POLL & Sebastian - If You're Feeling Sinister

Just relistened to this album thinking it might be rubbish, and no, actually it's quite good. I've moved on from twee rubbish, but I really enjoyed this, so maybe I need to dig out that Nick Drake album.

And Seeing Other People ftw.

it's all about Get Me Away from Here, I'm Dying

too difficult! there are at least 5 songs on here i like equally, and they pop into my brane in certain situations. If I'm feeling melancholy and wintry, it's Fox in the Snow; pissed off about work or home, it's Get Me Away; more positive moments include Mayfly. Dylan in the Movies is a beaut too.

Geez... Maybe Dylan.

is anyone gonna vote for boy done wrong again?

seeing other people (by a fair way), that song is genuinely beautiful

Judy. Just.

This is hard, but I must shove 'Dylan' and 'Sinister' aside to vote for 'Stars of Track and Field'. Such a brilliant song.

it is strange in a way that i've never been able to fully embrace this record. the songs are supremely crafted and certainly nice to listen to. the narrative is intellectual and literary, at times wistful and bittersweet, while consistently poised and tactfully delivered. the way these gentle songs reveal themselves is deliberately understated, and the hooks, while plentiful, are rarely accentuated by notable shifts in tempo or dynamics. the band's conscious awareness of the underlying potency of the music here is evidently the force that enabled them to impart these tracks with such restrained elegance, and such an approach is admirable.

my main gripe is lack of variety. when i listen to these tracks one after the other, they each take on a graceful and immediate individuality. when i stop listening, they collect into an indiscernible whole, and i struggle to recall the individual peaks on offer here. vocally, this could profit from more diversity. it may be the case that the group did not wish to compromise the continuity and seamlessness of the record with too much calculated mood shifting, but the voice is undeniably weak, and instrumental in stripping the tracks of much of their character and intensity, rendering the overall piece as a little too featherlight for its own good.

anyway, i'm gonna vote for 'dylan in the movies' if i've got to vote for something :)

The first Belle & Sebastian song I ever heard was The Stars of Track and Field and nothing else has ever matched it for me - the wit, the pathos, the imagery, the slow build, the trumpet solo, the immense finale. It contained everything that was great about them in one perfect package. Song for song, though, the whole album is a killer. Should be an interesting poll.

I know I just hove around ILM putting the boot in to B&S at every opportunity, but actually: I probably love this album. I'm not sure I could or should ever listen to it again -- it's too bound up with a time in my life that I look back on as if it was happening to someone else (someone else who really did merit a quick slap), and I think the last time I listened to any of it was in the winter of 1998/1999, sitting in a girl's room trying to think of excuses not to have sex with her -- but just seeing these song titles written down gives me an almost enjoyable shudder of nostalgia.

Anyway. Enough of that. The Fox in the Snow, for all sorts of reasons, but Track and Field, Judy and really all the rest are also immense.

I can't believe I'm writing this; I can't believe I actually want to listen to this again now. And I don't even have a copy any more. To the murky world of file-sharing I go!

ha. Most of that goes for me, apart from the girl and wanting to hear it again...

I'd pick (and I did at the time) a CD of the first four ep's over this, but hey it's got Lazy linepainter, and they never really topped that for me but then it could be one of my all timers.

Went with other people.

So. Obtained; listened to Fox ... just to see what I made of it.

It's naive to the point of being almost grating, and substantially weedier and more shambolic than I remembered. But fuck me, is that song tied up with something deep in my psyche. I'm intrigued to see what I make of the rest of the album all these years on ... I'll have time to listen later on, hopefully.

For now: discovered an already-MP3d copy of the Modern Rock Song EP, and am listening to Slow Graffiti, which I maintain is their finest moment.

Deep down, I know my intense dislike of this band and everything they stand for is inextricably bound up with all sorts of (unimportant, transient, long-forgotten) personal shit from a long time ago. CHRIST, that'll be another piece of reappraising I have to do. First Yes, now Belle and Sebastian. What's happening to me? :)

(First person to answer "growing old" or even "growing up" wins the special prize.)

GMAFHID all the way, although I have a soft spot for SOP, it being the first B&S song I ever heard.

"get me away," w/honorable mentions to "judy," "dylan" and "fox in the snow." love this album, but i still think of it as a rough draft for the next one.

Agree with Dorian re; Stars Of Track & Field, but Judy just... just pips it.

'Seeing Other People' should win this.

It's so hard to choose but I think it would have too be "Seeing Other People" for me too but that may be because of the memories it holds rather than the actual song. GMAFHID would be a close second.

When it came out it was Seeing Other People for me too, but the one that's really stood up all these years is Get Me Away from Here, I'm Dying. Every listen feels like the first. The melody is beautiful. I have won over Metallica fans with this song.

ju-dy ju-dy ju-dy

Still their best album after all these years. So hard to choose one, but today I'm feeling the title track. Something about the combination of the sounds of children playing blended with the guitar swells makes me all misty eyed.

Me & The Major

god, I've gotta listen to this before voting, it's been a while. But my gut says "seeing other people".

ju-dy ju-dy ju-dy

reminds me that i was thinking about doing a judy poll: this, suite judy blue eyes, judy is a punk, judy in disguise...

