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Tuesday 1 March 2011

My Baby's Got It Going On


Belle and Sebastian seem to be one of those bands where it's dead easy to say 'I love their early stuff', but y'know some of their later stuff is great too. The early records have all the none-more-indie charm and wonkiness, the stories behind them (see Tigermilk), and the bedsit appeal. Admittedly the most recent album did nothing for me, but quite a few of their recent albums, including the ones done with Trevor Horn, have some great moments- The Life Pursuit and Dear Catastrophe Waitress are both chock full of quality songs. Stay Loose, from DCW, is one of the Bagging Areas favourite songs of the 00s. Not that I have a formal list of songs from the 00s. Or any other decade. And dividing songs up into ten year chunks of time never made that much sense to me anyway.

In 2004 they released an e.p. called Belle and Sebastian Present Books. This song, Your Cover's Blown, was the lead song along with the Trevor Horn produced Wrapped Up In Books. Your Cover's Blown features glossier, more upfront production, with sound effects and a song that reaches over five minutes with several different sections (including a bit where the guitars threaten to turn into 60s hippie-punks Love). It's not twee indie.

01 Your Cover\'s Blown.wma

2 comments:

drew said...

I listened to the latest album again at the weekend and it wasn't half as bad as i thought that it was on first listen. I may listen to it tomorrow and see if it's got any better. Although still can't remember any of the songs!

stevoid said...

I hated,with a passion,the unbearable tweeness of earlier B&S material but have had a grudging admiration for their albums since 'Dear Catastrophe Waitress'.