Best Belle and Sebastian album

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Which Belle & Sebastian album is the best?
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b361/tapestore/puppy.jpg
(instead of including EPs, I just used PBtOOW)

Poll Results

Option	Votes
If You're Feeling Sinister	40
Tigermilk	15
Dear Catastrophe Waitress	11
The Boy with the Arab Strap	11
Push Barman to Open Old Wounds	9
I walk down to the barbershop, Lily claims I can get get a job, perhaps work for the NME, create a new version of the C8	8
The Life Pursuit	4
Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant	3
Storytelling	1
IYFS Live at the Barbican	0

― Tape Store, Sunday, 22 April 2007 22:56 (eighteen years ago)

I've gone for Dear Catastrophe Waitress. I'm a bit wary of PBtOOW being on there though as it's a comp and everyone'll vote for it cos everyone likes the EPs best. Hey, I never knew they'd released IYFS live?

― the next grozart, Sunday, 22 April 2007 23:16 (eighteen years ago)

I voted for The Boy With the Arab Strap after much debate. It is a lot more patchy than IYFS or some of the EPs, but its highs (esp. "dirty dream #2") are just too good not to vote for it.

― askance johnson, Sunday, 22 April 2007 23:21 (eighteen years ago)

TBWTAS has some of my favourite tunes they ever did (Sleep The Clock Around) but it's got some real shit on there. I picked DCW because it's nice and diverse and has a greater good : shit ratio.

― the next grozart, Sunday, 22 April 2007 23:25 (eighteen years ago)

never got as good as the early eps again so i voted for the compilation

― ógy, Sunday, 22 April 2007 23:49 (eighteen years ago)

Dear Catastrophe Waitress for the diversity factor mentioned upthread.

― Kevin John Bozelka, Monday, 23 April 2007 00:46 (eighteen years ago)

I still can't decide...I've long said The Boy with the Arab Strap mostly because of the title track, DD#2, Sleep the Clock Around and It Could Have Been a Brilliant Career..., but I really love Sinister and DCW...Hell, I think Fold Your Hands is a good album.

― Tape Store, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 01:26 (eighteen years ago)

I went with IYFS for no good reason, really.

― St3ve Go1db3rg, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 01:29 (eighteen years ago)

It could go 3 or 4 ways for me(Life Pursuit might even be a clear winner if it wasn't for Mornington Crescent) but I settled on Fold Your Hands cuz it won't get no love otherwise.

― tremendoid, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 01:39 (eighteen years ago)

GIV EME A BRAKE it;s TIGERMNILK no contest ffs fffs ffs

― wanko ergo sum, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 02:52 (eighteen years ago)

i stopped paying attention after dcw. but really, folks: boy with the arab strap is their best album. best mix of tunes, melodies, emotional resonance (and variety). plus it's the only b&s album one can play in the summertime without seeming like a brooding shitehead.

― the table is the table, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 02:59 (eighteen years ago)

IYFS by a long shot for me. For me, IYFS, Tigermilk, and The Life Pursuit are the only B&S albums that are consistently good from start to finish. The rest are pretty hit and miss, some great songs, some not so hot.

― Moodles, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 03:09 (eighteen years ago)

if the last option doesn't win, i give up on ilm

― abanana, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 03:17 (eighteen years ago)

eh. lets do this thing

― tremendoid, Saturday, 28 April 2007 07:56 (eighteen years ago)

ifys by some margin.

― CharlieNo4, Saturday, 28 April 2007 13:38 (eighteen years ago)

Were Belle and Sebastian fans in the UK considered to be "in opposition" to Britpop?

― JW, Saturday, 28 April 2007 13:44 (eighteen years ago)

Belle and Sebastian fans weren't really seen as *anything* until Britpop had died, but in retrospect it's not that hard to see a bunch of deliberately fey, wordy, awkward Scots as being an obvious reaction to the coke and ironic laddism that ran through Britpop. I wrote a bad Stylus article about this once, I really should revisit that.

― Dom Passantino, Saturday, 28 April 2007 13:48 (eighteen years ago)

I can't believe this thread is almost a week old and there have been no lame 8-year-old "jokes" about Belle and Sebastian fans rigging a voting competition.

― ailsa, Saturday, 28 April 2007 13:50 (eighteen years ago)

It appears that my last option was cut off, but it basically said "I don't like Belle and Sebastian."

