Sinister: friday night record shopping

[David Hewitt]

G'day Sinister.

Well, many's the time I've had occasion to moan to the list about not being 
able to get such and such a thing in this little backwater of the world. But 
for once, we got something first. For some reason, unexpectedly, Spunk! 
released Dear Catastrophe Waitress in Australia yesterday. Right on.

I was walking home from dinner with the missus and a few mates last night 
(cold rolls, hot and sour soup, szechuan fish and bok choi and all that - 
very tasty indeed) on Brunswick St, Fitzroy, and walking past Polyester 
Records on the way back to my place, something caught my eye, and I darted 
into the shop. Sure enough, sitting on a shelf next to the window was the 
new Belle & Sebastian CD. I even got a free poster with it. Bonus.

Here's some things you might like to know.

The cover image is the one that they're showing at Amazon. It's nice enough. 
It looks like a Belle & Sebastian record, only orange. There's a similar 
picture on the back, and a back and white picture of the waitress inside. 
She's apparently someone called "Shantha Roberts". I don't know who she is 
or who she plays for, though. I guess there's no reason why I should.

Inside the sleeve, along with the lyrics and thankyous and all that, is a 
five page story entitled 'The Way Of The Egg'. In it, Stuart covers such 
topics as Chicken Licken, Del Amitri, purchasing a new camera, posting items 
of clothing to himself, Felt and The Lord of the Rings. It was a moderately 
interesting read, but didn't seem particularly polished or relevant (other 
than that it dealt a little bit with the photo shoot for the album's cover). 
In fact, I'm almost certain it's just a diary entry (it's written in that 
unselfconscious sort of style), that for some reason (perhaps just the 
timing of it?) got put in the sleeve rather than on the website. It seemed 
an odd choice, but I guess it gives those whose interest in the band extends 
as far as buying albums, but no further, a bit of a sense of the man and 
what he's about. It seemed to give away a bit more than the stories they 
used to favour for the sleeves, though, and was a bit less satisfying for 
it, in my book.

Anyway, that's not important at all. It gave me something to read as I took 
the tram into work today. Working on a Saturday? That's dedication for you. 
Still, I'm also going to sit here and listen to this album a few times, and 
give you some impressions of it. I'll put them below, track by track.

Note that the track order on the Australian (Spunk!) version of the CD is 
the order I've listed them in below. CDDB has an American and a UK version 
in its database, neither of which match what I bought last night. Amazon has 
the track listing that I have here, though, which I guess means that it's 
been changed at some point, so what you get will likely be the same as what 
I have here.

Generally, my first impression of the album was reassuring, I suppose. I 
embrace the 'new' B&S, and the direction in which they're heading. I loved 
the last two EPs, and Storytelling had some lovely moments as well. This is 
a further step in that direction for them, and I'm pretty sure that for most 
of you, your preconceptions about whether you like where they're going 
aren't going to be changed by this record. It's a bit of a departure in some 
places, with some real throwback moments, too, but it seems more than 
anything like a fairly natural progression.

Having heard so much about the radical change in production, I guess I was 
expecting an even more dramatically different record to the one I got. It's 
still the same band, but it's not the same old, same old. That's about the 
best we could have asked for, I reckon.

A strange aspect to this album, though, is that many of the songs sound 
quite familiar, though I can't quite say what, specifically, they remind me 
of. This could just be my clumsy way of recognising memorable song writing, 
or it could be that there are references here to the sort of music you hear 
about the place, but never really paid attention to. Perhaps the sort of 
thing your parents might have played in the car from time to time. I really 
don't know.

Anyway, here are some impressions. Bear in mind that I have little knowledge 
of music, generally, and my taste is usually described as 'questionable' at 
best. My opinions have no authority whatsoever, and will likely not match 
with yours, or even stay the same from one day to the next. This is very 
much 'just some guy' speaking here, I'm afraid :)

STEP INTO MY OFFICE, BABY

A rip-snorting, ball-tearing, stomper of a song. Instantly accessible. The 
slow build-up that happens after the mid-track quiet bit is particularly 
nice. It's got a confident sort of swagger about it, with some nice horns 
and guitar noodling, but still somehow maintains that fragile 'it could all 
fall apart at any minute' thing that most of this band's best songs have.

A better opening track, it'd be hard to imagine. It's unmistakably Belle & 
Sebastian, alright, but it's just as unmistakably something quite new. It's 
the classic 'track one' - a statement of intent.

DEAR CATASTROPHE WAITRESS

This one reminds me a bit of I'm Waking Up To Us, for some reason. Probably 
just the way Stuart's voice sounds here. Other than that, it's got a really 
generous, lush instrumentation about it. Seems like a slow-burner, though - 
it's not really that remarkable on a first listen, unless you're really 
listening properly. It's a bit quirky and cute though, so it'll probably be 
a grower. Not a bad song, but it definitely sounds like an 'album track', 
compared the previous song.

Oh, and there are a lot of lyrics for this one that aren't in the liner 
notes, for some reason.

IF SHE WANTS ME

This song is the sun on your face. It's driving with the top down, in the 
country.

You couldn't really imagine this song on any of the previous LPs, but you 
couldn't really imagine another band having come up with it, either. There's 
a great little keyboard bit, and I'm not sure I've heard Stuart sing higher, 
either. If this one doesn't make you smile - you're made of stone, and no 
mate of mine.

