Sinister: Angry From Aigburth!!!

[Andy Flynn]

Why you!!!  I Oughta......!!


>Just because you are a fan, doesn’t mean you renounce the right to 
>criticise them.

I haven't

>You don’t bow to the mysterious forces which create the music, which is how 
>I interpreted your comment (‘How would you know what her contribution 
>is?’).

I haven't...But you dont know what they're like when they write or rehearse 
together!!  Have you ever been in a band.

>In fact, people on the list have discussed Isobel’s contribution quite 
>frequently, particularly in the light of her offering on the latest album, 
>Beyond the Sunrise. A lot of folk commented  on the fact that it seemed to 
>sit uncomfortably (at least initially) on the album, and perhaps Loneliness 
>of the Middle Distance Runner should have been there instead. There was 
>also a good review of the album in the Independent (or it might have been 
>the Guardian) which made this same point, and argued that IC’s songs could 
>upset the unity of B and S albums (I used the phrase ‘organic wholeness’ 
>which you obviously thought was poncey, but it was at least accurate).

Monkey says monkey does.....Have a 'considered' opinion of your own.  It's 
not what HER songs are like its her input into stuarts songs...like everyone 
elses input into Stuarts songs.  They add flesh to the bones.  Whilst were 
on the Beatles comparison thing ...their method of writing was John or Paul 
turning up with a song and where the rest of the band would then pull it to 
bits saying it was shit and adding their pennies worth to flesh it out.  A 
songwriter can only really claim the melody and the chord progression unless 
their multi-instrumentalists and can write the complete score for every 
instrument implicitly.  And that is quite rare.


>Indeed, far from me plucking the topic of Isobel’s contribution to B and S 
>out of the air, as it were, I think the issue plainly suggests itself. 
>Isobel obviously feels that she has an artistic vision which cannot be 
>expressed through the voice of Belle and Sebastian, or she would not be in 
>two (count them) other bands of her own where she takes a more prominent 
>role viz the song-writing.

Oh its obvious is it?....How patronising can anyone get?
Could it not be that these are songs that Belle and Sebastian as a group 
have rejected to go out and that Isobel would still like to be heard so she 
puts them out as gentle waves stuff.  Because only the strongest songs...as 
mutually agreed by the band are put out!!!

Who knows...Not you thats for sure?

>This brings us to your other interesting question about the nature of an 
>individual’s contribution to a band.

Go on

>You say that ‘you might as well say Ringo spoiled the Beatles’. I don't 
>think he spoiled the Beatles, but I think most people would agree that his 
>contribution to the band's output was overshadowed by the other members.

Perhaps most people not familiar to the rudiments of drumming.  Try playing 
a set of beatles songs....Its physically tough if nothing else.  Ringo 
despite the popular misconception was a strong drummer.

>When a journalist asked Paul McCartney if he thought Ringo was the best 
>drummer in the world, he quickly replied ‘I don’t think he’s the best 
>drummer in the Beatles’.

Scouse wit.....Why did they replace Pete Best then and head hunt Ringo if he 
was such a shit drummer?  Why did the journalist pose the question in the 
first place...Did you think of that??


>He wasn’t a particularly good drummer, and if you’ve heard his dismal 
>musical offerings in the last few years, you’ll know he’s not a good 
>song-writer either.

Has anyone ever said he was a good song writer??  But his choice of what 
drums to put where in the songs changed them.  He influenced greatly how 
those songs would be structured and formed.

>History has judged that Lennon was probably the more inventive and talented 
>songwriter of the band (Case for the prosecution: the entire Wings back 
>catalogue).

Has history shown this indeed....Hmmm.  Who says?  I thought history 
couldn't separate them myself.

>Lee Mavers was almost certainly the creative force in the La’s (prosecution 
>exhibits: the on-going calamity that is the Cast back-catalogue).

Thats why its taken mavers over 10 years to record a 2nd album is it?

>Would the Happy Mondays really be any different without Bez, the Jimi 
>Hendrix Experience be significantly different without Noel Redding, Oasis 
>any better or worse without their old drummer.

You compare all the above like there is a common rule linking them!  And 
there isn't? Bez was a only dancer for a start!  So whats he got to do with 
anything??

And all Oasis drummers could be replaced by a 4/4 time drum machine! But 
someone like Chris Sharrock on drums...despite him not being the songwriter 
would completely change the sound of Oasis.

Again have you ever been in a band and thrashed out a song...everyone has an 
input???

>I suppose the idea of the pop band is quite strange in this respect. In 
>most art forms, there is one person who is  responsible for the work: the 
>painter, the sculptor, the classical composer, the novelist, the architect, 
>  the playwright. But in a pop band, there seems to be a mixture: the 
>single artist expressing his or her vision, and the group of artists 
>collaborating to make the work together.

Exactly my point!!  Now you're starting to make sense! And therefore you 
can't exclude Isobel...or anyone else from the overall sound of the 
band....whether its a matter of overlaying a harmony or arranging strings or 
a drummer filling in with ghost beats it all goes to forming the overall 
sound.

I'm not talking about Isobels songs (which I think are fine too)I'm talking 
about her overall input.  So everyone lay off her because none of us 
....none of us...really know anything about how the songs all come together.

But I have to say in my honest opinion when isobel harmonises or when 
strings kick in, its a safe bet that its HER input into a song of Stuarts 
that has unquestionably added to it.

Long live B & S.............ALL OF THEM!!!

Respek

Andy
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