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

BTW someone complained earlier about the reliance on "and now here's a trumpet solo that follows the vocal line" and I can't deny that "Expectations" and "She's Losing It" both do this and yet I am utterly happy with both these trumpet solos. In "Expectations," maybe part of what makes it work is that the most breathtaking part of the vocal ("on top of the world again") isn't mirrored by the trumpet, that's left alone.

god let just one sinister track place ffs

Maybe the top ten will just be all the tracks on Sinister.

"If She Wants Me" is perfect, just an immaculate example of what I want from this band. I put it at no. 5, one spot below "I Could Be Dreaming" but somehow I am more disappointed with this placement than I was with ICBD so prolly should've switched them around. I certainly would've campaigned more for ISWM but I had some notion that it was already universally beloved. Oh well.

"If She Wants Me" should probably have been my #1 tbh, a literally perfect song and v important to me

Well, 21 votes implies that it is pretty beloved (almost half the ballots), but wasn't too high on most people's lists.
ISWM and Your Cover's Blown were the only post-2000 tracks in my top 10.

Forgot this one had the line: "You are too young to put all of your hopes in just one envelope".

Interesting that they didn't highlight this song at all (no video, no single) when DCW came out. Maybe they thought it was a little too on-brand at a time when they were trying to do the Trevor Horn led reinvention.

I went through this morning and learned how to play most of the songs on Tigermilk. As expected, all of the chords are super simple, which really emphasizes how perfect the arrangements and vocal melodies are.

oh nice! was there a specific place you grabbed the tabs from, or did you just work it out yourself?

Good to see a lot 9f love for If She Wants Me. definitely a highlight of the album

xpost Just at Ultimate Guitar, most (all?) are up there. Not the fancier ("fancier") flourishes, just the chords. I think The State I'm In was tuned down a half-step? Most were pretty standard, though, give or take a capo. But it was fun to hum along the tunes to these simple chords and hear how they all work out together.

B&S don't use weird chords, but they do use a lot of quick changes and they're fond of using all the chords in the scale.

If She Wants Me was pretty high on my ballo. I had completely forgotten about its existence until this poll.

Lots of single and ep material I need to check out here. A lot of tracks I don't really know are placing quite high.

B&S don't use weird chords

Rollercoaster Ride has a D with an F# bass, a G6? (G5 with open e) and then a Bm with an F# bass as well. Nothing crazy but it's the little things.

right but most of those (G6 excepted) are just standard triads in different inversions

Yeah, we're not talking Nick Drake territory.

i totally forgot about how much i loved a summer wasting

murdoch's twitter is unexpectedly delightful

I had "If She Wants Me' Top 5, just irresistible.

"I'll Be Your Pilot" just came on the radio and I think I should've voted for it. So lovely.

One post while I'm near the computer. Incidentally, can anyone see what the first photo depicts? (from 'TIJAMRS' sleeve--I've between staring at it for years.)

15. (TIE)

http://i63.tinypic.com/20frvnr.jpg

Slow Graffiti
From This Is Just a Modern Rock Song (1998)
At Bowlie Weekender, 1999
Points: 486
Votes: 23
#1 Votes: 2

http://i67.tinypic.com/2rnxvra.jpg

Dirty Dream Number Two
From The Boy With the Arab Strap (1998)
Lance Bangs' Athens video
Points: 486
Votes: 26
#1 Votes: 2

love both of these songs

Dirty dream placing in the right spot, what a great song.

slow graffiti was top 3 for me, something about murdoch's delivery of 'i stay in to defrost the fridge' destroys me

I had these songs at #14 and #18, so this is about right I suppose. "Slow Graffiti" we first heard on the Acid House OST (and lyrically it was obviously written for the film), it was a Big Deal when it was announced for TIGGERJAMMYS cos clearly this was the greatest song ever and the one to bring B&S to the masses, didn't quite work out like that but I look back on my teenage idealism fondly so don't give me no grief. The first time I ever saw them live was Bowlie Weekender, positioned myself front row early on and in the buildup I thought my heart was gunna burst. Then when they walked out and the first piano chords and the first lines of the first song, "keep for daaaays upon"... My heart did burst and I've honestly not been the same since.

