SOUNDTRACK: BELLE AND SEBASTIAN-BBC Sessions & Live in Belfast 2001 (2008).
Virtually every review of the BBC Sessions says the same thing: these tracks barely differ from the original recordings. And, for better or worse, that is very true. In fact, even the trumpets and other instruments sound so perfect, you tend to forget it’s a live recording. Clearly this sends a positive message about their live playing. But if that’s the case, why would you buy this?
Well, clearly Belle & Sebastian devotees will buy it even if there’s only marginal differences. But really the selling point is the last 4 songs, all of which are brand new (at least to me). It’s also amazing to me how on the first batch of live songs from 1996, the band sounds so delicate it’s as if they would fall apart just by looking at them. The opening songs are soft, and Stuart’s voice is barely a whisper. And yet through all of that the choruses are still catchy, and the songs are amazing.
But really the main hook for this set is the Live in Belfast disc. It comes from 2001, and is a surprisingly rollicking set. I saw B&S several years ago at a small club in Manhattan. It turns out to be one of my worst concert experiences. Not because of the band, but because it was so overcrowded (B&S were the “IT” band at the time) that I had to keep moving back to stop getting crushed. I eventually spent time in the lobby trying in vain to hear the set.
So this is the next best thing for me.
The set is an interesting mix of covers (and surprising ones at that–“The Boys Are Back in Town!”) and B&S rarities (with a couple of popular songs like “The Boy with the Arab Strap” and “Legal Man” thrown in as well). There’s also a fun rendition of The Velvet Underground’s “I’m Waiting for the Man” by a fan named Barry who requested the song and then came up on stage to sing it. The band is loose, a little shambolic and apparently having a lot of fun.
It’s a remarkable collection of tracks for any fan of the band and certainly overcomes the similarities of tracks on the first disc.
[READ: May 24, 2009] Beware of God
I read this book exclusively because of my authority as a librarian. I received an email saying that the person who had put this book on hold no longer wanted it (her book club was last week and she had to buy the book…that’s a book club I want to be in, actually). When I took it off the hold shelf, I saw who it was by, and since I have wanted to read his stuff (and this book was fairly small) I thought I’d take it home with me. When we canceled the hold, I learned that someone else had a hold on it, so technically I couldn’t take it. However, I broke a rule. Since it was Saturday and Memorial Day weekend this book wouldn’t be shipped out to the net person on line until Tuesday morning! Surely I could read this in time with no one the wiser. Well, imagine my surprise to have read it by Sunday night…it could have gone back even if it wasn’t a long weekend! Huzzah!
I hope that doesn’t get me fired. (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: NADA SURF-Let Go (2002) & The Weight is a Gift (2005).
Let Go. Something happened between Nada Surf’s 2nd and third album, I don’t know what, exactly, but they really made some great material with these two albums. Let Go introduces a new jangly guitar style that makes the band softer and catchier, but which really accentuates the singer’s voice and melodies. Usually, when a band “matures” like this, the results are never good. But in this case, the mellower sound and slower songs really bring out the quality of the work. The first five tracks really shine, with “Fruit Fly” and “Blonde on Blonde” really standing out. The lyrics of “Fruit Fly” seems so simple and yet in context, and with the great melody, they work wonders. 
I Just Read About That... 