Jeepster

Reviews

Belle & Sebastian
I'm Waking Up To Us (CDS)
More to the point, they're waking up to the fact that their fans want Stuart Murdoch. After two singles lurking in the background, the band's frontman returns to the front... but disguised as Arthur Lee. In fact, the wonderful title track is nearer to being a Love tribute than a Belle and Sebastian song. To complicate things further the rather eccentric arrangements and simplistic sentiments of I Love My Car are more than a little reminiscent of Gorkys Zygotic Mynci. It is only on the third and possibly weakest track, Marx And Engels, that the band begin to tread familiar territory. It may not sound much like Belle & Sebastian, but it is still the best Belle & Sebastian single for several years.

Belle & Sebastian
Jonathon David (CDS)
Whilst last year's Fold Your Hands Child You Walk Like A Peasant seemed to represent Belle and Sebastian going off the boil, on this new single they are decidedly stagnant. Sounding little more than a pastiche of themselves, the only song of any note that they can muster is the long awaited release of live favourite The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner, and even this has a half-hearted watered down feel to it. For the band to release such a poor single really is inexcusable, particularly with their recent Peel session showing that they are still capable of great things.

Belle & Sebastian
Fold Your Hands Child You Walk Like A Peasant (CD)
Back in the Sixties the pop orchestra was commonplace, and arguably the best pop orchestra was Sounds Orchestral, makers of a top three single and sixteen albums of chart hits and film themes reinterpreted for piano and strings. There are a number of references that could be drawn from Belle and Sebastian's fourth LP... a touch of The Left Banke here, a Nancy and Lee pastiche there, but more than anything else the emphasis on piano and string arrangements reminds me of Sounds Orchestral. As usual it is Stuart Murdoch's songs that shine brightest, with I Fought In A War and Don't Leave The Light On Baby amongst the band's most accomplished songs, but the shared songwriting that began on their previous album is starting to pay dividends, with Stevie Jackson providing his strongest song yet in The Wrong Girl, whilst Sarah Martin's Waiting For The Moon To Rise is a revelation. It seems strange that the band who recorded their debut album in a matter of days has been in the studio for over a year labouring on Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like A Peasant, and while some might scream "sell out" at the elaborate arrangements and high production values, for me it is just another exciting step forward in the ever evolving sound Belle and Sebastian.

Belle & Sebastian
Legal Man (CDS)
Its been over eighteen months since Belle and Sebastian released any new material, so this is bound to receive a warm welcome amongst their fans and could well find its way into the singles charts, even though Stuart Murdoch's songwriting and vocal skills are largely absent from the three songs collected here. The title track is an upbeat number, like loungey sixties garage pop. Guitarist Stevie Jackson provides the lead vocal, but it is the Saint Tropez like chanting of the Maisonnettes that dominates the song. Judy Is A Dick Slap, an oddly titled instrumental, sounds like Stereolab playing Telstar and is the closest that the band have come to a throwaway b-side. The third song here is Winter Wooskie, the charming swan song of recently departed bassist Stuart David.

Belle & Sebastian
The Boy With The Arab Strap (CD)
Belle & Sebastian's third album has a far more professional sound than their previous releases, and you get the sense that this is the point where they became a "proper" band. It brings a new clarity to their music, and yet it is difficult to deny that in shedding the rough edges they also lost much of the character that gave Tigermilk and Sinister such an astonishingly unique sound. Nevertheless, there are some exceptionally fine songs here, not least of which is the triumphant title track.

Belle & Sebastian
Dog On Wheels (CDS)
You get the feeling that Jeepster were keen to release something, anything, to capitalise on the unexpected success of Sinister. How else do you explain the release of this collection of demo tracks by an already defunct line-up of the band as their first single? Despite the questionable motives behind the record's release, the Dog On Wheels EP is a fine collection of songs, and provides us with an insight into the formative years of the band.

Belle & Sebastian
If You're Feeling Sinister (CD)
Given the fact that their only previous record had been limited to a pressing of 1000 copies on vinyl, Sinister was most people's introduction to Belle & Sebastian. And what an introduction, it is a tour de force that remains their finest record, weaving thoughtful lyrical and musical threads to create a delicately beautiful masterpiece. There is a quietly contemplative feel to the lyrics, which make oblique refences to a diverse range of subjects. Sexuality, religion, suicide, and terry underwear all get a mention. The music is so delightfully ameteurish that it could easily have been a shambolic mess, and yet it is the loose performance and production that give the record the very charm that is largely absent from the more slickly produced records that were to follow.