Hello everyone, I have read with interest the various posts about the *look* of Belle & Sebastian, and the sub-thread with regard to Isobel's looks (which has seemed a bit harsh I must say), and although it struck me as having come about as a result of a somewhat offhand flip comment from Monsieur Dastoooor, I believe it was, it has been replied to seriously from several quarters. What struck me was that a) (I got told off for long paragraphs - probably quite rightly - so here goes with nice letters and brackets..) They do look kind of odd but, first few sightings (to the non-obsessive, anyway) fairly unmemorable. Not to say that is bad, but just in the way that most people are unmemorable if you've had no cause to remember them. e.g: I love Mercury Rev to bits and have done for ages, but still can't remember what the drummer looks like. But that could be a drummer thing. The point is though, that I am sure none of us really do want to judge people solely on appearance, but the bottom line is that if Belle and Sebastian looked like KISS, their appeal would somehow be altered rather dramatically (tho imagine.. how cool?!) It is comforting that this band of bods who look fairly normal and sing songs that seem rooted in the everyday not only exist out there for us to enjoy and identify with, but also - by anyone's standards - write damn fine songs that you can really get your teeth into on intellectual and musical levels as well as the emotional. I wouldn't want to lose sight of the emotional impact, and certainly for me that is their bulk of their appeal, but it is the fact that I can take pleasure in more than that which put B&S up there for me. I'm not sure where this is going now (forgive me - I did drink rather a lot at lunchtime) but I think I was trying to say that it's good B&S look normal cos it's easy to feel some sort of identification with them, and it's easy to take pleasure in their musical (not commercial, tho the whole Brit thing was deeply satisfying on many levels) achievements becuase somehow they're like us, normal people. Just far more talented. b) I do find it a bit disconcerting the Isobel-bashing that's been going. She's not my sort of lady looks-wise, but I still think she's rather pretty and I know one of my friends (you know who you are, JD) is harbouring an obsession bordering on the unhealthy. Cold fish she is not. But each to their own I suppose. And as for me, the red-headed girl who sang with the backing singers at Bowlie was way foxier and, as evinced by after, can really dance.. Apologies for being so serious for a friday afternoon - drinking at lunchtime you get maudlin round 5 o'clock... have a good weekend all, spoon PS I managed to avoid being pretentious and using the word *quotidien* in the above, but I like it so much I will now. Quotidien. +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the reborn Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail "sinister@majordomo.net". To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to "majordomo@majordomo.net". WWW: http://www.majordomo.net/sinister +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "tech-heads and students" +-+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +-+ "jelly-filled danishes" +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+