1
32   Step Into My Office, Baby                          297    16     0
31   Wrapped Up in Books                                300    21     0
30   Women's Realm                                      305    21     0
29   Don't Leave the Light on Baby                      310    17     0
28   The Model                                          322    19     1
27   I Could Be Dreaming                                324    16     1
26   A Summer Wasting                                   327    15     0
25   Electronic Renaissance                             335    23     0
24   Nobody's Empire                                    348    18     1
23   The Loneliness of a Middle Distance Runner         365    20     0
22   Expectations                                       380    24     0
21   Your Cover's Blown                                 398    20     2

I vote for Monday, working hours EST, since that's when I'm most online.

BTW, thanks for running this poll, Nag... this is the most fun I've had on ILM since I joined.

Weekend rollouts are best earlier in the reveals, and then only for about 5 entries a day.

I'm on Pacific Time, but realize most of the interest may be in other time zones. Thanks Nag

Every single one of my polls have run into Saturday and both New Order and Steely Dan went into a Sunday. I'm on the West Coast and usually started around 10 AM on the weekends. People want to see who wins so Weekends for polls doesn't really hurt them. Most people don't want to wait on results.

Great job you are doing Nag!

wow there's some surprises in that last batch - thought Your Cover's Blown was probably a lock for top 10. Nobody's Empire is decent but there's this awkward disconnect between the opening riff and the verse for me that doesn't quite work, so I'm really shocked it showed up so high and above things like Electronic Renaissance and I Could Be Dreaming which are some of their very best to me. it does have a nice build but it being the consensus late career pick over I Didn't See It Coming?

"Your Cover's Blown" is just a ludicrous accomplishment. it was in my top 5

Nothing yet has been on half the ballots I think!

I believe 12 or 13 of my 30 votes have placed. not bad!

HOLY SHIT

I was gonna do that thing where you guess the top 3, but figured that would be annoying so I didn't. But I would have had Expectations at 2 or 3!! To my ears it's one of their crowning achievements, and I know I've talked with others who say the same. This is blowing my mind.

Electronic Rennaissance is in my personal top 3 but I know I'm weird about that one.

I think "ER" was my #3. Any song vaguely approximating New Order's "Procession" deserves such a ranking. And "Expectations" was somewhere in my top ten.

I've been surprised generally by the relative lack of popularity of Tigermilk, as an album, and of its constituent tracks, in relation to IYFS. Half a lifetime ago they felt like twin statements of approximately equal standing. Feels like a gulf has opened up between them while I was inattentive. (Or I could have just misjudged the situation in first place, my own preference being for the earlier record. LOL)

I wonder if it has something to do with the timing of its wider release.

My first exposure to B&S was IYFS, then TBWTAS, then the 3 EPs, and then Tigermilk only after all of those

also seven or so out of its ten tracks have placed, more than any other album so far, and I expect at least one more to show up

I guess I see your point, though, that all but maybe one will end up lower on the list than any track from IYFS

I didn't vote for it but surely we've got She's Losing It to come as well as The State I Am In?

On what seem like dead certs to me I also count one more from Dog on Wheels EP, eight from IYFS, one more from Lazy Line EP, two from the Modern Rock Song EP, four from TBWTAS, and two from Dear Catastrophe Waitress.

Which makes 20!

XP: Tigermilk is certainly very popular. I guess I just thought it was a fraction more popular. :)

The albums poll asks this question more or less explicitly. Both appeared on the same number ballots (ie. nearly all of them) but IYFS's score was good 37% higher. "IYFS > Tigermilk" is a much more common sentiment than the opposite case. I just naively expected a slightly closer race.

* consults spreadsheet to gauge Alba's soothsaying skillz *

Okay, I think I'll restrict the rollout to a trickle over the weekend and conclude with the top ten on Monday (GMT), at an hour that's convenient to most of Europe and the Americas.

I was hoping for Middle Distance Runner to crack the top 15, one of Murdoch's best vocal performances, his high notes are killing me.
Comparatively, I don't really get Expectations: good strumming song but still a strumming song.

Okay, just a handful today. Starting with...

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20. This Is Just a Modern Rock Song
From This Is Just a Modern Rock Song (1998)
Original promo video
Points: 400
Votes: 23
#1 Votes: 1

Middle Distance Runner and Modern Rock Song I had pegged for the top 5, quite surprised, are we going to have a top 10 full of Sinister? Other ones I expected there are Slow Graffiti and The State I Am In, will be a travesty if neither if those in the top 10.

Fear that Middle Distance Runner suffers from being hidden away on a b-side, if it had been on IYFS I reckon it could be #1

Yeah, it would fit perfectly on IYFS. It's the song I've listened to the most since participating in this poll. I predict Slow Graffiti comes next.

My no.1. All time.

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19. She's Losing It
From Tigermilk (1996)
Live at Barrowlands
Points: 412
Votes: 25
#1 Votes: 0

inch for inch and pound for pound
who needs boys when there's lisa around?

some of my favourites just turned up. I love love love Your Cover's Blown and it's a shame B&S didn't do more funky rooms-within-rooms epics

she's losing it is perfect the whole way through, but i especially love the horns in the last chorus

and you can dance to it!

I like the juxtaposition of this concise jaunty thing at #19 with the sprawling slackness at #20.

"this is just a modern rock song" is such an outlier in their discography, i like it a lot but i'm glad they cut it from if you're feeling sinister

So tigers in bathtubs look like fish.

Since it's Christmas period I've been reading my C&H compilations so anytime I see the Tigermilk cover I think it's Hobbes.

I love contrast between the bombast of "Modern Rock Song" and the self-deprecating lyrics.
"I'm not as sad as Dostoevsky / I'm not as clever as Mark Twain"

It's also interesting to see the video links with these old songs, they had a very consistent visual aesthetic in the 90's. Plus, they all came out before youtube, so I had no idea these songs even had videos.

Yes! I'm not sure I ever saw 'Rock Song' or 'Fakers' before last week. (Unless they were on Fans Only and I just have a terrible memory--kinda likely.)

The one I was just about to post, however, represented my very first exposure to B&S.

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18. Dog on Wheels
From Dog on Wheels (1997)
Original promo video
Points: 413
Votes: 20
#1 Votes: 0

this is one that's fine but never been a favourite so i wasn't really expecting it'd be this high, especially over some of the stuff that placed recently

Yeah, I had it in my top 20 but it slipped out on relisten, not bad but not really special enough for me to vote for, think it might need to catch me in the right mood