The Dog on Wheels version sounds like a passionless dirge, with flat, naked production. It sounds like it was performed in a workman like way >by crappy session musos..

I like this naked production idea. Are all Belle and Sebastian records produced this way? Dirty devils. Sebatian said:

...

Because it was.Save for the boy stuart, Belle and Sebastian were not in the building on that occasion, as it says in the sleeve notes.

I've decided I don't believe the story that the EP was from pre-band days. I prefer to think that the band all turned up but George Martin said none of them were good enough except Stuart and the pretty boy with the kilt, so the session musicians were called in. Actually, I like both versions. The Dog on Wheels one has that lovely bit where Stuart's voice cracks on the line "she was not impressed" and also a nice flamenco feel. For those of you think there aren't enough posts to make you sigh these days, search the archives for the word 'moments' using the 'Search Subjects and Authors Only' and 'Search all Months' options. jessica wrote:

People mention this song "Loneliness of a Middle Distance Runner" quite frequently around these parts, and it makes me sad that i have no idea >what they're talking about. Actually, a lot of other song titles bounce >around here which are altogether unknown to me, too. So, um, i was >wondering if i could take this opportunity to see whether there is >anyone on this list who has songs not appearing on any of the 3 albums or EPs or the BBC sessions who would be willing to make a tape for a lonely little American girl? The terrible bit of it, though, is that i >don't have a lot to offer in return, other than my undying gratitude.

Which I made this young boy sigh. Jessica sounds not just lonely, but also lovely. If no one over in America can help out, I will. As long as she doesn't mind that I've taped over the intro to 'Loneliness of the middle distance runner' in a horribly backfired attempt to make a back-up copy. Whoever it was who wanted the two songs identified from the concert the other night - in case no one has answered your plea they are 'Slow Graffiti' and 'Loneliness'. Oh, all right then: 'Loneliness of a Middle Distance Runner'. Or HERBERTLOMDIRGE, as it is not known for short. To anyone else who is scared of asking about all these new songs, have a look at the end of Keith's nicely prepared FAQ at http://www.majordomo.net/sinister/hypermail/1998-month-09/0915.html Since then, 'Wrong Love' has been renamed 'Wrong Girl', Stuart David has written another new song 'Paper Boat', and Stuart Murdoch has written (or, as suggested by the strange "I've heard this before" spooky phenomenon" noted by two listees, stolen) a song called 'Lord Anthony'. Keith doesn't mention the Isobel solo songs (4?) that appeared on the Web (now only one left to hear) in the theatre at Stuart and Karn's Treehouse page (http://home.clara.net/treehouse/). They aren't really Belle and Sebastian songs, but then neither were the Stow College demos. Keith also can't spell 'loneliness' or 'graffiti', but we will forgive him because he's terrific in all other ways. He's like that kid at school who was good at everything and made it worse by being nice too. Bastard. I hate him. The great cover art poll turned up this amusing fact:

5) The boy with the arab strap ( no votes , nobody voted for this cover)

Tee hee. Chris smells. Right, enough tomfoolery and helpfulness. I have some questions of my own: 1. Someone (I think it was PJ, but it may have been Duncan) said they listened to the 'Black Session' ("Le rock... Le soir...C'est Lenoir!" - how cool is that slogan? Is it also a jingle, my French chums?) on FM. Sorry to to come over all 'hey can anyone burn me a CD-R' audio bore, but is this true and if so, will we people who request one from our allotted representative get a copy from the FM or the AM broadcast? 2. Was this 'session' really a very long session, or was it just a recording of the Paris concert? If it was the concert, can everyone stop calling it a session (including evil Lenoir) as it's confusing my tiny mind. 3. 'Loneliness..' is indeed a lovely song. One of my favourites, and if you don't have it, then possibly ask me (swap for a live tape or an appalling recording of 'Rhoda' anyone...?) but certainly go to http://www.majordomo.net/sinister/hypermail/1998-month-07/0831.html and read the lyrics. Oh yes - I was supposed to be asking another question. Stuart's fussiness with this track and its consequent no-show to date reminds me of a little bird telling me all about his generally obsessive streak when it comes to recording. Apparently, part of the delay on TWATTYBUS appearing was his insistence on none of the tracks being compressed prior to the final mixing stage. Or something. Can anyone tell me what this means from my garbled non-muso retelling? Could it partly explain why the records sound so wonderful? 4. Did 'Lisa helps the blind' become 'Beautiful', or is it a differnt song? 5. Apart from 'Le Pastie..', were any other early Stuart Murdoch demos ever played on local radio in Scotland? That'll do. A final observation: On Philippe's review of the Black Session on the Radio France site, it says the version of 'Poup�e de cire, Poup�e de son' was played "au grand galop". Sometimes, French is best. Nick xx _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list please mail "sinister@majordomo.net". To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to "majordomo@majordomo.net". For list archives and searching, list rules, FAQ, poor jokes etc, see http://www.majordomo.net/sinister +---+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" +---+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+