You know what I think is funny? You people. I think you people are funny. Funny, ha ha. Unintentionally. Until I hear a Burger King commercial sung to the tune of Sleep The Clock Around or The Rollercoaster Ride advertising the new "Beast With Two Backs" coaster at Busch Gardens or A Summer Wasting used as the theme song to the new Jennifer Love Hewitt "vehicle", I'm going to keep from putting "Belle and Sebastian" and "sold out" in the same sentence. Oops, just did. Well, you know what I'm getting at. Putting extra tracks on different versions of a single is tiny, man, TINY. I've always thought it's pretty funny when indie folk pretend that "it's only about the music", but will get all bent out of shape over something as small as extra tracks or the wrong clothes or the wrong taste in music or the Wrong Girl. And even though I personally don't have any problem with trying to sell more singles, so many people forget that Belle and Sebastian, like so many other bands, are in the enviable position of being able to make a living off of their record sales. It's their *job*. And even though that doesn't mean that we should forgive them if they deliberately alter their sounds for the sake of selling tons (which they haven't done), I don't think it's too much to ask forgiveness for trying to sell a few more records and make a better living. We'd all take a promotion at our jobs, but we'll put down musicians who, more or less, are doing the same. They're just trying to get ahead like the rest of us, and if they can do that without compromising their vision (which, again, B&S haven't done), that's pretty fucking amazing. What it does mean is that they have to do TV shows, and they have to sell extra versions of their singles, and they have to try and get airplay on MTV. Let them. It's a small price for us to pay. It makes me anxious and scared to disagree with the Duke's thoughtful words, but, as great as the 'the things that made me fall in love with you disappeared when you saw them too' quote was, I don't think it's correct. I think that Belle and Sebastian are doing exactly what they've always done: exactly what they want to do. It's always been equally frustrating and admirable that they don't seem to give a shit what ANYONE thinks of them, including their fans. If they had given half-a-second's thought to what we did and didn't like about them, they wouldn't be giving Isobel and Stevie so much air time on the albums, seeing as how their songs are consistently at the bottom of the voting results on the Jeepster site. And if you've heard "Legal Man", there is no way you could possibly think that they're tinkering with their sound for the sake of a hit. The last time I checked, the formula of a top 40 hit was not '60' retro and electric sitars. Maybe it'll be so successful that it ends up creating that formula, but I'll welcome that like I'd welcome a long lingering hug from Gwen Sefani. By the way, I won't say anything to give it away, but I have heard the new album. It doesn't have the highs of TBWTAS, but it doesn't have the lows either, and from everything I've read in interviews with the band members, this is the kind of album that they've wanted to make for a while. *They've* wanted to make. For themselves, you understand. I don't think they give much thought to what we think of it. As a side note, re: Shania Twain as the "anti-christ"...if a bland, slightly odd-looking "country"-pop singer is the worst thing you can think of, you have a pretty great life. I'm not too crazy about Shania Twain either, but I can imagine a whole lot worse. So I guess this is the part where I have to apologize for the length of my letter, say that I hope I didn't bore you and make some "funny" comment about "If you've read this far, you're a saint", etc. So there you go. Famous for showing my chest, Reid +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ 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 +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+