Love it when the bagpipes kick in, need more bagpipes in pop.
― Dan Worsley, Monday, 17 December 2018 07:51 (five years ago) link
Never read this before, Stuart Murdochon Sleep the Clock Around:"That song was about walking over the brow of a hill, away from the two people I loved most, when I had betrayed them somewhat: after they cast me out of their confidence and out of the cafe. So it’s a song that cries out for recovery."♥️
― Alba, Monday, 17 December 2018 07:53 (five years ago) link
Aww, that's lovely. StCA is a song that's become part of me, molecular.
I don't think I've ever heard the background sound effects on this used anywhere else - the little burbles and whirrs. They sound like the dreams of mouldering instruments.
― Good cop, Babcock (Chinaski), Monday, 17 December 2018 08:29 (five years ago) link
That's brilliant, yes.
― Alba, Monday, 17 December 2018 08:34 (five years ago) link
Assume they're Chris Geddes's work. He hasn't been mentioned enough on this thread.
― Alba, Monday, 17 December 2018 08:35 (five years ago) link
His work is so understated yet utterly crucial to their sound.
― Good cop, Babcock (Chinaski), Monday, 17 December 2018 08:37 (five years ago) link
http://i64.tinypic.com/2efswat.jpg
9. The Boy With the Arab Strap From The Boy With the Arab Strap (1998)Groovy, meandering rendition at Glastonbury, 2015Points: 623 Votes: 32 #1 Votes: 3
― Nag! Nag! Nag!, Monday, 17 December 2018 09:39 (five years ago) link
I can barely even remember what I voted for now. Apart from perhaps "Judy" or "Fox" any of the last dozen could plausibly have been on my shortlist.
― Nag! Nag! Nag!, Monday, 17 December 2018 09:44 (five years ago) link
Ooh, thought that would be higher. Maybe we've all heard it to much.
― Alba, Monday, 17 December 2018 09:45 (five years ago) link
That a song THIS good could be number nine in a discography is quite a thing.
― Good cop, Babcock (Chinaski), Monday, 17 December 2018 09:46 (five years ago) link
So, which song is going to be their "Hey Bulldog"?
― Mark G, Monday, 17 December 2018 09:47 (five years ago) link
I think this was my #2. Every time I play it I have to resist dancing like a loon to it. But then think, fuck it and go for it.
― Dan Worsley, Monday, 17 December 2018 09:49 (five years ago) link
This poll is reminding me how much I love this band. Thanks Nag.
― Nabozo, Monday, 17 December 2018 10:05 (five years ago) link
:)
I'll wait another hour or so for the next one. Really don't want to rush too far ahead of the western hemisphere...
― Nag! Nag! Nag!, Monday, 17 December 2018 10:11 (five years ago) link
Too low. The Boy With The Arab Strap is my #1.
― ヽ(_ _ヽ)彡 ᴵ'ᵐ ᵒᵏᵃʸ_(・_.)/ (FlopsyDuck), Monday, 17 December 2018 11:17 (five years ago) link
Naming an album and a song after another band is just another way B&S have managed to confuse me over the years. Others: having their own eponymous song, putting photographs of people on the covers who for a few years I (a casual fan) thought were actually in the band, having too many members, etc.
― Sam Weller, Monday, 17 December 2018 12:05 (five years ago) link
Assuming that's the band Arab Strap in the image for this one?
― enochroot, Monday, 17 December 2018 12:34 (five years ago) link
We used to dance often to "The Boy..." in the early 2000s.
― Your sweetie-pie-coo-coo I love ya (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 17 December 2018 12:35 (five years ago) link
XP: Yeah, photographed in approximately that same era IIRC.
― Nag! Nag! Nag!, Monday, 17 December 2018 12:38 (five years ago) link
http://i67.tinypic.com/vyup9l.jpg
8. The Stars of Track and Field From If You're Feeling Sinister (1996)Amateur choral performance by Flash Chorus of Durham, North Carolina!Live at the Barbican (audio track)Points: 711 Votes: 35 #1 Votes: 1
― Nag! Nag! Nag!, Monday, 17 December 2018 12:42 (five years ago) link
Belle & Sebastian Coe, see. Brilliant.
― Nag! Nag! Nag!, Monday, 17 December 2018 12:43 (five years ago) link
:D
Enjoying the rollout NNN!
― lbi's life of limitless european glamour (Le Bateau Ivre), Monday, 17 December 2018 12:44 (five years ago) link
ah the points are really starting to jump now
― ufo, Monday, 17 December 2018 12:56 (five years ago) link
Make a new cult everyday
― bros before HOOS (voodoo chili), Monday, 17 December 2018 13:08 (five years ago) link
Never a big fan of "Sleep the Clock Around" but love the other two tracks. Thought "Stars of Track and Field" had a good chance to be #1
― Vinnie, Monday, 17 December 2018 13:27 (five years ago) link
first B&S song i ever heard, and I can still remember the feeling, something akin to "i have found my new favorite band"
― rip van wanko, Monday, 17 December 2018 13:31 (five years ago) link
http://i65.tinypic.com/2dig1zc.jpg
7. If You're Feeling Sinister From If You're Feeling Sinister (1996)At Austin City Limits, 2014Points: 723 Votes: 34 #1 Votes: 2
― Nag! Nag! Nag!, Monday, 17 December 2018 13:35 (five years ago) link
People don't reference this song enough! Glad it did so well. The playground noise is a weird masterstroke; "the vicar or whatever" similarly.
