Greetings, **NME** I bought this weeks NME to read the Stuart M interview and I have to say I'm a bit pissed off about it (the NME not the interview in particular). I used to buy the NME every week five or six years ago but stopped for a reason I can't honestly remember and I couldn't help but notice that these days they seem to be obsessed about politics in music. Feck that. I listen to music cos it makes me feel good or cos it holds memories for me not cos I want to be preached to by a bunch of tossers who happen to have a record contract. I remember a few years ago a mate of mine used to say that music like Blur's 'Girls & Boys' which I was listening to in the car at the time was shit cos the lyrics didn't mean anything worthwhile and didn't have any message and that really annoyed me. Surely there is more to music than as a medium for spreading a political or moral message. The whole attitude of the NME in the interviews I read (which were the ones with Stuart M and with the Super Furry Animals) was that a band must have some axe to grind in their lyrics with frequent references to Primal Scream and Asian Dub Foundation both of whom I choose not to listen to (although Screamadelica is cool). I get enough fecking politics everytime I open a newspaper or turn on the telly without having to hear it on the radio or on CDs that I buy. I like Belle and Sebastian cos they make nice music. It may not start a revolution or encourage people to 'reclaim the streets' but it makes a train journey more pleasant and is enjoyable to listen to after a day of stress and that's all I want. **Legal Man Video** Oh dear, it's a bit shit is it not. I love the song but the video sucks. It is just a mess. I'm afraid it looks like it was thrown together without much in the way of an idea behind it. I've never been a huge fan of videos for songs. I reckon once you've seen the video, the song tends to be forever tainted with that particular image though I hope I can erase the Legal Man video from my mind while listening to the song. I agree with whoever said it's like the Spice Girls 'Wannabe' but it's not even as good as that. It's too messy, too many people in the shot and too much to distract from the band and the song (although this may be deliberate.) I hope the song does really well in the charts and gets the band the success they deserve but I don't think the video will do them any favours. **New Album** I'm really looking forward to June 5th. I can't remember the last time I was looking forward to the day an album was released, must be getting old cos it used to happen regularly or maybe the music these days just isn't as good as it was back then. Hmm next I'll be saying that the music on Top of the pops all sounds the same (come to think of it...). Right that's about 15 minutes up, <<Dave>> PS visit www.belleandsebastian.freeserve.co.uk and contribute to the ever growing but still slightly 'sad' Discussion board PPS I'm currently in the process of updating the aforementioned site and need ideas from YOU as to what should be added/removed from the current site as I want it to reflect what the fans want. I'm also looking for people to write reviews of their favourite tracks/albums/EPs/memories etc. so feel free to contribute. david@belleandsebastian.freeserve.co.uk +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ 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 +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+