Brad W. wrote: ...People, people -- Belle & Sebastian is flat out boring, and they are musical thieves to boot (unless Lou Reed is collecting royalties...) Lou Reed? Can I now assume that the next album will be B&S's very own version of 'Metal Machine Music' or loaded with references to veins, heroin, and the Dirty Boulevards of Falkirk? Seriously folks... Nick Drake, Love, the Field Mice, Tindersticks, Lou Reed? Hehe... Where will it end?!! Surely it can't be a crime - it would be unnatural - not to be, in some shape or form, influenced by certain bands and musical styles. We all know Oasis have become 'I am the Walrus' types and that certain Parklife-era Blur songs are reminiscent of Kinks output (hell, the Beatles freely admitted that Chuck Berry, Lttle Richard, etc. were paramount in their musical development in early days), and it must be extremely difficult for budding songwriters with a love of music to actually chuck out all of the music they listened to in the past and come up with their very own unique sound. As a sometimes writer for several German music mags, I often catch colleagues - when describing new releases - to write something along the lines of 'album sounds like a cross between x and y', thereby namechecking other acts in order to better describe new releases. Often, this is just lazy journalism; often, deadlines are looming and we have to get 'something in' for the next issue... So, now I'm curious about further Lou Reed connections... Is Isobel the Nico of the band? Should we make Stevie the John Cale to Stuart's Lou? Who will fulfill the role of Andy Warhol (any takers out there?)? Likewise Bowie or Iggy Pop (Aidan Moffat?)... Ah well, it's early - too early - yet, and I'm starting to rant. I'd better leave that up to others here and sign off for now. Your very own satellite of love Alex http://www.popjourno.com a new mailing list for music, film, literature, art, travel, and ranting in general +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ 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" +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+