Sinister: Aural Doily? There will be a Quiz

[MWaggner at xxx.com]

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

Has anyone posted the review from the NY Daily News?  Probably not, as no one
will admit to reading that paper.  Except the person who sent this to me.
I'll type it out here, and await the reaction (come on, it promises to be a
long weekend and Farber deserves all he gets) but please, don't shoot the
messenger, ok?
__________________________________________________________________
JINGLE BELLE & SEBASTIAN by Jim Farber, NY Daily News, Tuesday, Sept. 1, 1998
Scot band's mean but twinkling LP is one among
some interesting new releases

"You can't always believe your ears when you listen to Scotland's Belle &
Sebastian.  Its highly mannered folk rock sounds prim and polite, like an
aural doily.  But its lyrics bristle with sarcasm, irony, even cruelty.

Such a pitched combination made the group's 1997 debut, "If You're Feeling
Sinister," one of the more subtle (and more playable) albums of the year, not
to mention one of the more critically adored.

The new album continues in the same vein.  Its twinkling melodies, fey vocals
and dancing arrangements suggest a magical intersection of three mid-'60s
styles, which all cross the last days of lounge music with the emerging folk
rock of the day.  You'll hear the summery West Coast sounds of The Mamas &
Pappas or the early Byrds, mixed with the chaste English balladry of Mary
Hopkin or Marianne Faithfull, plus the muted peppy horns of Burt Bacharach.

"It Could Have Been a Brilliant Career" might have been performed by Simon and
Garfunkel in '66.  Which only mkes its mean lyrics that much more jarring.
Here, the narrator nearly chuckles over a painter who suffered a stroke at 24
because the band considers his work "a sham that's going for a grand."

The equally withering "Sleep the Clock Around" offers an ode to a depressed
ne'er-do-well, matched to a woozy moog hook.  The band's lyrical barbs can get
obnoxious, as in "Seymour Stein," which condemns the music industry impresario
named in its title for daring to try to make the musicians rich and famous.
Such dismissiveness blunts the album's impact.  As much joy as its jingle-
jangle music holds,the band won't come to full power until it finds equal
breadth and gernerosity in its words."
___________________

Points for discussion include:

Maryanne Faithful:  Chaste?
Lounge Music + Folk Rock (emergent) = X
Compare and Contrast Mick Cooke and Burt Bacharach.  (Extra credit for
comparison/contrast of Muted and Peppy)
What is the possibilty that Mr. Farber actually listened to the cd?
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