Good Morning List,
Now I don't know if this has been sent to you before, I looked in the archives, but not very hard. Anyway this is from the Guitar Magazine (September), if your conjuring up a stereotyped guitarist image of me in your head I assure I DONT have long permed hair, a leather jacket and a plectrum in my wallet. Review by Rick Batey.... Belle and Sebastian The Boy with the Arab Strap (Hannibal)? Belle and Sebastian, the famously reticent Scottish acoustic-based seven-piece conglomerate with the Replacements-style media aversion, plainly don't give a toss what decade it is. One minute it's 1986 (Marr-shaped strumminess, jazzy Roddy Frame solos), then the mid-'60s (three chords, poker faced Nico vocals), then crikey, 1972 (T-Rex boogie, handclaps), then 1996 with shy warbling over gloomsome Tindersticks orchestrations. Your view of such eclecticism will largely depend on the ground you're standing on. Seen from pop's grassy knoll, they're utterly charming - a dollop of Animals That Swim's trumpet-led urban literacy here, a squeeze of Vic Chesnutt's whimsical, home-made ethic there. Seen from a fokier angle where cellos'n'stuff are less of a big surprise and excellence is usually judged more worthy of praise than awkward naivete, B&S's shambling style can sound offhand and some of the singing is plainly too weak. But the best of the boy with the arab strap transcends both stances: Sleep the Clock around is beautiful and strangely Eno-ish; the Stax-tinged Dirty Dream #2 comes complete with funksome Steve Cropper guitar; Seymour Stein's delicate electric strumming and wavering Hammond sounds abit like Dylan and the Band. Sweet. **** (4 out of 5 Stars) Sorry if this has been done before. lee (again) +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ 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 +---+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" +---+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+