Sinister: new single - ulp!

[Sam Walton]

Hello Sinister

The Miller and The Mikkelsen both mentioned Late Night Tales, and being the 
Nosey Parker that I am, I thought I would stick in my tuppance about the 
record, because, in short, I rather like it. As far as compilations go, it 
is a very pleasing listen, good for putting on whilst you're making and 
eating dinner, and also nice for stimulating debate as it did round my house 
the other night, precisely because it's *not* the obvious choices of 80s 
indie (which in any case doesn't really equate to dear old B&S anymore). 
Instead, it genuinely succeeded in introducing me to new bands. I also 
appreciate the skill in which Chris (for I assume it is he who is mixing) 
guides you through a pretty bumpy array of genres remarkably smoothly.

I see no problem that it's essentially Mick and Chris anoraking about their 
favourite records (although from reading the sleeve notes, I think Sarah 
appears to play a reasonable part in it too) - as we all know, B&S is no 
longer Struan + session musicians, and I find it really rather satisfying to 
see other members of the band branching out and getting their chance to 
shine.

I also reject the idea that a B&S mix tape would have to have their original 
influences on them, as new fans will not get the reference and old fans will 
probably already know or even own the likes of Felt/Orange Juice already. 
(Also, and I might be wrong, but I think I read somewhere that Creation are 
notoriously tight about letting their acts appear on comps). These omissions 
are no more surprising than the fact that The Life Pursuit doesn't have 
another Fox In The Snow/We Rule The School song; are you still listening to 
the same records you were ten years ago? Perfectly understandably, Belle & 
Sebastian aren't.

I reckon what it comes down to is that I don't think these kind of records 
are intended as pieces of homework for the fans (the "Under The Influence" 
series by Dmc is probably more like that); instead, they're more a 
simulation of someone from the band setting up some decks in your living 
room and playing you an hour of interesting, eclectic music to broaden your 
horizons, which sounds fair enough to me.

Just a thought.


Asm.x



   ================================
     "He's strictly a pain in the ass, but
      he certainly has a good vocabulary"
               - Holden Caulfield


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