Sinister: pastie reviews here:

[Andrew Dean]

ok, i'm so bored i thought i'd do this. these are the two
single of the week reviews in the music papers week ending
october 4th. i've not seem them posted before, apologies
(and curses) if they have been

A musical box left playing in a long-abandoned nursery. "A
Century Of Fakers"" is the Velvet Underground ("Pale Blue
Eyes", say), and The Pastels, and Donovan, and The Seekers
all in one delicious bundle. It's not fey, it's not twee:
just simple, straightforwardly, beautiful. If you can write
a tune this stunning, why smother it with overly-lush
arrangements or loud guitars?
In contrast, "Le Pastie De La Bourgeoisie" is a speedy but
dark Western soundtrack. The disconcertingly truthful press
release - courtesy of guitarist Stevie - reveals that he
rates it but "Wee Chris on keyboards thinks it sucks." Sorry
Chris; I'm with Stevie on this one.
It's only when we get to "Beautiful" that i understand why
Belle & Sebastian have left some people cold. It sounds
aimless at first; but then it blossoms into something
cherishable, if awkward, like a butterfly struggling out of
its cocoon. (Besides, ever since Animals That Swim, I've
been a sucker for poignant trumpet solos.)
So heart-piercingly perfect, I can only prostrate myself
in awe.

Tania Branigan, Melody Maker, 4th October 1997


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Shall we curse them with the tag of the Best New Band In
Britain? The B&S masterpiece has still to come, but right
now this four-song EP towers above everything else, briefly
restoring your faith in pop music. Two albums, a few EPs -
it isn't a huge canon of work, but already Belle & Sebastian
are quite obviously an important group.
Why? Well, anyone who can write stuff at this stage in the
game as good as "La Pastie De La Bourgeoisie" and the
wistful "Put The Book Back On The Shelf" will one day do
something so breathtakingly great that we'll all just drop
down dead from the shock of pleasure. And songs like
"Beautiful" are archetypal white adolescent bedroom blues,
less obviously ripe for parody than the Tindersticks,
fresher and untainted by the unremitting blackness of Nick
Cave.
Like all tragedy, it is faintly ridiculous. It's more than
just the ability to write emotionally affecting songs,
though they do get you with the hairs on the back of the
neck. They have the same European coolness, the comforting
depression of Francois Hardy, the arch wordplay of Morrissey
(when he was good) and the pathos of Nick Drake. Most
importantly, "Beautiful" could so easily have been some
smarty waspish sneer, like Morrissey at his worst, but
Stuart Murdoch's mellow Donovanish voice carries such
emotional depth and sincerity it saves all their songs from
this.
Yeah, they are the best new band in Britain. But don't
tell everyone. And, yeah, they really are wet and twee.
Wanna step outside and make something of it?

Tommy Udo, New Musical Express, 4th October 1997

my thoughts? i'd heard "fakers" and "book" before and these
are my favourites from the ep. the others seem too wordy
somehow, almost as if he's trying to be too clever with the
words and didn't write the music to match. having heard most
of the new lp played live it's going to be a corker but this
isn't quite up to that standard somehow.

um, well that filled up 20 minutes. only 90 left to go.
worse still, i keep thinking it's friday today somehow.
sigh.

oh, and has anyone else noticed that if a mail has -- at the
start of a line then the rest of that post appears in the
archive in a fixed width font rather than a proportionally
space font? god, i'm so sad.

andy
matt, it's in the post and mike(?) i'll finish it tonight,
check it and post it tomorrow.
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