Donno why I only had this at #18, mainly this rollout has been reiterating to me that I am clearly an idiot.

lol have some of the same regrets

I like the kind of B&S song template Slow Graffiti represents, one that begins with a slow acapella or with minimal instrumentation and only really gets going after a verse or two (the defining ones of these maybe being The State I Am In and The Stars of Track and Field)

I completely forgot about the Acid House connection! (Somewhat obviously.)

I was going to put a tentative predicted top 5 which would have been Slow Graffiti / TSIAI / TIJAMRS / LOTMDR / LLPJ in some order or other, but wow was I off-base there

Slow Graf was my #2.

I like the kind of B&S song template Slow Graffiti represents, one that begins with a slow acapella or with minimal instrumentation and only really gets going after a verse or two (the defining ones of these maybe being The State I Am In and The Stars of Track and Field)

― Dan S, Saturday, December 15, 2018 3:50 PM (forty-one minutes ago)

Or hey why not do it 3 albums in a row: "It Could Have Been A Brilliant Career" lol

I think "I Fought In A War" even fits into this continuity, it mibbe doesn't start pure acapella but otherwise I think it fits. So this is a genuine deliberate move! What's next? "Step Into My Office Baby" ok nevermind

it's only been through reviewing for this poll that I'm now realizing my affinity for these kinds of songs, I think a lot of them were all on my ballot

If She Wants Me was pretty high on my ballo. I had completely forgotten about its existence until this poll.

Exactly the same for me. It's just not an easy song for me to remember by the title

Slow Graffiti is the first song in the rollout where I think I really missed the boat. I did my ballot from memory, and the song title didn't ring a bell at all so I left it off, but wow what a song.

I think that moment came for me with Your Cover's Blown. never heard it before, but it is amazing

Slow Graffiti was my #1. From Stuart's lead vocal, to Stevie's backups, to the rhythm, and the strings. It's the complete package. Until now, I had no clue it was written for a movie. It sounds like it could have been written about any of the characters/situations in Stuart's universe at the time.

It's great. It was high on my ballot too. A lot of people who voted for it placed quite high, such that it bounced around a lot. Before the very last ballots came in it was actually in the top ten--I remember changing the number I'd prematurely written in the image!

Here's a final 'Saturday' post while America, at least, is still experiencing Saturday. Leaving three for Sunday...

http://i64.tinypic.com/2lxwew1.jpg

14. Stay Loose
From Dear Catastrophe Waitress (2003)
Live at Benicassim, 2004
Points: 489
Votes: 26
#1 Votes: 4

YES. I also ranked this at #14. One of their best genre exercises.

The twin guitarwork is fucking unreal

From the quiet acapella part to the end is all fantastic, reminds me of The Who in a weird way, and the verses are perfect Squeeze pastiche.

HOLY SHIT

i had given up on "stay loose" placing, the best song in the WORLD

"dirty dream" was my no. 1 but that's beside the point (it's better than every sinister song)

(i'm just kidding that's probably not true but i still think it's the objectively perfect b&s song)

4 #1s! Three other ilxors are pretty cool

I threw a bucket load of points at "Stay Loose", for some reason this fucking dress up shit means more to me than "Your Cover's Blown" or I dunno most of their latter career.

In other news I woke up at ungodly hour and listened to The Life Pursuit. I had "Another Sunny Day" and "Dress Up In You" on my ballot when it was down to 31, then drunkenly decided to ditch them both in some sort of misguided attempt at PURITY and added... "Big John Shaft" in the last spot? That can't be right...
'Another Sunny Day" is phenomenal and should've made the cut. "Dress Up In You" I was enjoying, it resolved itself perfectly and oh wait we're still going? It fair outstayed it's welcome. And nothing else on this album really stood out. "Funny Little Frog" was better than I remembered, still, naw.

That statue:

http://www.kelvingrovepark.com/heritage-tigress.html

Aaaaaaaah! Thanks!