Sinister: I like my Belle and Sebastian just the way they are, thank you.

[Philly1013 at xxx.com]

Dear List,

Hmmm...I'm not sure where to begin.  I guess the requisite "I hate the whole
indie/major debate" could do, but it doesn't seem sufficient.  Well, what's
wrong with Belle and Sebastian, really?  I can't find much to gripe about.  I
can't find much fault with Jeepster either, but I can't say I spend much time
thinking about proper marketing strategies, record sales, or how to have Belle
and Sebastian take over the world, for I hardly think myself worthy of any
such matters.  Sure, if they toured more extensively I probably wouldn't have
had to travel several hundred miles from Montreal to Toronto only to have the
show canceled (with good reason of course) on me.  But that didn't bother me,
I still had a lovely weekend away from the petty annoyances of being a
University student.  Would Belle and Sebastian be a chart topper if things
were different?  Possibly, but I doubt we'd have a lovely song like "the Gate"
available to us.  Yes, the song is exactly the sort of thing that would be
pruned out for an extra buck or two, and yet if such were the case I'd be
robbed of the song that's just about made my week of utter boredom (Which
isn't to say that any of the other songs one the new EP aren't in their own
rights fabulous, but "the Gate" just happened to be what I needed.  Ask me my
opinion in a month, a week, or tomorrow, and I could tell you differently).  I
have to say all this fuss over what Belle and Sebastian could or should be
seems silly.  Perhaps my take on this list is premature, but I thought the
function was to serve to discuss what Belle and Sebastian are and mean to us.
While it's fun to speculate and play let's-dress-up-as-a-record-executive, I
can't help but think there are better to things to do with your time, like
listening to one your copy of If You're Feeling Sinister again and remembering
why you started to care in the first place for example.

Oh, and for whoever it was who thought that music IS objective, needs to
remember that there's a great difference between insight and incite.  While
acting out our polemic fantasies where people actually care to take such
things seriously gets some people going, why don't we just leave people be in
their own subjective worlds.  I'll listen to what I like, you listen to what
you do, and we'll leave the "objective" criticism to the bizarre group of
ladies and gentlemen known as rock critics.

As a new member to the list, I may be out of place saying what I just have,
but I just felt I should say something.

Thanks for listening,
Phil
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