step into my office
What a nice coincidence. Just as I get done reading Scott Plagenhoef’s excellent 33 1/3 book on Belle and Sebastian’s If You’re Feeling Sinister, in which he makes the claim that the band mostly lost it after that album until the Trevor Horn-produced Dear Catastrophe Waitress, voila! eMusic receives Dear Catastrophe Waitress. (And all its accompanying singles.)
A quick rundown:
Dear Catastrophe Waitress
The album that saw the group step out into the world of Technicolor. (Before they were steeped in the monochromatic hues of chamber pop, due to usually poor production. As Plagenhoef points out in his book, the band even claims to have felt that their masterpiece, Sinister, could have benefited from a better job behind the boards.) Here, they’re a rough-and-tumble band full of vigor and confidence, reflecting their transformation into an awesome live experience.
Download: “Dear Catastrophe Waitress,” “Stay Loose,” “If She Wants Me.”
Step Into My Office, Baby
Their best post-Arab Strap single? Download this, if nothing else.
Download: “Step Into My Office, Baby.”
Books
“Your Cover’s Blown” is a great little soulful strut, while “Wrapped Up in Books” is a quick-moving ditty that wouldn’t sound out of place on Arab Strap. “Your Secrets” reminds you that their favorite band will always be Orange Juice and “Cover” is a remix of “Your Cover’s Blown” by Chris Geddes, the band’s keyboardist.
Download: “Your Cover’s Blown.”
I’m a Cuckoo
Another excellent single that almost sounds like Thin Lizzy’s “The Boys Are Back in Town” if you squint really hard while listening, “Stop, Look And Listen” is a jumpy little folk jig before taking a drastic turn near the end. Most fascinating, though, is the remix by the Avalanches of “I’m a Cuckoo,” proving that these guys are hardly as fey and as wimpy as you thought they were.
Download: “I’m A Cuckoo” (Single Version), “I’m A Cuckoo” (The Avalanches Mix).
I’ve always loathed Belle and Sebastian. I have always considered them highly overrated.
B&S has become one of those bands that has been around long enough to offer listeners several possible points of first exposure.
As a fan of theirs, I couldn’t agree more with Scott Plagenhoef’s points. I had loved “If You’re Feeling Sinister,” and hoped that “Boy With The Arab Strap” was just a transitional mixed bag. Upon hearing hearing “Fold Your Hands…”, I actually felt a bit betrayed. I turned in my horn-rimmed glasses, gave up my favorite scarves, stopped being constantly fey, and broke up my weekly D.H. Lawrence reading group.
When “Dear Catastrophe Waitress” came out, I refused to listen to it. It wasn’t until I heard “Another Sunny Day” from “The Life Pursuit” that I realized B&S were redeeming themselves. Both “Dear Catastrophe Waitress” and “The Life Pursuit” are quite good, and while a good deal more extroverted than “Sinister,” are obviously products of the same band.
Also note that (part of?) Europe got their Are You Feeling Sinister live album, which could satisfy some of those that was looking for a more lush version of that album.
I think Belle and Sebastian, much like The Smiths, have been done a great dis-service by their more obsessive fans (hey, I can say this, some of my best friends are obsessive Smiths and Belle and Sebastian fans.) You think of the person with the scarf and the kids-toys-as-accessories and the total inability to speak to anyone they have a romantic interest in and you think ‘ARRGH’ and ignore the band. Which is a shame because both Belle and Sebastian and The Smiths are fantastic bands. In my humble non-obsessive opinion.