the boy with the arab strap

Belle and Sebastian filled out their bittersweet sound with the orchestral sweep of this cinematic pop introspection.  Building on the sound of 'Tigermilk' and 'If You're Feeling Sinister', 'The Boy with the Arab Strap' sees the group expanding their songwriting base.  

Stuart Murdoch considers:   "It kind of takes the heat off a little bit. You can bounce off them. I mean, ever since 'The Boy with the Arab Strap', when other people started to write, I felt good about it. It felt natural...You can't imagine what a change in dynamic that can give, and how nice it is going to a female voice and then coming back, and how everything after it seems a little bit different. On the whole, it's a very positive thing."

The sessions were produced by Tony Doogan at Ca Va Studios with Stuart Murdoch on vocals, guitar, and keyboard; Stuart David on bass and vocals; Isobel Campbell on cello, vocals, and guitar; Chris Geddes on keyboards and piano; Richard Colburn on drums; Stevie Jackson on guitar and vocals; Sarah Martin on violin; Mick Cooke on trumpet; and Ian MacKay on bagpipes.  

'The Boy with the Arab Strap' went to thirty-nine in France, thirty in Sweden, twelve in the UK, and number seven in Norway.  





http://www.belleandsebastian.com/










"It Could Have Been a Brilliant Career" – 2:23



"Sleep the Clock Around" – 4:57
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ov4hWFjaoGM



"Is It Wicked Not to Care?" – 3:22
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mk0Xd45G3SM



"Ease Your Feet in the Sea" – 3:35
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuEOEJatRGM



"A Summer Wasting" – 2:06
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHMh6FF04mg



"Seymour Stein" – 4:42
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WfU9gzJ-fA



"A Space Boy Dream" – 3:01
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ut7GhxcgSY



"Dirty Dream Number Two" – 4:14
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcwua8_tjDA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5BgrTLxPi4



"The Boy with the Arab Strap" – 5:14
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xORKPy6ds-o





"Chickfactor" – 3:31



"Simple Things" – 1:46
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wrgeo7dvBJ0



"The Rollercoaster Ride" – 6:36
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0Vx3a5Fb5E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91TU--8rb_k







'Black Sessions'

if you're feeling sinister

Belle and Sebastian's witty and whistful sophomore album was their major label debut and their finest moment. The band was signed to Jeepster Records after the success of their self-released debut 'Tigermilk'. 'If You're Feeling Sinister' was recorded in Glasgow at Ca Va Studios with Tony Doogan producing. The lineup of Stuart Murdoch on vocals, guitar, and piano; Stuart David on bass; Isobel Campbell on cello, vocals, percussion, and recorder; Chris Geddes on keyboards and piano; Richard Colburn on drums; Stevie Jackson on guitar and vocals; and Mick Cooke on trumpet; expands to an octet with the addition of Sarah Martin on violin, recorder, and percussion. The sound is an improvement on their homespun debut. 'If You're Feeling Sinister' shows the ensemble coloring in the catchy and clever delicate melodic tales of lovesick longing with subtle sincere grace.














http://www.belleandsebastian.com/

'The Stars of Track and Field'

"She had the moves, she had the speed, it went to her head

But when she's on her back

She had the knowledge

To get her into college"

'Seeing Other People'

"How are you feeling?

I don't think you can be dealing

With the situation very well

You take a lover for a dirty weekend, that's ok

But when it's over

You are looking at the working week in the eyes of a gigolo"

'Like Dylan in the Movies'

"Lisa's kissing men like a long walk home

When the music stops

Take a tip from me, don't go through the park

When you're on your own, it's a long walk home

If they follow you

Don't look back

Like Dylan in the movies

On your own

If they follow you

It's not your money that they're after, boy, it's you"

'The Fox in the Snow'

"Girl in the snow, where will you go

To find someone that will do?

To tell someone all the truth before it kills you

They listen to your crazy laugh

Before you hang a right

And disappear from sight

What do they know anyway?

You'll read it in a book

What do they know anyway?

You'll read it in a book tonight"

'If You're Feeling Sinister'

"Hilary went to the Catholic Church because she wanted information

The vicar, or whatever, took her to one side and gave her confirmation

Saint Theresa's calling her, the church up on the hill is looking lovely

But it didn't interest, the only things she wants to know is

How and why and when and where to go

How and why and when and where to follow

How and why and when and where to go

How and why and when and where to follow

But if you are feeling sinister

Go off and see a minister

He'll try in vain to take away the pain of being a hopeless unbeliever"

'Me and the Major / Get Me Away from Here, I'm Dying'

full album:



All tracks written by Stuart Murdoch. 

No. Title Length
1. "The Stars of Track and Field"   4:48
2. "Seeing Other People"   3:48
3. "Me and the Major"   3:51
4. "Like Dylan in the Movies"   4:14
5. "The Fox in the Snow"   4:11
6. "Get Me Away from Here, I'm Dying"   3:25
7. "If You're Feeling Sinister"   5:21
8. "Mayfly"   3:42
9. "The Boy Done Wrong Again"   4:17

10. "Judy and the Dream of Horses"   3:40

tigermilk

Belle & Sebastian issued a limited release of their debut album on a small college label. 'Tigermilk' began as a college project for Stuart Murdoch's music business school course at Stow College, which would release one single each year on the college's music label. The delicate acoustic pop impressed his professor Alan Rankine so much that an entire album was recorded and it was released on Electric Honey Records with a pressing of only one thousand copies. After all of those disappeared the band was signed to Jeepster Records and the album was rereleased in 1999.

