Hello again kids A friend of mine, when trawling the web, came across a discussion of the relative merits of the Manics and B&S which he thought I might be interested in as a fan of both. i read it, and all this has done has continued my hatred of nearly all manics fans (who seem to think that by listening to them they are cleverer and better people by osmosis) and made me realise, and not for the first time, that you lot are the loveliest people I know, as discussions of this nature on sinister would NOT be tolerated, by honey or anyone else. If anyone wants to laugh at these pseudo-intellectual Manics fans by reading such gems as "B&S are crap because everyone on the internet likes them", then I recommend you visit the following: http://www.dejanews.com/=zzz_maf/dnquery.xp?search=thread&svcclass=dnserver&recnum=%3c36942238.0@newsread3.dircon.co.uk%3e%231/1 I was tempted to post a response, but I'm content to merely sit here and laugh instead. Sometimes that's enough, I think. Oh, and Gary - see, we aren't the only Lloyd Cole fans left in the world. Finally, did everyone see in the Melody Maker's preview of the Brits that they thought Belle & Sebastian should win the Best Newcomer Award? This'll be the same Belle and Sebastian they have been relentlessly championing since....ohh, about a month ago. And haven;t they taken an about-turn on Gomez? Finally, finally... I remembered the other day in the Scotland on Sunday review of 1998 (a reasonable Scottish Sunday newspaper which used to mention B&S a fair bit in the old days before all their decent music writers vanished) they described 1998 as the year that Belle and Sebastian changed from the band who never talked to the band who never shut up. Did anyone else read this or did I hallucinate it after a few too many sherry trifles? And can anyone point out the resemblance between this Belle and Sebastian they refer to and the band that we all know and love? And another thing. (Sorry, I'm not good at endings). Richard, thank you for your review of Mercury Rev, I am going to see them in Glasgow in a couple of weeks for the first time in five years. Can anyone tell me if they play anything that is pre-Deserters Songs? And richard, the real reason I metion your mail is to ask - wasn't Tony the reformed alcoholic brother in Blossom - Joey was the younger stupider one that left to pursue a dreadful singing career (OK i'm confusing real life with the series now, but he was called Joey in real life too). Sorry to have taken up so much of your time, I'm sure there will be another, more interesting, post along soon. Ailsa +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ 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" +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+