"fox in the snow"

You are concerned with matters lofty
But puzzled so it makes you sick
Your diary's looking like the Bible
With its verses lost in time
Lost in meaning to the people who surround you
It's a crying shame...

You know it's a crying shame

^^^"Mayfly"

Dylan's beautiful, but I'll take the title track for the lyrics.

Which I like.

yeah title track or "get me away..."

tough call

Stars of Track and Field - first track I heard on radio, pulled the car over and called the radio station (LUW in chicago) then drove to Rekkid store to pick up and subsequently heard the track again within 20 minutes of hearing for first time - total friggin' gateway drug to a well written group of songs. Man I hate this group now. I remember their first few jaunts through Chicago - they literally played 20 to 25 minutes at Metro and then next time I saw them at Congress their Thin Lizzy cover blazed. Then the twee really took over. It's like they went down in flames for song-writing prowess, etc.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

either stars of "track and field" or "fox in the snow". leaning toward the former just cuz it's the one ive liked the longest. great album

"Like Dylan at the Movies".

major

Mafly for that little electric guitar lick they throw in.

either Me and the Major or the title track. both delightful rollicking hoppin' tunes.

"If I get stuck in a lift it's always with a man of noble standing who looks down me like I was never born."

^^^ That's a GREAT line!

"Linus and Lucy"

never bothered with another album of theirs, and only like 3 songs on this, but

it's all about Get Me Away from Here, I'm Dying

― DavidM, Tuesday, January 13, 2009 6:53 AM (15 hours ago) Bookmark

Wore this CD out. Could be any of the first 5 but the one I want to hear now is Me and the Major. Done.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Yay, my candidate placed.

wow

I'm amazed that 'Dying' won this, but none the less, a very Belle & Sebastian outcome: every song got votes. All things twee can sleep tight tonight.

and the votes! 91 whoa

Wow, missed this fast poll. Would have voted for "Judy" as it was the one that stopped my breath when this came out. But now maybe I think it's a little too dramatic (which is what I liked about it at the time) and would pick "Seeing Other People," which after ten years of this kind of business being an indie commonplace is just as startling as the first time I heard it. The placement of the words "new tall elegant rich kids" will remain a monument in rock history forever.

wtf with the results?!
i mean, Seeing Other People, at least that what we said we are voting.

also, i used to love The boy done wrong again.
now its soudns kinda simpified kitsch, but still,the nostalgia...

91 votes on a forum full of ex Sinister members is so not surprising.

What happeneed to Sinister in the end, did they just pack it?

i mean, Seeing Other People, at least that what we said we are voting.

― Zeno

I lol'd! thanks for that :)

91 votes on a forum full of ex Sinister members is so not surprising.

Are there that many still around here these days? Were there even that many to start with? (I didn't vote, because I couldn't choose)

There probably are. If not they might lurk and vote but not post.

I contributed about as frequently to Sinister as I do here.. which is to say, barely and in spurts

It's so hard to choose but I think it would have too be "Seeing Other People" for me too but that may be because of the memories it holds rather than the actual song. GMAFHID would be a close second.

― Too Into Dancing to Argue (ENBB), Tuesday, January 13, 2009 9:43 AM (2 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

otm except with gmafhid in my case~

and the votes! 91 whoa

Yeh. Fucking hell, ILM ;)

I dunno. I did listen to the whole thing again, and it's reasonable at best. Less than I think I'd begun to hope for, though. Hey ho.

one of the rare occasions where i backed the winner

Does Stuart affect an Irish lilt on the final verse of GMAFHID?

In particular his pronunciation of "lovers" and "kill you sure" seem like it.

NB: I'm American fwiw.

I swear to gawd I'm going out tonight but I was chilling this afternoon with this albumon a proper hi-fi: no headphones, no computer speakers, etc.

Feelin' like I've underrated it somewhat... sounded really rich and thick. Worked very well as an LP as well, not so much picked apart.

this is brilliant

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4de-RHHLCBA

but why didn't they talk about Seeing Other People aka the best song on the record?!

smiling at Isobel Campbell's quite heavily US-tinged Scottish accent

Finally watched that. Loved it! They are all so good-natured (or at least they appear to be..?). I love the bit about Judy and the Dream of Horses where Stevie Jackson is like "Another song about school kids, Stuart?" And Stuart is like "you're either with me or you're not."

And how Geddes stole the riff for IYFS from an ad for Renault...

"Me and the Major" is clearly the best track imo

WTF is/was Sinister? Was that like, their official fanclub?

The title track is better than this poll implies too xp

also fox in the snow. that's one for the "songs that make you cry" thread

true story: a few times i've run across people who actively disliked belle and sebastian and i've killed them

i haven't listened to this record in 5+ years but i can still play every song through in my head

Actively disliking B&S is like hating the sun. On zing so can't search, is there a new album thread? I like a few songs; others are hopefully just slow burners.

I know it’s on the follow up but I think about these lines all the time :
“It reminded me of Johnny / before he went electronny”