Taking Sides : Nick Drake vs Belle and Sebastian !

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

Yes, it has never happened (here) before!

Anyhow.

When B&S first appeared, they were often compared to Nick Drake, and the reasoning kinda went 1) Worse singing 2) Better lyrics 3) not as good guitaring. In favour of Nick, obv.

Nowadays, B&S are a bit ahead as they have made 1) more records 2) encompass a wider musical pallette 3) more successful in their own lifetime.

But Nick now is a coming back. Adverts! Heartbeat soundtracks! And two 'new' albums this year! (Best of soon to come)

So where to stand? Not so clearcut nowadays.

― mark grout (mark grout), Thursday, 26 August 2004 09:18 (twenty-one years ago)

Drake obv. B+S are so sickley sweet they make me wanna throw up.

― lukey (Lukey G), Thursday, 26 August 2004 09:21 (twenty-one years ago)

When B&S first appeared, they were often compared to Nick Drake

Not by me

― Dadaismus (Dada), Thursday, 26 August 2004 09:22 (twenty-one years ago)

They are compared to Nick Drake in the Nick Drake biography.

I think Nick Drake is much, much, much better. But I haven't got all his records.

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller), Thursday, 26 August 2004 09:26 (twenty-one years ago)

I think Nick Drake is much, much, much better and I haven't got ANY Belle & Sebastian records

― Dadaismus (Dada), Thursday, 26 August 2004 09:27 (twenty-one years ago)

nick drakes lyrics are bad, but they're better than b&s. he may be totally adolescent in outlook, but there are glimpses of poetry at times, anyway better his hackneyed doomed romantic thing that the spineless ironic schmindie of b&s.

although i dislike them, i must admit that musically b&s have more variety and range, drake arguably overused a few ideas. His picking is very good, but that only counts if you value picking, which i don't really.

god what a negative post!

― dave amos, Thursday, 26 August 2004 09:32 (twenty-one years ago)

Nick Drake's lyrics are adolescent in outlook becuse he made his first album when he was 19 not 29.

― Dadaismus (Dada), Thursday, 26 August 2004 09:34 (twenty-one years ago)

yep and i liked them when i was 19 not 29!

― dave amos, Thursday, 26 August 2004 09:38 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't think his lyrics are adolescent.

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller), Thursday, 26 August 2004 12:49 (twenty-one years ago)

The only B&S songs that remind me of Nick Drake are the openers to each album; they always used to start with the plaintive ballad. The latest album breaks with tradition by starting with a single (I Can't stand the album btw - it sounds more like the Divine Comedy & Co.).

Can I throw Red House Painters into the equation?

― Jez (Jez), Thursday, 26 August 2004 14:56 (twenty-one years ago)

If you like. I don't think about comparing them myself but Nick Drake any day of the goddamn week, quite obviously. I do have to say that now I'm more horrified by the prospect that Drake will be seen as some sort of proto-Chris Martin.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 26 August 2004 15:00 (twenty-one years ago)

GASP! Wash your mouth Ned!

Drake wins of course.

― Bimble (bimble), Thursday, 26 August 2004 15:02 (twenty-one years ago)

I would have to pick B&S. Drake is teh rub.

― jel -- (jel), Thursday, 26 August 2004 15:04 (twenty-one years ago)

I like both of them and kinda love neither. But I'm prepared to say that, barring those non-Murdoch compositions, I prefer Belle and Sebastian.

― Atnevon (Atnevon), Thursday, 26 August 2004 19:38 (twenty-one years ago)

I think Nick Drake is much, much, much better in spite of the fact that he is hugely overrated. Belle and Sebastian are just vile.

― jed_ (jed), Thursday, 26 August 2004 19:42 (twenty-one years ago)

i love "five leaves left". the other nick drake albums i can't be much bothered with. but he's classic for that record alone. with autumn coming around, i think it shall be given the first airing in a while sometime soon.

b+s have a clutch of great songs spread out across their various albums and EP's, but none of their long-players are totally satisfying.

nick drake's voice sounds bored (this is a good thing)
stuart murdoch's voice sounds boring (this isn't a good thing)

drake wins.

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Thursday, 26 August 2004 21:13 (twenty-one years ago)

You know my vote.

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Thursday, 26 August 2004 22:25 (twenty-one years ago)

damn, i misread it as being the belle stars.

