Sinister: Humourless post about the new single

[Nick.Dastoor at xxx.uk]

*Sigh*  So many happy kids around.  Me the grump.

My flatmate's commentary last night:

The single goes on - "This doesn't sound like Belle & Sebastian"

'Judy is a Dick Slap' starts - "Get your motor running / Head off to the
highway'

The CD spins to a halt - "Well, it doesn't make me want to put it on again and
again, like they usually do".

No, it doesn't.  After the second listen I just couldn't find the will to put it
on again.  Listened to 'Sound Affects' instead.  Then I copied it onto the end
of a minidisc and planned to listen to it in bed.  But I just got more and more
wrapped up in 'The Virgin Suicides' and really didn't want to spoil things.  I'm
becoming more and more obsessed with that album.  Try reading the novel with it
on your headphones.

Yes, 'Legal Man' is different.  There's sod-all personality in it that I can
find.  I wouldn't fall in love with this band on the basis of this single.
Retro retro retro.  It's them listening to Andy Symington or whoever's records
and pretending they're just loosening up and having a laugh when it's really the
most studied thing they've ever done.  Bollocks to it.  It *is* the bloody Boo
Radleys doing 'Wake Up Boo'.

I was actually looking forward most to 'Winter Wooskie'.  But blow me if they
haven't cocked that up with a plodding chugga-chugga beat in place of the flow
of the live version.  The limitations of Stuart D's voice are painfully exposed
too.

This is just one single.  It's not a reliable indication of the band's future
direction.  But for the first time, I feel like I've bought a record of theirs
because it's a Belle & Sebastian single and not because I really want to own it
for itself.  And that makes me sad.

Nick xx


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