Sinister: Fw: The boy with the arab strap review (hey, better late than never)

[Lee]

>Good Morning List,

Now I don't know if this has been sent to you before, I looked in the
archives, but not very hard. Anyway this is from the Guitar Magazine
(September), if your conjuring up a stereotyped guitarist image of me in
your head I assure I DONT have long permed hair, a leather jacket and a
plectrum in my wallet.

Review by Rick Batey....

Belle and Sebastian
The Boy with the Arab Strap (Hannibal)?

Belle and Sebastian, the famously reticent Scottish acoustic-based
seven-piece conglomerate with the Replacements-style media aversion, plainly
don't give a toss what decade it is. One minute it's 1986 (Marr-shaped
strumminess, jazzy Roddy Frame solos), then the mid-'60s (three chords,
poker faced Nico vocals), then crikey, 1972 (T-Rex boogie, handclaps), then
1996 with shy warbling over gloomsome Tindersticks orchestrations.

Your view of such eclecticism will largely depend on the ground you're
standing on. Seen from pop's grassy knoll, they're utterly charming - a
dollop of Animals That Swim's trumpet-led urban literacy here, a squeeze of
Vic Chesnutt's whimsical, home-made ethic there. Seen from a fokier angle
where cellos'n'stuff are less of a big surprise and excellence is usually
judged more worthy of praise than awkward naivete, B&S's shambling style can
sound offhand and some of the singing is plainly too weak. But the best of
the boy with the arab strap transcends both stances: Sleep the Clock around
is beautiful and strangely Eno-ish; the Stax-tinged Dirty Dream #2 comes
complete with funksome Steve Cropper guitar; Seymour Stein's delicate
electric strumming and wavering Hammond sounds abit like Dylan and the Band.
Sweet.
**** (4 out of 5 Stars)


Sorry if this has been done before.

lee (again)




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