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Avg: 4.0 (115 ratings)
- Date Released: November 18, 2008
- Genre: Alternative/Punk
- Label: Matador
These early sessions capture an early B&S, slightly unpolished but as winsome as ever
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We Say...
Recorded for the Beeb between 1996 and 2001, these sessions capture Belle and Sebastian at their most strummy and sensitive — the overall pace is an easy canter, with fairly conservative indie arrangements. This may have something to do with the fact that B&S were playing live relatively rarely in those years, and were far from the exuberant stage beast it's since become. The pulse only raises occasionally ("I Could Be Dreaming," the fantastically urgent "Sleep the Clock Around") but mostly the band takes its time here. Note that "Wrong Love" would eventually turn up on the 2000 album Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant as "The Wrong Girl."
But the real treat is the last four songs. Taken from a May 2001 John Peel session, these tracks have been widely — if unofficially — circulated among fans, their cult status minted by the fact that they never made it to a proper album and are the last ones recorded with singer/cellist Isobel Campbell, who left the band in 2002. "Shoot the Sexual Athlete" starts off like some bizarre early Lou Reed leftover while the super-'60s-sounding "The Magic of a Kind Word" sports lovely boy-girl harmonies straight from the Free Design songbook. "Nothing in the Silence" is a nice showcase for Campbell, while "(My Girl's Got) Miraculous Technique" is a bit wobbly but has a lovely string hook. Taken a group, these songs may not be on par with the rest of the Belle & Sebastian catalog (though with a bit of studio polish "Kind Word" could easily have made it onto an LP) but they are historically significant as they mark the end of the B&S 1.0 era. -
They Say...
Belle and Sebastian cut their first BBC session for the Mark Radcliffe Show in July of 1996 just a few months before their seminal If You're Feeling Sinister album was released. The four songs they recorded were live and intimate versions of three of the record's best tracks: "Like Dylan in the Movies," "Judy and the Dream of Horses," and "Stars of Track and Field." Hearing these songs (as well as "The State I Am In," from Tigermilk) in such a raw and unadorned state (complete with vocal wavers and assorted bum notes) isn't a revelation now, though one can imagine people tuned in to their radios that night were thrown for a loop, but it is pretty great. Of course, the songs are amazing, but just as impressively, Stuart Murdoch's vocals are heartbreakingly sincere and soulful, and the band definitively belie their image as shamblers by sounding tight and together. If they had never written or recorded more than just these four songs, they still would be legendary, but luckily they didn't quit while they were ahead and kept recording and releasing brilliant pop music. They also continued making trips to the BBC studios and The BBC Sessions collects songs recorded there between 1996 and 2001. The track list is made up of mostly album tracks and singles (highlights being an insistent "Sleep the Clock Around," a folky take on "Wrong Love," and a truly beautiful "Slow Graffiti") but the real treat for fans is the inclusion of the group's 2001 session for John Peel, for which they trotted out four songs that hadn't been released previously (or since) on record. Any one of them could have comfortably fit on a single, EP, or album and a couple even qualify as lost treasures: "The Magic of a Kind Word" pits Isobel Campbell's breathy vocals in the quiet verses against rich group harmonies in the insanely sunny choruses, and ends up as one of the band's brightest and lightest tunes that just could have been a hit single, "(My Girl's Got) Miraculous Technique" has a wonderfully relaxed groove built on samples and fleshed out with some wonky synth squiggles and lovely harmony vocals by Campbell and Stuart. It was Campbell's last recording made with the band and she really shines. That session alone is worth the price of the disc, and when you add the 1996 session, it becomes damn near essential for Belle and Sebastian fans.
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| 01. |  |
The State I Am In |
4:42 |
|
| 02. | |
Like Dylan In The Movies |
4:12 |
|
| 03. | |
Judy And The Dream Of Horses |
3:44 |
|
| 04. | |
The Stars Of Track And Field |
4:38 |
|
| 05. | |
I Could Be Dreaming |
3:49 |
|
| 06. | |
Seymour Stein |
4:51 |
|
| 07. | |
Lazy Jane |
5:37 |
|
| 08. | |
Sleep The Clock Around |
4:49 |
|
| 09. | |
Slow Graffiti |
3:07 |
|
| 10. | |
Wrong Love |
3:30 |
|
| 11. | |
Shoot The Sexual Athlete |
3:11 |
|
| 12. | |
The Magic Of A Kind Word |
2:27 |
|
| 13. | |
Nothing In The Silence |
3:49 |
|
| 14. | |
(My Girl’s Got) Miraculous Technique |
4:29 |
|
14 Total Tracks, 56:55 Total Length
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Playlists If you like Belle and Sebastian, check out these member playlists
Credits
- Frank Arkwright - Mastering // Helen Keen - Flute // Chris Geddes - Group Member // Sarah Martin - Photography // Sarah Martin - Group Member // Isobel Campbell - Group Member // Isobel Campbell - Group Member // Stevie Jackson - Group Member // Stuart Murdoch - Photography // Stuart Murdoch - Group Member // Stuart David - Group Member // Richard Colburn - Group Member // Mick Cooke - Group Member // Vuk Krakovic - Strings // Andrew Symington - Design // D8 - Design
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