so I want to know more about...Belle & Sebastian

AllYouNeedIsMoz

Queen Bee
I pretty much lived in a music vacuum for 14 years so I'm trying to listen to all the great music I never encountered. I heard ONE Belle & Sebastian song and want to hear more. Recommendations? Links?

PS You'll probably see more posts like this as I encounter different bands. :)
 
Try "Ease Your Feet In The Sea" and "I Fought In A War," among many others.
 
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If you're feeling sinister is one of the best pop record of the nineties, I am not very keen on what they did afterwards, except some songs there and then
 
I love Belle and Sebastian, they are my second favourite band.
Everyone recommends 'If you're feeling sinister' for people's first B&S album, but it's not my favourite, in fact it's my least favourite album. There are some brilliant songs on there such as 'Get me away from here I'm dying". My favourite album is 'the boy with the arab strap' and the title track is probably the song you've heard, is it? It's their most famous song. I would recommend every single one of their albums as I love them all, I just like others slightly more. In tied second my favourite albums are 'Tigermilk' and 'Fold your hands child...', but if you want something a bit more upbeat try their newest albums...'dear catastrophe waitress' and 'the life pursuit'. Also 'push barman to open old wounds' cos there's some great songs on there. But in my opinion, you won't go wrong with any album of theirs you buy!
 
I have Boy With the Arab Strap and the only good song on it is Dirty Dream Number 2 which is brilliant. The rest of the album bores me.
 
Any of the albums mentioned would be a good choice; I also thought last year's "The Life Pursuit" was wonderful. "Another Sunny Day" is one of the best pop singles for eons, IMO.

AllYouNeedIsMoz, what song did you hear that got you interested in the band?

Also, I don't mean to get the thread off track (this is sorta related) but if you like Belle & Sebastian, you might also enjoy another Scottish band called Camera Obscura. When I heard their song "Suspended From Class" I actually thought it was Belle with one of the girls singing. Anyway, I've really gotten into Camera Obscura since checking out a couple of their albums -- their most recent is "Let's Get Out of this Country". The title track is wonderful, as is "Lloyd, I'm Ready to Be Heartbroken," a sort of answer song to Lloyd Cole's "Are You Ready To Be Heartbroken?" from days of yore...
 
Yes I'm a big fan of Camera Obscura. I've seen them a couple of times and most recently at a festival in Cheltenham about a month ago. Unfortunately they didn't have a big crowd at all and I seemed to be the only person who had heard of them, they were still the highlight of the festival for me though.

Back to Belle and Sebastian...I suppose it's just a matter of taste, but there isn't a song on 'The boy with the arab strap' that I don't like and Dirty Dream Number Two is probably my favourite B&S song. There are songs on other albums that I feel are good, but a bit boring, mostly off 'if you're feeling sinister'. I think I have a thing about that album because I loved it when I first heard it, but my flatmate (who I hate with a passion) kept playing it over and over and now everytime I hear it it reminds me of him!
 
The first song I ever heard from B&S was "Legal Man" -- it made me laugh out loud, it was so outrageously clever. You don't hear many modern groups trying to replicate the Mamas & Papas sound (and maybe that's a good thing).

Steve, may I ask you one question about Camera Obscura? It's just that they're so ... well, obscure in the U.S. that I'm desperate to know more about them. What are they like as a live band? In videos, their lead singer Tracyanne is quite possibly the most introverted, shy person I've ever seen fronting a band. Yet they're real road warriors -- they've toured all over the world pretty much non-stop for the past several years. I'm wondering if she's coming out of her shell at all. Thanks!
 
Well the first time I saw them, I was stood right at the back so didn't really see her much, but she seemed more chatty than at this festival. I guess at the festival she did look a little uncomfortable throughout and I thought it was because she was pissed off that no one had turned out to watch them. I still think she's really sweet though. I'm sure she smiled at me a few times because I was on the front row, wearing my weekend hippy outfit and I was the only one singing along.
 
One band where it took me quite a while to get into, then i couldn't stop listening to them. Which was the same for me and the Smiths.

I saw them 4 times last year, and was lucky enough to see them play and sign cds at the Virgin records on oxford street, i had a 'life pursuit' poster give to me when i bought a single to get the tag and i got that signed as well, i told stuart i was going to sell it on ebay as a joke, i don't think he understood " no,don't do that", he told me, but i got a big cheesy grin from Richard:)

My favourite lp of theirs is "if your feeling sinister". But i really like them all really.
 
dunno what all the fuss is about, it was just some black & white foreign tv show about some kid & his dog, it was always cold from what I mind of it?
I preferred Casey Jones tbh!

love

Grim
 
I've only got properly into them in the past year or so but have been exposed to them for some years because my mum's a big fan. I would never have admitted to liking the same music as mum a few years ago, but I as I have got older I have found myself liking the music I used to laugh at her for liking. I've never had the pleasure of seeing them unfortunately, even though I have been at festivals before where they have been playing, that was silly of me!
 
With Belle & Sebastian I'd start at the beginning and go forward.

I was on an unemployed training course (I wanted to be a sound engineer at the time) with Stuart Murdoch back in the mid 90's just before Belle & Sebastian got their break with 'The State That I Am In'.

I didn't really talk to him (if I had maybe I'd be one of Glasgow's premier hipsters now) instead choosing a Trashcan Sinatra's roadie to befriend and I suppose I'll have to stick with that decision now! :)

Sometime's I'll see him around town and he kind of looks at me like he half remembers me. The weird thing is I'll do the same with him until I actually realise who it is!
 
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