Mark wrote: << Another friend commented that B&S reminded him of some artists on the Sarah label. The Field Mice are the only ones I know. Would you say Northern Picture Library or Trembling Blue Stars is a significant development beyond The Field Mice? Their naivete and greeting-card sentiment was endearing, but that could become tiresome after a few more years of it.>> Well, I'm *really* biased about this, because TBS' Lips That Taste of Tears is one of my favourite records of this year - probably the only new lp that I've played to death (I've been buying lots of singles instead, they're more pop, or indeed P!O!P!, & cheaper to boot). It's long, slightly meandering, and varied, but when it's good, it's damned good. And he is one of the few people who seem interested in melding guitars and (above all) fully developed lyrics to different kinds of sounds and beats. Not having been particularly precocious, and not being inordinately wealthy either, I don't know that much of the Field Mice's stuff, but I did decide a couple of weeks ago that "Sensitive" was the best song ever made (if only for that week, when it was continually on my walkman) - which *isn't* greeting-card or naive or any of those things, just *beautiful*, and much more direct than you'd expect from their reputation - and Northern Picture Library's "Paris" isn't far behind. The B&S comparison's more valid than a lot that I've heard - Stone Roses?! - although it's partly to do with the unabashed sensitivity (for want of a better word) of both groups. "Sensitive" and "Paris" are both on the last Sarah compilation, "There and Back Again Lane", which doesn't cost 75 dollars, or whatever people are trying to get for Field Mice singles, so there's no excuse... And there is going to be a lovely Field Mice retrospective soon, so you can all decide whether the comparisons are at all justified (look at the Shinkansen website if you don't believe me). Oh, incidently, I was told last week that someone's made off with the signpost of the real There and Back Again Lane, in Bristol. Not big, or clever. The other Sarah band I've heard likened to B&S are The Orchids, who shared a dancey tendency with the Field Mice's later stages - I've just got some tapes of their stuff, which I haven't had a chance to listen to properly yet, but I'd say that "Electronic Renaissance" is the closest reference point. That and a similar Scottish slightly mumbly vocal style (that's supposed to be complimentary). Hell, there are other people around who are much better qualified to say all this stuff that I am... Also, I've decided that I'm going to wait until the new B&S record is released until I hear it - I've just got this rather romantic notion that it'll be so much nicer to carry it home in a plastic bag and listen to it lovingly while looking at the sleeve... sigh... Lucy ---------------------- Lucy Munro lucy.munro@kcl.ac.uk +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list please mail "sinister@majordomo.net". To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to "majordomo@majordomo.net". For list archives and searching, list rules, FAQ, poor jokes etc, see http://www.majordomo.net/sinister +---+ Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa +---+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+