Belle & Sebastian
Boy with the Arab Strap
British European After 1997's 'If You're Feeling Sinister' made them critics' darlings Scottish octet Belle and Sebastian ran straight into a series of label woes in the us and into the inevitable feeding frenzy that surrounds a free agent with their prodigious talents Their experience with one label exec is detailed in 'Seymour Stein' on 'The Boy with the Arab Strap' which finds the band building on the pastoral pop charms of sinister adding a palpable layer of anger and an increasingly rich sonic palette to their painfully shy tales of despair Nearovernight success taught the band a lot this album moves from their trademark confessional diary sketches still in abundance as on the disarmingly naive 'Is it Wicked Not to Care' and the tender 'Rollercoaster Ride' to genuine social criticism as on the title track a narrative meditation on Britain's pretensions and societal ills 'Chickfactor' pulls apart the banality the band encountered on arrival in new york an experience which only served to deepen the bashful anger that makes Belle and Sebastian so endearingLP With Download plus an individual 'It Could Have Been A Brilliant Career' obi strip
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