I’m out of bed later than planned after a Saturday spent
with friends where the fun started early and went late. I am now paying a bit for
the fun that was had, but I regret nothing.
Disc 603 is….The Life Pursuit
Artist: Belle and
Sebastian
Year of Release: 2006
What’s up with the Cover? Three young women.
This cover is not much to look at, but inside the three women are dressed up in
school uniforms with very short plaid skirts. I recommend this approach for all
musicians – it is definitely better than a bunch of band photos.
How I Came To Know It: I was already a fan of Belle and
Sebastian and though I don’t religiously buy their records I got this one after
I heard a couple of the same songs on Stuart Murdoch’s 2009 side project, “God
Help the Girl.”
How It Stacks Up: This is a strong Belle and Sebastian album. It is
equal to “Boy with the Arab Strap” but very different in style. I’m going to
put it third out of the five albums I own but really it is in a statistical tie
with “Arab Strap”.
And
since this is the last review of Belle and Sebastian in my collection (at least
for now) here’s the full list.
- If
You’re Feeling Sinister: 5
stars (reviewed at Disc 591)
- The
Boy With the Arab Strap: 4
stars (reviewed at Disc 540)
- The
Life Pursuit: 4 stars
(reviewed right here)
- Write
About Love: 3 stars (reviewed
at Disc 301)
- Fold
Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant: 2 stars (reviewed at Disc 61)
Rating: 4 stars
As a rule, Belle and Sebastian can
be a bit pale and wan but on “The Life Pursuit” they lighten up both musically
and lyrically.
Gone are songs about having a
stroke at the age of 24, or being raped in the chalet lines, and instead we
have “Another Sunny Day” and “Funny Little Frog” that are as whimsical
and carefree as their titles suggest.
“Funny Little Frog” is one of the two songs that also appears on “God
Help the Girl” (the other being “Act of
the Apostle II”). It is interesting
to hear these songs sung by a man, and the arrangements are sufficiently
different to keep them fresh. That said, I prefer the versions on “God Help the
Girl.” Maybe it is because I like them sung in a female voice (Belle and
Sebastian songs tend to be pretty high in the register) or maybe it is just
that I heard the remakes before I heard the originals.
There is plenty on “The Life
Pursuit” to love, however. The album is up-tempo and it gets your head nodding
along. I was caught at least a couple of times playing air guitar or slapping
my thigh while waiting at a red light when a particularly upbeat song came on.
The album paints little pictures
that create a feeling of nostalgia before the experience is even over. It is like
the band knows that the everyday experiences we have now will magnify and seem
that much more important later in life. Last night Sheila and I were looking
through her old high school yearbooks. Seeing yearbook pictures always brings
back a flood of very specific memories even when it isn’t your yearbook. Listening
to “The Life Pursuit” had a similar effect on me.
Even though I have no direct
knowledge about what these songs are about, they are so cleverly constructed
they feel like my own stories. Also for a band that has been around as long as
Belle and Sebastian have been (ten years at the time this album came out) they
have an exceptional capacity for capturing what youth feels like in all its joyful
abandon. The record reminds me that spending our youth carelessly isn’t
wasteful, it’s liberating.
Musically, the song structures
reminded me strongly of later Beatles, minus all the drug-inspired nonsense
lyrics. Instead, we get clear pictures of characters like young Sukie, who
likes to hang out in the graveyard and attend art school, or all the various
characters (brokers, nurses and drunks) passing through Mornington Crescent.
There are other influences as
well, including the ubiquitous (to indie music) homages to sixties folk pop, a
little bit of Motown and on one song (“Song
for Sunshine”) even some funk that wouldn’t be out of place on an early Red
Hot Chili Peppers album.
This record didn’t really teach me
anything but it lightened my heart and put a smile on my face every time I played
it – something I’ll be doing a lot more in the future.
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