Summary:The veteran Scottish band's first album for Sanctuary (after a long run on Matador Records) is also their first without singer/cellist Isobel Campbell. The 12 tracks here were produced by Trevor Horn.
Elope with me Miss Private and we'll sail around the world
I will be your Ferdinand and you my wayward girl
How many nights of talking in hotel rooms...
The danger for B&S was that they would become trapped in a world of knee socks and introspection; the reality is that they’ve produced their best album since ‘Boy With The Arab Strap’, while proving that they can cut it in the world of well-adjusted adults.
Although Trev gives Stuart Murdoch's songs a freshness and clarity that is entirely complimentary, the decision to unleash a flurry of TV melodrama string arrangements or flashy showbiz brass on half the songs leads to results that range from tolerable over-egging at best and annoying inanity at worst.
This is a dog of an album, by anyone's standards, but if you play it next to 'If You're Feeling Sinister', which we did, then it is the sort of dog that shits all over the kitchen and has constant mange.
An absolute gem of an album without any weaknesses. A pop album of the very highest quality and perhaps the moment when Belle and SebastianAn absolute gem of an album without any weaknesses. A pop album of the very highest quality and perhaps the moment when Belle and Sebastian finally delivered and came of age. I can't recommend it highly enough. The production by Trevor Horn has to be recognised as playing a big part in turning a good pop group into a great one with this album.…Expand
Take a look at Playlouder's review. Listen to the sample If She Wants Me chorus they give you. Try and make the connection between one Take a look at Playlouder's review. Listen to the sample If She Wants Me chorus they give you. Try and make the connection between one of the greatest choruses Murdoch's ever written and the text. In fact, try and find something in the text that tells you a blind thing about the album. That's the problem with music journalism - this thing where records are reviewed by people who just won't respond to it, because it's not their sort of thing. Fine, but then you've written a review aimed at people who WOULDN'T BUY THE SODDING ALBUM in the first place, and so very probably WON'T BE READING EITHER. Combine that with a review that gleefully dances on B&S' grave - not that it's been dug yet by any means - and very childish references to dogs andor fecal matter and, well, problem on top of problem. And let's not forget the fact that next to nothing specific any music journalist can write will have any relevance beyond their own self by the nature of music. So the net result is "Adam Alphabet" wasting his and his readers' time to no import or effect. This is why I stick to movies. Anyway, just to prevent this review from saying NOTHING ABOUT THE ALBUM (and remembering that it's actually Christmas Day as I write this - no, I have nothing better to do), here's the news: Dear Catastrophe Waitress - adressing B&S' fanbase, natch - is their best work for...since Sinister, anyway - though different in many ways to the B&S of old. "Step Into My Office, Baby" is what music-hall would be like if it was played straight. By Scotsmen. "Lord Anthony" is their most gorgeous ballad since Chalet Lines, only with a happier ending. "Piazza, New York Catcher" (I know what that means now - I'm so great) finds Murdoch in a room with just a guitar and the Simon and Garfunkel back catalogue, and is indeed Great. You'll ead the title track's lyrics and think what the tune will be. Then you'll hear it and find out that you're completely wrong. Cheers then. "I'm A Cuckoo" is quite startling with its cheery plagarism. And I'm here to tell you that even Adam Alphabet must have been tapping his feet, hands, and pretty much everything else to "Roy Walker". He may try to say otherwise, but in that case he is a liar, a fraud and a charlatan. In short, it's all good. More consistent than Boy With The Arab Strap, more complete than Storytelling, and with its fair share of proper let's-do-the-show-right-here-in-the-barn showstoppers, more satisfying than Fold Your Hands Child. To go back to the start: that chorus from If She Wants Me goes "If I could do just one near perfect thing, I'd be happy". Stuart Murdoch must therefore be ecstatic, because after Tigermilk and If You're Feeling Sinister, this makes three. And Adam Alphabet can just sod off, basically. Merry Christmas.…Expand
Such a gorgeous cd....... I sit in bliss whenever I listen to it, it's a very cheerful album, except for Lord Anthony, which is a bit Such a gorgeous cd....... I sit in bliss whenever I listen to it, it's a very cheerful album, except for Lord Anthony, which is a bit sad in a brilliant way, my favorite song though is definitely "if you find yourself caught in love" I just LOOOVE that song! oh, and in response to the Playlouder review by "Adam Alphabet", well I was looking at other reviews on the site and this is what he had to say about 50 cent's album "Ah... we can't detail every track in 200 words. It's all good. " haha apparently belle and sebastian's literate, poetic, beautiful nature was WAAAY over this guy's head…Expand
With their last 3 meandering albums which despite a splattering of great songs, were becoming increasingly dimishing melodic returns. Then With their last 3 meandering albums which despite a splattering of great songs, were becoming increasingly dimishing melodic returns. Then this - suddenly, out of nowhere, Murdoch releases this collection of unalloyed gems (and always better when singing the songs himself). I haven't heard an album in 2003 which sounds so joyful. It reminds me of what I first loved about the band, the first time you put "If you're feeling sinister" into your CD player - but this time more distilled, streamlined and paradoxically, even better...…Expand
Probably my favorite album of theirs after Sinister, believe it or not. "If She Wants Me," "I'm a Cuckoo," and the hilarious "Step Into MyProbably my favorite album of theirs after Sinister, believe it or not. "If She Wants Me," "I'm a Cuckoo," and the hilarious "Step Into My Office, Baby" are all pop gems with no shortage of great melodies or hilariously ironic lyrics.…Expand
I'm a die hard fan and I admit that I had a hard time getting into this album but now I cant stop playing it. I do feel it reflects I'm a die hard fan and I admit that I had a hard time getting into this album but now I cant stop playing it. I do feel it reflects B&S's typical lyrics trageted at outcast as well as an intresting and provoking look at life.…Expand
