Sinister: The Boy with the arab strap ramblings

[Matthew Neimark]

A lot of the talk of similarities between this new album and other 
things from the past that people have noticed (I myself also noticed the 
Carly Simon similarity, but then again "You're so Vain" sounds like a 
ripoff of Carol King's "Too Late Baby").  I think that "Seymour Stein" 
is almost note-by-note rendition of Nick Drake's Northern Sky.

It isn't the 1st B&S to sport such similarities.  When my sister 1st 
heard sinister, she thought "Get Me Away from Here I'm Dying" sounded 
like some 70's song.  I myself thought it sounded like "All Fall Down" 
from Primal Scream's 1st single in 1986.

Just goes too show that Tigermilk was the bands best album...

All humor aside, The Boy With the Arab Strap is a fabulous album and it 
reaffirms my faith in them.  I think any one of 6 songs on the album 
could be huge radio hits, if not for the names (Sorry, I just cannot 
hear Casey Kesem saying, "And that was the Scottish Band Belle and 
Sebastian who just moved up a notch to #4 with their first hit, Dirty 
Dream #2."  "Simple Things" would be a smash hit if it were at least 2 
and a half minutes long.

Its funny though.  When I first heard it, I was a bit dissappointed.  
Their music has a strange and subtle effect on you:  You think its too 
simplistic at first, and a lot of the songs don't seem to be going 
anywhere.  But after a few listens, its as if the songs convince you 
that they are supposed to be the way they are.  I think most of their 
releases have been that way, save for a few songs (Photo Jenny, State 
I'm In, Judy and the Dream of Horses, Seeing other People, String Bean 
Jean), all of which grabbed me right away.

One more similarity I noticed was the cover, which shows Chris Geddes 
with an arrow through his chest.  This reminded me of the cover of both 
My Bloody Valentine's "You Make Me Realise" and 10,000 Maniacs "In My 
Tribe," both excellent records by the way.

Matt 

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