Re: Sinister: Dick? Slap?
From the sleeve, it looks like The Loneliness Of A Middle Distance Runner will be the next single, and I love this song to bits, so I hope it's a good recording.
Check the date on the letter, Robin. October 1998. But yes, I really hope it's going to come out anyway. It's having songs like this on tape that makes being a B&S track-grubber worthwhile. TWO AND A HALF YEARS I'VE HAD THAT SONG and it still sounds as fresh as ever. My sister heard it and made me insist I made a tape of it for her. The thing is, they haven't had a chart-eligible single since Autumn 1997. They are now popular enough for any single of theirs to make a BIG CHART IMPACT, so for me it's a real shame that it's happening with 'Legal Man'. If a whole bunch of people got their first taste of the band through a song as strong as 'Loneliness of the Middle Distance Runner' I'd be over the moon. Call me naive, but I daydream about people hearing that song on the radio or seeing it on TOTP and them falling in love with it. People who have never heard of Belle & Sebastian before. People who 'never normally listen to that sort of thing'. It really mattering. I think it could have happened. Now they'll be forever thought of as 'the band that did that Sixties style song'. Nick xx +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the undead Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister@missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo@missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "tech-heads and students" +-+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "peculiarly deranged fanbase" "frighteningly named +-+ +-+ Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+
...Dismantled King, you know I love them all Dear Sinisterines, I just read Nick Dastoor's post about Legal Man as the single v. Loneliness of the Middle Distance Runner as the single, and I have to agree to some extent. Loneliness really is one of my favorite songs by B&S, and hearing it on tape and seeing them play it live is amazing. I think something like that would resound well with people, you know? And I remember Stuart M saying once that it's the best song they'd written. So why not put it out? = ( It could be as they say, they just can't bang out a recording they like. Or maybe they're sick of old songs and they're excited about new ones. It seems a shame though that some beautiful songs have fallen by the wayside. As much as I fiendishly collect unreleased songs and bootlegs of B&S (unlike most bands) I don't want any of them to stay that way. Everyone should get to enjoy songs like Loneliness, or the much-maligned Rhoda which is really quite nice. Someday when I'll have probably lost most of my hair, we'll get a chance to hear some proper, cleaned up master versions of some of those songs. On a B&S boxset or somesuch collection. Or maybe there will be a second single, that'd be great. Are you Jeepster people listening? But I do really like Legal Man, and it's quirky so it deserves some hit potential. You never know, maybe the backlash is so bad by now Loneliness would have gotten crushing reviews from the press as well. I'm really pleased with Judy and her being a Dick Slap. Initially when I heard the words "soul-sounding," "instrumental," and "Belle & Sebastian," together, I instantly thought "the Tigermilk instrumental." But I guess it doesn't have any of that in it, unless it's in the 12" which I do intend to get. Hmmm...I love the soft piano song bit. It sounds like one of Felt's short instrumentals done entirely by Martin Duffy. Like "Magellan," that reminds me of the soft Dick Slap part a lot. And the first part is a bit Stereolabby. Not so much as Slap the Cock Around when you speed it up, but pleasingly so, regardless. I almost think it might end up being one of the best parts of the single. I for one adore instrumentals, although I think they fit better as the occasional track on an album to mix things up. They do make excellent B-sides, though, as we can see. I wonder if they just shoved a bunch of unfinished songs together and called them Judy Is a Dick Slap? Winter Wooskie's lovely as ever if a bit short. Overall I like the single a lot. It's not what I might have imagined in regards to B&S, but I think that's good. I feel like I should say something about life outside of Belle & Sebastian. Like some witty comment about my friends in #sinister. But I wouldn't know what to say, to be honest. And my life...eh, it's not so exciting. Kind of depressing at the moment really. I didn't sleep at all last night, and I've apparently been having "anxiety attacks" as I sleep, where my heart starts racing and I'm breathless for a time. Must have something to do with graduating soon and sitting around without doing anything all day, and worrying about getting a job. Anyone hiring a web designer in the middle of nowhere? Oh, no? What a surprise. I got my cap and gown and all that yesterday. Bleh. Alright, well I've sated my need for something personal to say. Oh, and our computer over at my radio station isn't working and it doesn't look like anyone's going to get off their behind to fix it. I certainly have no idea how to do it. So as a consequence I won't be doing a radio show if anyone happened to notice that in my last message and wondered. Well, I have things to do, must get rid of some of this anxiety, I guess. Hanging out with all those Jesus freaks, -- Brian Pennington, aka Mick McMick | cellophanesky@mac.com | ICQ# 39021436 Sandcastle Records: <http://www.indiepages.com/sandcastle/> "Better a tear of truth than smiling lies." - Duncan Browne +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the undead Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister@missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo@missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "tech-heads and students" +-+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "peculiarly deranged fanbase" "frighteningly named +-+ +-+ Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+
participants (2)
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Brian Pennington -
Nick.Dastoor＠guardian.co.uk