Leader and songwriter Stuart Murdoch took up songwriting when he contracted Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in the late 1980's. "That was a big desert at the time, a kind of vacuum in my life. From that, these songs started coming out, these melodies where I could express what I was feeling."










http://www.belleandsebastian.com/

The awkward and miraculous 'The State I Am In' is reminiscent of Blondie's 'Sunday Girl'. It describes the cycle of life and love and choices we make every day.

"I gave myself to sin

I gave myself to providence
And I've been there and back again"

'Expectations' speaks to the drama that plagues the outsiders at school.

"Hey, you've been used

Are you calm? Settle down
Write a song, I'll sing along
Soon you will know that you are sane
You're on top of the world again"

'She's Losing It' involves the coping mechanisms of Lisa and Chelsea.

"I go to her when I'm feeling slack

The girl's using me as a punching bag
I think that I could help her out
But the girl's got a lot to be mad about"

Addressing the need for balance between work and play, 'Electronic Renaissance' is a rework of New Order's 'Procession'.

"If you work for much very longer

You'll be known as the boy who's always working
If you dance for much very longer
You'll be known as the boy who's always dancing"

The murder fantasy of 'I Could Be Dreaming' features Isobel Campbell reciting a passage from "Rip Van Winkle" over the outro:

"Times grew worse and worse with Rip Van Winkle as years of matrimony rolled on; a tart tempter never mellows with age, and a sharp tongue is the only edge tool that grows keener by constant use. For a long while he used to console himself, when driven from home, by frequenting a kind of perpetual club of the sages, philosophers, and other idle personages of the village, that held its sessions on a bench before a small inn, designated by a rubicund portrait of his majesty George the Third. Here they used to sit in the shade, of a long lazy summer's day, talk listlessly over village gossip, or tell endless sleepy stories about nothing. But it would have been worth any statesman's money to have heard the profound discussions that sometimes took place, when by chance an old newspaper fell into their hands, from some passing traveller. How solemnly they would listen to the contents, as drawled out by Derrick Van Bummel, the schoolmaster, a dapper learned little man, who was not to be daunted by the most gigantic word in the dictionary."

'We Rule The School' is about making your mark and seizing the day while you're free and young.

"Do something pretty while you can

Don't be a fool
Reading the Gospel to yourself is fine"

'Tigermilk'  full album:




All songs written and composed by Stuart Murdoch. 


1. "The State I Am In"   4:57
2. "Expectations"   3:34
3. "She's Losing It"   2:22
4. "You're Just a Baby"   3:41
5. "Electronic Renaissance"   4:50
6. "I Could Be Dreaming"   5:56
7. "We Rule the School"   3:27
8. "My Wandering Days Are Over"   5:25
9. "I Don't Love Anyone"   3:56
10. "Mary Jo"                          3:29

Total length:                               41:37

From the liner notes:

Sebastian met Isabelle outside the Hillhead Underground Station, in Glasgow. Belle harrassed Sebastian, but it was lucky for him that she did. She was very nice and funny, and sang very sweetly. Sebastian was not to know this, however. Sebastian was melancholy.

He had placed an advert in the local supermarket. He was looking for musicians. Belle saw him do it. That’s why she wanted to meet him. She marched straight up to him unannounced and said, ‘Hey you!’ She asked him to teach her to play the guitar. Sebastian doubted he could teach her anything, but he admired her energy, so he said ‘Yes’.

It was strange. Sebastian had just decided to become a one-man band. It is always when you least expect it that something happens. Sebastian had befriended a fox because he didn’t expect to have any new friends for a while. He still loved the fox, although he had a new distraction. Suddenly he was writing many new songs. Sebastian wrote all of his best songs in 1995. In fact, most of his best songs have the words ‘Nineteen Ninety-five’ in them. It bothered him a little. What will happen in 1996?

They worked on the songs in Belle’s house. Belle lived with her parents, and they were rich enough to have a piano. It was in a room by itself at the back of the house, overlooking the garden. This was where Belle taught Sebastian to put on mascara. If Belle’s mum had known this, she would not have been happy. She was paying for the guitar lessons. The lessons gave Sebastian’s life some structure. He went to the barber’s to get a haircut.

Belle and Sebastian are not snogging. Sometimes they hold hands, but that is only a display of public solidarity. Sebastian thinks Belle ‘kicks with the other foot’. Sebastian is wrong, but then Sebastian can never see further than the next tragic ballad. It is lucky that Belle has a popular taste in music. She is the cheese to his dill pickle.

Belle and Sebastian do not care much for material goods. But then neither Belle nor Sebastian has ever had to worry about where the next meal is coming from. Belle’s most recent song is called Rag Day. Sebastian’s is called The Fox In The Snow. They once stayed in their favourite caf’ for three solid days to recruit a band. Have you ever seen The Magnificent Seven? It was like that, only more tedious. They gained a lot of weight, and made a few enemies of waitresses.

Belle is sitting highers in college. She didn’t listen the first time round. Sebastian is older than he looks. He is odder than he looks too. But he has a good heart. And he looks out for Belle, although she doesn’t need it. If he didn’t play music, he would be a bus driver or be unemployed. Probably unemployed. Belle could do anything. Good looks will always open doors for a girl.