If You’re Feeling Sinister

amazing. forever fav. get me away from here is just one of the all-time greats.

Pretty alright and melancholic, but nothing that stood further out to me.

Love early B&S, though at the time the rabid nature of their fans was a huge turnoff - I foolishly shunned a couple of gigs I could easily have attended in the late 90s/early 00s.

This is a great collection of tunes from when B&S hadn't worn out the shtick of songs about kids in school. Not quite as lightning-in-a-bottle as Tigermilk, or poptastic as Dear Catastrophe Waitress, but very remarkable and of its time. More of a 4.5, but rounding up because this is exactly the kind of album that has loads of US contributors to this project complaining about British music.

It's fine. Doesn't resonate with me. 2.5/5. Raising to 3.

Essential album for me, surprised I forgot to put it on my top 100 when we did that exercise. I get that in some ways it embodies the 2000s indie aesthetic so fully that it almost parodies itself. But I'm still into that aesthetic. I like cryptic stories and melodic departures that don't quite add up to a concept yet still have an undeniable through line. To me the through line is feeling invisible and unknown even in the midst of a group of people, a web of relationships. There is so much warmth and familiarity in the music but also a hollowness at the heart of it that I think can only be there on purpose. "Seeing other people or at least that's what we say we are doing" conveys that in several ways. Not sure this review is coherent at all.

I like this one better than their other record on this list. The vocals are still a little tough for me to get into but the arrangements are elegant and pretty. It’s weird because I like Nick Drake, but in this context the lispy vocals just really take me out of it.

I’ve loved Belle & Sebastian from hearing ‘It could’ve been a brilliant career’ on the radio (possibly mark and lard) and ‘The boy with arab strap’ as the theme from ‘Teachers’. Whilst not as strong as either TBWTAS or Tigermilk all the key ingredients are hear. The floaty dreamy music combined with their wonderful knack for storytelling.

I apparently had entirely the wrong picture of what Belle & Sebastian sounded like in my head. I thought I was going to hate this, but (with one caveat) I actually really enjoyed it. It was whimsical, in that way Badly Drawn Boy or Divine Comedy are, and it was for the most part... jolly?

Now I do have a bit of an issue with the vocals. He's not got my favourite singing voice, and I think I would likely enjoy this more if someone else less breathy was singing it. But I still do really like it.

This it definitely a 3.5 for me, but is getting rounded up:

4/5

And the "I feel like I should have loved them because all the cool kids did, but actually did nothing for me" pile gets 1 CD album higher.

3.5

I wanted to like this a lot more than I did. The music and Instrumentals were phenomenal. I am not a fan of Murdochs vocals. I'm giving it a 3. But only for the music/instruments.

Adore this record and the unabashed under sensitive tweeness and humour of this era of Belle and Sebastian.

I'll have to listen to this one again at some point

I was aware of the band but never heard their stuff before. A little too sad for me, but not bad and actually something different from a lot of stuff here. 3*

Inoffensive and ultimately dull

I really didn't care for this at all. Needed tremolo riffing or something.

1.0/5.0

i didnt hate this but theres so much music out there that id rather listen to

It wasn't my favorite album, but it wasn't like terrible to listen to. Just something to fill in the background. Kind of reminded me of Sufjan Stevens.

Fun! Some solid jams.

Можу повністю скопіювати свою мікро-рецензію на інший альбом Belle & Sebastian в цьому списку. Враження абсолютно ті самі, приємна душевна музика. 3.5 (але ближче до 3)