Sinister: Re: Belle and Sebastian News Mailing List - New Album Release details

[robin stout]

ROBIN HAS AN ENCOUNTER WITH A SPARROW

I dreamt I was a mouse. A mouse with blue shoes. As I scurried through the 
neighbours' wall on my way to their box of cornflakes I heard a tapping on 
the window. I looked up and saw a sparrow. A sparrow with a trilby hat.

"Squawk!" he said.
"Squeak!" I replied.
"Hold on a second," he said. "Do you speak English?"
"Doesn't everyone these days?" I replied.
"Indeed. Hey, you seem like a smart fella, d'ya wanna buy one of these?" He 
lifted a wing to reveal a row of cheap watches.
"Oh, I don't think so," I said.
"They're the best quality," he said. "Bulgarian!"
"But that one only has numbers up to eight," I spotted, shrewdly.
"Oh, well, er.." he paused and pulled at a feather or two. "Well," he said, 
"How about this then?"
He lifted his other wing and revealed a copy of Dear Catastrophe Waitress.
"Crikey!" I said.

So later on, when I was full on cornflakes, I put it on the stereo. I have 
to say I liked it quite a lot. The funny thing is, though, that the version 
I heard was slightly different to the one that Katrina just talked about. 
The tracks were in a slightly different order for a start, and there was 
another song called Travellin' Light. The sparrow sold me a dodgy version. I 
might have known!!

It seems quite strange, though, sparrow or no sparrow. My theory is that 
either Katrina has missed a song out (unlikely, considering the NME doesn't 
list it either) or there are, in fact, only twelve songs on the album and 
Travellin' Light has been dropped. I wasn't very keen on it anyway, so I'm 
quite happy about this. And with all the words about Jesus on the new record 
(DICKYWUSS, I think) it's no surprise that Stuart has decided 13 is an 
unlucky number and gone for a holy twelve.

Robin x

PS: I'm thinking of posting my wild theories on the new album, including a 
fair few references to some of the songs. If don't want to open your 
presents until christmas, and think this might spoil it, then don't read it. 
I'll try to remember to put a warning in the subject line.

PPS: Gatefold double vinyl! Oooh!!
ROBIN PROPOUNDS SOME WILD AND ILL-THOUGHT-OUT THEORIES

THEORY ONE:

I think this is the third age of Belle and Sebastian:

First Age = Tigermilk > 3..6..9..Seconds of Light
Second Age = The Boy With The Arab Strap > Jonathan David
Third Age = I'm Waking Up To Us > ?

I haven't thought this idea through, really, and so tomorrow it probably 
won't make any sense and I'm not going to explain it much because it should 
be self-evident. However, what I think characterises the latest records (the 
Third Age) is that Murdoch has finally shown that he can write great songs 
that aren't "typical belle and sebastian songs" yet aren't mere pastiche. 
The Pinefox is right about I'm Waking Up To Us.

THEORY TWO:

Struan described the new album as "something old, something new, something 
borrowed and something blue", and although I'm sure he just made that 
comment up on the spot I think it's pretty true.

Something old: Lord Anthony; Dear Catastrophe Waitress, Wrapped Up In Books
Something new: Stay Loose; Piazza, New York Catcher; If You Find Yourself 
Caught In Love
Something borrowed: Stevie and Sarah's songs - what are they called? oh i 
don't care
Something blue: Step Into My Office, Baby

I'm not quite sure whether I'd put I'm a Cuckoo in old or new. It's 
somewhere inbetween. I think it's excellent.

I think that if you like I'm Waking Up To Us (ep) you will like Dear 
Catastrophe Waitress (lp). I'm Waking Up To Us is a great example of a new 
Murdoch song, with angry, direct lyrics. Marx and Engels is a wonderful 
example of an old Murdoch song. I Love My Car is a light music-hall number. 
Struan's songs on the new album follow more-or-less the same pattern.

THEORY THREE:

Belle and Sebastian have managed to make an album that works as a whole. 
TWATTYBUS and FISHYCLAP never hung together for me, and were broken by the 
different styles. The new album (I like the sound of DICKYWUSS) is stronger 
for its different styles. The orchestral pieces that showpiece Lord Anthony 
help it fit in where it otherwise wouldn't. I will still probably end up 
skipping Stevie and Sarah's songs, though.

_________________________________________________________________
Express yourself with cool emoticons - download MSN Messenger today! 
http://www.msn.co.uk/messenger

+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
        +---+  Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list  +---+
     To send to the list mail sinister at missprint.org. To unsubscribe
     send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to
     majordomo at missprint.org.  WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister
 +-+       "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper           +-+
 +-+  "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+
 +-+    "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000     +-+
 +-+  "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000  +-+
 +-+  "sick posse of f**ked in the head psycho-fans" - NME June 2001   +-+
 +-+               Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa                 +-+
 +-+               Snipp snapp snut, sa var sagan slut!                +-+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+