Definitely an early favourite, and good evidence that there's no need to 
worry about the quality of the lyrics slipping. More like this, please.

PIAZZA, NEW YORK CATCHER

Things start a bit 'thinner' here, following the breadth and scope of the 
preceding tracks. There's more space between the voice and the instruments, 
somehow.

It's very sweet, and has loads of character. This is the one you'd listen to 
when you get home and you're taking your shoes off. Simple, pure and a bit 
folksy, maybe, but satisfying.

ASLEEP ON A SUNBEAM

Now this one's sweet and lilting, and a nice change of pace. Sarah's voice 
sounds absolutely magnificent. Then Stuart joins in, and the two really knit 
together. I don't miss Isobel at all. There are some really great, and 
slightly cheeky, horns on this one as well. Nice touch.

This one doesn't really have a hook, somehow, but that's about all it's 
lacking.

I'M A CUCKOO

Hang on, what's this? I'm not so sure. I think this one will take more than 
a couple of listens to really get the hang of. I could almost swear that 
I've heard this one before, but I'm sure I actually haven't. If you heard 
this one on the radio without knowing it, you'd likely not pick that this 
was Belle & Sebastian.

It's got a bizarrely 'chiming' sort of guitar sound, that I don't quite know 
what to make of. I'm pretty sure that this song bears the signs of all sorts 
of influences with which I'm not familiar.

It doesn't quite click with me, but it's not a bad song. Lyrically, it's 
actually pretty nice. There's just something about the sound of it that is 
going to require some getting used to. I suspect there'll be some of you 
who'll really like it - you'll probably have been listening to some of the 
bands that have influenced Stuart here. They're a bit lost on me, though, 
I'm afraid.

For now, this is probably the lowest moment on what would have been called 
'Side A' back in the bad old days. Actually, there's a good bit of silence 
on the end of this track to divide the album in two, as is also suggested by 
how the track listing is laid out on the back cover.

YOU DON'T SEND ME

More horns. I really like the horns on this record a lot.

Catchy, toe-tapping sort of a thing, with that slightly cheesy sort of 
backing vocals that either join in on, or echo, the last bit of a line. It 
works for them here, though. Just :)

This one sounds a little bit disposable to me, but that could change with 
time. It's charming, and more sixties than seventies, which suits me 
alright. It should be on the soundtrack to a Peter Sellers movie or 
something.

WRAPPED UP IN BOOKS

This one sounds a little like The Aislers Set to me. Aside from the vocals, 
obviously. It's got that edgy, jangly sort of sound to it, though. More 
accurately, it probably sounds like some other band that both of them listen 
to, but I don't.

There's a rare (this time around) bit of Stevie here too, which is always a 
good thing, and a bit of all the voices singing together, a la Jonathan 
David. Word.

LORD ANTHONY

Well, you all know this one. There's always that slight unease with a new 
version of an old song, but I reckon they've done a pretty good job here. It 
stands out as one of the better songs of the album, I reckon, which might be 
a slight concern. That's could just be familiarity, though, as these are 
very early impressions indeed. I don't think the songs are getting any 
worse, really, but this is the sort of song that made us love the band in 
the first place, isn't it? I guess it's only natural that it stands out, 
then.

The strings really work well here, I should probably add. Overall, it's 
'fuller' sounding than it used to be, but the actual song doesn't get 
crowded out.

They seem to like trickling out these few remaining old songs on new 
releases lately - a policy that I'm completely in favour of. When do we get 
a clean version of Rhoda, eh? I think that's the last one that I'm really 
hanging out for.

IF YOU FIND YOURSELF CAUGHT IN LOVE

If Belle and Sebastian was an eighties sit-com, this would be the theme 
song.

Not necessarily a stand-out, but pretty good fun.

ROY WALKER

Just quietly, this song is a bit shit, isn't it? It might grow on me, I 
suppose - it's certainly not as unspeakably awful as Beyond The Sunrise, or 
anything, but it's by far the worst thing on this record.

STAY LOOSE

Well, the record has sort of tapered out, after a really strong start, and 
threatens to go out with a whimper, rather than a bang. And I'm not yet sure 
whether it does or not.

This one's certainly a bit Bowie, as has been said already, but I reckon 
it's at least as much Split Enz. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing - just 
a bit out of character, somehow.

It's actually quite a nice song - I think, like I'm A Cuckoo, it'll just 
take a while to settle in.

Also, it fades out. I hate that.

...

Alright, phew. I didn't mean to write this much, honest. I'm meant to be 
catching up on some work today, but I got into a bad mood, and also sort of 
sidetracked, so that I couldn't concentrate on it properly, so I ended up 
just prattling on about this record at great length instead.

I like that it's so varied, and I appreciate the risks they've taken with it 
- it'd be churlish of me to complain that it's a bit patchy as a result. I 
think the approach they've taken beats the pants off either rehashing or 
trend-following, and I wouldn't want it any other way. They're still 
obviously channelling it down from the same place they always did, and I'll 
be listening to it a lot, in any case.

I'd really better get a bit of work done now, or I'll be here all night.

Bulk love,
-Vanilla Flavoured David.

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