Belle and Sebastian
(Matador)
Before transitioning into unrelenting day-glo and sunshine pop, Belle and Sebastian dealt in moodier, subtler shades of gray. Plagued by a mid-1990s holy trinity of sex, religion and ennui, songwriter Stuart Murdoch poured out the trappings of his mind from a soft-spoken distance. Steeped in the language of literature, cinema and pop (high and low), albums If You're Feeling Sinister and The Boy With The Arab Strap were thoughtful gifts to an existentially-starved and largely tuned out generation. Whether or not said generation chose to accept them is another story.
Although the band's best albums and singles proved the least financially rewarding, the earlier Belle and Sebastian work had rawness to it, even under all the strings and brass. There were plenty of messier moments in those formative years - the Glasgow group was hardly the polished live act in 1996 or '97 that it is today. But on The BBC Sessions, a compilation covering Isobel Campbell's tenure with the band from 1996 to 2001, we catch a glimpse of how the band's personality evolved.
The real treat in the 14 song collection comes from two '96 appearances on The Graveyard Shift (hosted by Mark Radcliffe), represented by the first five tracks. On "Judy and the Dream of Horses", the electric guitar part cuts the twee sound well with a little edge, creating a dynamic the band really hasn't explored enough since. The other If You're Feeling Sinister entries are a little more faithful to the studio versions, but no less spirited.
As the roughly chronological album goes on, BBC Sessions comes up dry in its final block. The last four songs, Campbell's last contributions before leaving Belle and Sebastian, never made it to album, which was probably for the best. Despite a few amusing titles ("Shoot The Sexual Athlete, "(My Girl's Got) Miraculous Technique") the songs suffer from the same sort of boredom and chic nonchalance Murdoch once lamented.
Historical significance seems as good a reason as any for the songs' inclusion, but it sours an otherwise extremely solid set. BBC Sessions doesn't hold a candle to Belle and Sebastian's only other live release, If You're Feeling Sinister: Live at the Barbican, in terms of sound quality or performance. But in lieu of anything new and shiny from the band, it's a worthwhile artifact of Belle and Sebastian's transition into pop maturity, for better or worse.
Standout Tracks: "The State I Am In", "Judy and the Dream of Horses," "Lazy Jane" ZACHARY HERRMANN