― Tape Store, Saturday, 28 April 2007 17:02 (eighteen years ago)

i don't get the life pursuit at all. anyway, IYFS wins this

― akm, Saturday, 28 April 2007 18:20 (eighteen years ago)

This is ending soon (Friday, I think?)

― Tape Store, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 22:35 (eighteen years ago)

It finishes on May 8th.

― Keith, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 22:36 (eighteen years ago)

Oops (but thx!)

― Tape Store, Thursday, 3 May 2007 01:43 (eighteen years ago)

If You're Feeling Sinister with the EP collection just slightly behind.

― circa1916, Thursday, 3 May 2007 01:52 (eighteen years ago)

Where can I get the "Live at the Barb" album?

― Mark G, Thursday, 3 May 2007 09:21 (eighteen years ago)

It was only on iTunes or something I think.

― Bocken Social Scene, Thursday, 3 May 2007 09:42 (eighteen years ago)

was only on itunes but people who bought it were allowed to burn a certain number of copies for their friends. or something. at least that's what i was told.

am torn between any of the first three.

> Belle and Sebastian fans weren't really seen as *anything* until Britpop had died, but in retrospect it's not that hard to see a bunch of deliberately fey, wordy, awkward Scots as being an obvious reaction to the coke and ironic laddism that ran through Britpop.

am not sure about this. i've always seen it as a natural progression from the other scottish indie bands of the eighties onwards, not a reaction against anything. it gave something for the fans who weren't into the laddism of britpop, of which there were many, an alternative.

> I can't believe this thread is almost a week old and there have been no lame 8-year-old "jokes" about Belle and Sebastian fans rigging a voting competition.

i also maintain that the reason B&S beat out steps(?) to that award was because the b&s fans didn't have to ask their mums if they could use the 'phone 8)

― koogs, Thursday, 3 May 2007 10:58 (eighteen years ago)

Belle and Sebastian got lumped in with Bis and Urusei Yatsura in 96 by the NME because they were "Scotpop". I sometimes wonder if 1996 was the most interesting year for music. I don't like a lot of the stuff I heard back then but it's still interesting.

― the next grozart, Thursday, 3 May 2007 11:00 (eighteen years ago)

I'm a stripe too young to remember, because of my age, but surely B&S weren't in the NME around the time of Tigermilk?

― Dom Passantino, Thursday, 3 May 2007 11:48 (eighteen years ago)

I think they got mentioned a bit in Select but that might have been 'pon the reissue.

― the next grozart, Thursday, 3 May 2007 12:10 (eighteen years ago)

reissue was 1999 thou wasn't it?

― acrobat, Thursday, 3 May 2007 12:11 (eighteen years ago)

then it was definitely in the mag at the time.

― the next grozart, Thursday, 3 May 2007 12:14 (eighteen years ago)

I'm very curious about the results of this poll. I went with Arab Strap myself after much debate.

― Jazzbo, Thursday, 3 May 2007 12:56 (eighteen years ago)

drther6h ew5ryhjerh etyjeyjedrt hjeryjeryjedyj

― abanana, Monday, 7 May 2007 23:30 (eighteen years ago)

this poll was tainted by the last option being cut off

― abanana, Monday, 7 May 2007 23:31 (eighteen years ago)

Tigermilk for reals

― Steve Shasta, Monday, 7 May 2007 23:33 (eighteen years ago)

B&S did get mentioned in NME/Melody Maker at the beginning, but they weren't doing interviews, so not much action. There were a few things in the List (Scottish what's on magazine). As I remember, there was a short bit in Melody Maker in the new bands page - the one where they said that every new band was great.

I voted for Tigermilk. I wonder if we still have the old UK people voting for Tigermilk and US people voting for Sinister thing.

x-post - oh well, blows that theory.

― Keith, Monday, 7 May 2007 23:34 (eighteen years ago)

Voting for The Life Pursuit over Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant is a fairly disgusting act.

― Alba, Monday, 7 May 2007 23:38 (eighteen years ago)

yahbut 3 votes! moral victory! Sinister's days of critical supremacy are numbered(in the millions apparently; thought Tigermilk would pose more of a threat)

― tremendoid, Monday, 7 May 2007 23:51 (eighteen years ago)

Surprised IYFS and TBWTAS placed so differently. They're pretty much the same damn album!

― Mr. Snrub, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 00:09 (eighteen years ago)

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