― frenchbloke (frenchbloke), Friday, 27 August 2004 06:51 (twenty-one years ago)

B&S

― Gear! (Gear!), Friday, 27 August 2004 07:28 (twenty-one years ago)

I heart B&S. What's with the B&S hate on ILM nowadays? (Note: This question does not necessarily have to be answered)

― the impossible shortest special path! (the impossible shortest specia), Friday, 27 August 2004 09:35 (twenty-one years ago)

I just gave up defending.

― Alba (Alba), Friday, 27 August 2004 10:28 (twenty-one years ago)

B&S.

Random thought: I wish Ian MacDonald were still with us.

― cºzen (Cozen), Friday, 27 August 2004 16:47 (twenty-one years ago)

I was thinking about this earlier, and I thought: I really don't want to have to choose between these two acts, both of whom have grown on me over the years, and both of whom possess what Alan Hansen might simply have to dub Quality.

― the bellefox, Friday, 27 August 2004 16:49 (twenty-one years ago)

And Maconie is now playing 'Do You Believe In Magic?', at the end of his show: and I think it's because Murdoch picked it on the KB show when Maconie was hosting and interviewing him.

I love this guitar playing, as you know.

― the bellefox, Friday, 27 August 2004 16:52 (twenty-one years ago)

I think perhaps upthread I was undervaluing a Large Output.

I like that song 'Black-Eyed Dog'. It is very good.

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller), Saturday, 28 August 2004 09:16 (twenty-one years ago)

Do you think?

Evidently so.

(If you have heard the Made To Love Magic LP:) Do you like the bit at the end of 'Tow The Line' when he puts his guitar down? That seems to be the fans' favourite moment, in his career.

― the bellefox, Saturday, 28 August 2004 13:50 (twenty-one years ago)

Not for spelling fans.

― Alba (Alba), Saturday, 28 August 2004 14:10 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh, yes, that is true. At first, the basic error annoyed me: then I stopped noticing it.

I find the error all the more egregious because Orwell specifically mentions it as a bad thing and a sign of not thinking properly in 'Politics and the English Language', where he also rejects the word 'egregious'.

― the bellefox, Saturday, 28 August 2004 14:17 (twenty-one years ago)

Ha ha.

― Alba (Alba), Saturday, 28 August 2004 14:20 (twenty-one years ago)

this is another comparison that is pretty accurate but everyone denies it. just like tori amos and kate bush, interpol and joy division, etc. why is this?
belle and sebastian replaced stereolab in how mail order places tried to sell their crappy recods, if it's got an acoustic guitar just say it sounds like belle and sebastian and the suckers will lap it up. just as 'hey it's got keyboards it must be like stereolab' earlier in the 90s.
nick drake seems so incredibly fragile compared to murdoch who seems very savvy and with it, i like belle and sebastian's music more but the myth of nick drake is more appealing.

― keith m (keithmcl), Sunday, 29 August 2004 01:02 (twenty-one years ago)

I think it's only accurate in terms of the voices. And Hazey Jane II

― Alba (Alba), Sunday, 29 August 2004 01:04 (twenty-one years ago)

Alba stole my post

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Sunday, 29 August 2004 01:05 (twenty-one years ago)

the guitar on the thoughts of mary jane reminds me of the clientele.

― youn, Sunday, 29 August 2004 05:31 (twenty-one years ago)

I understand the comparison, but they still seem really different to me. I love B&S much more for their Bacharach and Gainsbourg than for their Drake.

Nick Drake seems like a 'major talent' in a way that Stuart Murdoch maybe never will. I'll probably still listen to Murdoch a lot more in my lifetime than Drake. But that's just me.

― spittle (spittle), Sunday, 29 August 2004 05:38 (twenty-one years ago)

Also I think I have a higher opinion of Drake because I've 'only' got a compilation - no dud bits.

I haven't heard that album, apart from some bits on the radio and then a bit at YOUR HOUSE, but I heartily disagree witht he idea that it is a good thing that 'Black Eyed Dog' is not the last thing he ever recorded, I think that would have been a good thing.

The basic error has been playing on my mind for some time. I thought I was wrong and perhaps it was some kind of canal metaphor, like 'I wouldn't touch yours with a barge pole'. I am relieved.

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller), Sunday, 29 August 2004 09:03 (twenty-one years ago)

three years pass...

nick drake produced by trevor horn would be fun, maybe

― gershy, Wednesday, 7 November 2007 05:51 (eighteen years ago)

how about nick drake produced by steve albini
nick drake produced by nigel godrich
nick drake produced by wild billy childish
how interesting a train of thought
etc

― electricsound, Wednesday, 7 November 2007 06:02 (eighteen years ago)

kim fowley would be better

― gershy, Wednesday, 7 November 2007 06:04 (eighteen years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.