― Alba, Monday, 17 December 2018 13:41 (five years ago) link
In a discography full of prettiness, this is their prettiest song.
― bros before HOOS (voodoo chili), Monday, 17 December 2018 13:42 (five years ago) link
the playground noise gives it this weird sense of 'passing through' if that makes any sense? i really like the effect it has, it's sort of breezy
― ufo, Monday, 17 December 2018 13:42 (five years ago) link
http://i66.tinypic.com/vnz12e.jpg
6. I'm a Cuckoo From Dear Catastrophe Waitress (2003)Original promo videoAvalanches remix, audio trackPoints: 728 Votes: 31, including 2 votes for the Avalanches remix.#1 Votes: 2
― Nag! Nag! Nag!, Monday, 17 December 2018 14:06 (five years ago) link
awesome
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 17 December 2018 14:06 (five years ago) link
brilliant song, voted for it, the Avalanches remix is overrated
― resident hack (Simon H.), Monday, 17 December 2018 14:07 (five years ago) link
Still good though.
― Mark G, Monday, 17 December 2018 14:09 (five years ago) link
Great song. That moment when the brass section goes into overdrive is deliciously over-the-top and perfect.
― lbi's life of limitless european glamour (Le Bateau Ivre), Monday, 17 December 2018 14:10 (five years ago) link
XP: Sinister, the album, has so many songs with these long melodic phrases, and the title track is a good example:"He'll try in vain to take away the pain of being a hopeless unbeliever" comes out in one long stream where you keep expecting the melody to resolve but it keeps pushing on just a little bit further.
(see also: "Well if I remain passive and you just want to cuddle then we should be ok and we won't get in a muddle cause we're seeing other people, at least that's what we say we are doing")
― enochroot, Monday, 17 December 2018 14:10 (five years ago) link
I’m a Cuckoo was my number one, the avalanches remix is what put it over the top for me
― bros before HOOS (voodoo chili), Monday, 17 December 2018 14:12 (five years ago) link
Love, love this song.
― Sam Weller, Monday, 17 December 2018 14:12 (five years ago) link
The playground noise is a weird masterstroke
This is so true, and it's not exactly clear why it works so well. It doesn't really tie to the lyrics in an obvious way.
Hillary's musings reference a scene in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Perhaps it's a meditation on lost innocence and lost youth. Murdoch does a lot of repurposing of popular kids culture that serves a similar purpose, right down to the band name.
― Mario Meatwagon (Moodles), Monday, 17 December 2018 14:13 (five years ago) link
Does anyone remember the DVD singles? B&S were well served with those. I have most (if not all) of them.
― Mark G, Monday, 17 December 2018 14:14 (five years ago) link
IwasthebossofyouandIlovedyouyouknowIlovedyouIt's all over now
― Alba, Monday, 17 December 2018 14:18 (five years ago) link
yeah going through this ballot has really made me notice Murdoch's unique sense of phrasing (in every sense)
― resident hack (Simon H.), Monday, 17 December 2018 14:20 (five years ago) link
“Never read this before, Stuart Murdochon Sleep the Clock Around:
"That song was about walking over the brow of a hill, away from the two people I loved most, when I had betrayed them somewhat: after they cast me out of their confidence and out of the cafe. So it’s a song that cries out for recovery."
♥️
― Alba, Monday, December 17, 2018 2:53 AM (six hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink”
I love this. Like I said last night this is my fave B&S song. Very strong top ten so far as precdicted.
― Benson and the Jets (ENBB), Monday, 17 December 2018 14:20 (five years ago) link
Funny little I'm a Cuckoo fact I noticed the other day. In Stuart David's B&S memoir he mentions the other Stuart in the pre B&S days having a song called Sunday Gang.Have found no other reference to it except the line in I'm a Cuckoo "Watch the Sunday gang in Harajuku".
― Alba, Monday, 17 December 2018 14:22 (five years ago) link
I thought it was 'Sunday gang in Harrods'! What the chuff is Harajuku?
― Good cop, Babcock (Chinaski), Monday, 17 December 2018 14:24 (five years ago) link
A neighborhood in Tokyo.
― Benson and the Jets (ENBB), Monday, 17 December 2018 14:25 (five years ago) link
They like Thin Lizzy. and stuff.
― Mark G, Monday, 17 December 2018 14:25 (five years ago) link
And this, I guess, is the Sunday Gang he's talking about?
https://www.tvcream.co.uk/telly/tv-a-z/n-z/s-is-for/sunday-gang/
― Alba, Monday, 17 December 2018 14:25 (five years ago) link
xp That's one hell of a rhyming dictionary.
― Good cop, Babcock (Chinaski), Monday, 17 December 2018 14:26 (five years ago) link
Harajuku is a trendy neighbourhood. I guess SM has been there when visiting Toyko.
― Alba, Monday, 17 December 2018 14:28 (five years ago) link