Sinister: CMJ Online review

[Reid]

      *---*      HAPPY BIRTHDAY SINISTER BABIES    *---*

Oh, goody!  I get to supply the list with yet another TBWTAS review,
this one from the CMJ online site (which has two reviews with audio
samples a day...it's a good source for new music, w/ lots of variety
<http://www.cmj.com>).   The audio samples are of the title track and,
ahem, "Sleep Around the Clock".   Steve Lamacq doing the typing,
apparently.

******************
 Belle & Sebastian's third album reveals the Glasgow,
 Scotland band's recent growth without losing any of the
 magic of 1997's acclaimed If You're Feeling Sinister.
 Frontman Stuart Murdoch is helped by greater songwriting
 and vocal contributions from his seven bandmates. The
 album builds on the band's gentle blend of orchestral
 pop (keyboards, horns and strings) and acoustic folk
 while incorporating more dynamic elements, including
 whispered vocals and cacophonous horns and drums.
 The song titles suggest that Belle & Sebastian's fascination
 with misfit adolescents may have been replaced with an
 obsession with the music world. Luckily, "Seymour Stein"
 turns out to be only partly about the band's (real or
 imagined?) dinner with the Sire Records President, and
 the standout title track is really the story of troubled
 personalities, not an homage to fellow Glaswegians and
 labelmates Arab Strap. The bittersweet lyrics here are not
 only more introspective, but also increasingly poetic and
 clever (a favorite: "We all know you're soft 'cause we've
 all seen you dancing/We all know you're hard 'cause
 we've all seen you drinking from noon until noon again").
                                                  -- Wendy Mitchell

**********

If you ask me (I'm aware that you didn't), this is one of the better
reviews that I've read.  It seems like everyone else is writing almost
exactly the same review.  It starts out with mentioning how shy they
are, talks about the acclaim that IYFS got (okay, this has that one),
talks about Stuart Murdoch not singing all the songs anymore, and
usually just ends up coming to the shocking conclusion that B&S are
gentle and pretty.  Blech.

By the way, speaking of Stuart Murdoch and the songwriting...Isobel
didn't write "Is It Wicked Not to Care" did she?  And did Stevie write
"Seymour Stein" and "Chick Factor"?  Did he write "Wrong Love"?  Or is
Stuart M. just getting other people to sing his songs?  That one review
that said that Stuart M. "hogs" the songwriting credit is total bunk.  I
can't even find songwriting credit on any of the sleeves.

~Reid



+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
      +---+  Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list  +---+
 To send to the list please mail "sinister at majordomo.net". To unsubscribe
   send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to
 "majordomo at majordomo.net".  For list archives and searching, list rules,
   FAQ, poor jokes etc, see http://www.majordomo.net/sinister
          +---+   "legion of bedroom saddo devotees"  +---+
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+