Sinister: another professional review of DCW(dickywuss, dickwank, dicksaw, don'tcatchwildebeests)

[Kevin Hyde]

Hi everyone, here's the Pitchfork review from today, for those who don't
read it all the time:


Belle & Sebastian
Dear Catastrophe Waitress
[Rough Trade; 2003]
Rating: 7.5
One of the most beloved, bewitching, misunderstood, and eventually
disappointing bands in recent history, Belle & Sebastian did the
near-impossible in the Internet era: They seemed to appear out of
nowhere. Admittedly, there was also a time (recently, in fact) when I'd
wished they'd have mysteriously vanished as well, exorcising the dark
spots of their post-1998 output in order to keep their reputation-- or
at least Stuart Murdoch's-- in respectable shape.

>From their inauspicious beginnings in 1995, the collective emerged from
Scotland with wistful, nostalgia-laden indie pop that examined sexual
frustration, shiftlessness, loneliness, and isolation. Murdoch's songs--
often punctuated by proper and place names-- painted expressionist,
detail-oriented worlds that, when they connected with a listener, often
left an indelible, deep impression. What went wrong is typically chalked
up to a split in songwriting duties, a practice that made their third
and fourth albums, The Boy With the Arab Strap and Fold Your Hands
Child, You Walk Like a Peasant, disjointed, frustrating listens. The
band's choice to democratize, allowing a fair number of songs from each
band member, negated the singularity of Murdoch's vision, often at the
cost of his wit and charm. This all-inclusive measure also resulted in
the band drifting toward a pastiche of too-familiar touchstones: 60s
baroque pop, Northern Soul/Motown, and folk-rock.

On their fifth proper album, Dear Catastrophe Waitress, Belle &
Sebastian continue their exploration of pastiche, diversifying their
sonic palate to include 70s soft-rock, the irreverent pop of 10cc and
Squeeze, and bubblegum. Here, the band's once-misguided ambition is
tailored and cut by famed producer (and founder of notorious 1980s
art-pop groups The Buggles and The Art of Noise), Trevor Horn, who aids
the band in making a complete 180-degree turn from wry, wistful folk-pop
to sophisticated, tight, sometimes-complex arrangements with a keen
attention to detail. Horn's touch is most effective on "Stay Loose" and
"I'm a Cuckoo", two ambitious classic AM pop gems that-- like the best
of his past production work-- threaten to spill over into the absurd but
instead remain delightfully audacious.

Ironically, with a new-found ability to rectify their once at-odds
musical interests, Belle & Sebastian have emerged as shiny happy people,
becoming that of which they were always falsely accused: t*ee. That
label was always more appropriate to the infantilism-obsessed,
Sanrio-loving element in their fanbase, while the band itself traded in
innuendo, sinisterism, anxiety, and sketches of unfulfilled childhoods.
But here, songs such as "Roy Walker", "You Don't Send Me", and the
semi-creepy Godspellian "If You Find Yourself Caught in Love" are so
bubblegum they could have been staples of any number of early 70s TV
families, from the Bradys to the Osmonds to the Partridges.

That may sound dreadful but Belle & Sebastian manage to do a lot of
things right-- including "You Don't Send Me", whose strength lies in its
effective application of aesthetic. "Piazza, New York Catcher" manages
to come off like a woozy, drunken version of the Murdoch demo "Rhoda",
and it's his most lyrically complex work here, reminiscent of highlights
from the past couple of albums such as "Sleep the Clock Around", "The
Boy With the Arab Strap", "The Model", and "There's Too Much Love".
Certain tracks do flirt with reminders of Belle & Sebastian Mk I--
namely "Lord Anthony", finally given a proper release years after it was
written, and "Wrapped Up in Books"-- but these throwbacks are temporary,
bones tossed to diehards unable to cope with the band's decision to
trade their bedsit infamy for bouncy, pogo-pop.

On one hand, Dear Catastrophe Waitress ranks as one of the most
delightful surprises of the year, although that's primarily because I'd
completely given up on them. On the other hand, it's a very flawed
record that at its quirky worst features harmonies so brow-furringly
cheery they'd be comfortable amidst a cruise-ship revue or one of Up
With People's halftime routines. It's not at all what one might call a
"return to form"; rather, it's a large step toward a new, more appealing
direction than the band had otherwise been heading. At present, they're
almost a new entity entirely, which makes this the Belle & Sebastian
album for people who never really liked Belle & Sebastian.

I realize that for a large portion of Belle & Sebastian fans-- most of
them young and American-- lots of elements of the band's past matter
little. The myth, the shambolic performances, the radio sessions, the
dubbed cassettes of Tigermilk, the band's refusal to talk to the press,
releasing only non-LP tracks as singles, not featuring the band on its
sleeves, Murdoch's place in a songwriting lineage that includes early
Orange Juice, The Smiths, and Felt-- it's now all ancient history. If
that's indicative to you of what's become problematic with the band, you
may want to approach this album with caution. If, however, "Legal Man"
is among your favorite Belle & Sebastian songs, buy this immediately.
________________________________________________________________________
____


I especially liked how he stars out part of the word 'twee'. Seems like
a decent review though, overall.



Kevin

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