Customer Reviews

The Boy With The Arab Strap

5 star:		(92)
4 star:		(41)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I first heard about Belle and Sebastian from a friend of mine who had also turned me on to Kings of Convenience. I went out and bought this CD as soon as I could. I didn't really get into it at first and I didn't really understand what some of the songs were about. But the album grew on me. The songs are timeless, they conjure up the ghosts of late 60s pioneers like Love and Nick Drake, while always sounding modern and in touch with today's alienated youth. But now that I have listened to these twelve songs thousands of times, the thing that draws me back the Boy with the Arab Strap is the MOOD. Autumnal, like leaves falling but with a hint of summer still lingering and winter waiting at the door. Like "The Graduate" or a Wes Anderson movie, graceful and beautiful, with equal measures of humor, sorrow and tenderness.
If you haven't already, buy this CD and prepare yourself for the most subtle and gorgeous forty-five minutes of your life.

Every so often, you buy a CD that is a "press play, leave on" CD - one that has enough enjoyability and variety to be listened to the whole way through...I found that here. Some people have a hard time considering music with vocals of such softness - rock; but the simple fact here is that this is an album where most of the power comes in the lyrics - which could stand alone as poetry, and in the subtle and clean instrumentation - which is nothing less than perfect. I know that it is already hard to imagine an alnum so good through all of my flowery, fawning words, but - one listen straight through and you too will be sold. This album has out and out, impossible-not-to-dance-to songs (Dirty Dream #2 and the title track), breathy atmospheric gems (Ease Your Feet in the sea, Chickfactor, Seymour Stein- a brilliant song) as well as grinding, undefinable, songs with no genre or label (the amazing "Simple Things," and the equally great "A Spaceboy Dream"). This is one to buy, because there really is nothing quite like it available anywhere from anyone - and as the band shy away from public acclaim (turned down several major-label deals to sign with small Scottish label "Jeepster") they strengthen the unique nature of their sound which has only gotten better with each flawlessly produced album. Maybe not pure mosh, pyrotechnic, guitar smash rock, and maybe not pure troubador ballads - but a great piece of arranged music nonetheless and an entirely enjoyable addition to any collection.

I've had this CD for about a year and I just found out what an
Arab Strap is a few days ago.

An Arab Strap is a contraption that is designed to fit over a man's genitals and is usually made of leather.

I think I have gone into enough detail for most people. Just wanted to tell you.

(By the way, get the CD. It's really really good.)

I decided to check out the music of Belle and Sebastion simply based on the description they were given by other people. I figured any band that is often mentioned in the same sentance as The Smiths couldn't be all bad. It didn't take me long to realize why a lot of people consider the two bands so similar. Both weave abstract stories using themes of melencholy, sexual frustration, and everything in between. Both contain a timeless sound that can be appreciated by lovers of any musical genre.

Though there are simularities, Belle and Sebastion is certainly a band unique in themselves. Listening to their music is like sitting alone on a grassy hillside on cloudy day. For the most part it is peaceful, but every so often a gust of wind will blow past you so fast its gone before you realize its there. Lyrically they display a maturity that has unfortunatly become a rare thing in modern music, and the musicianship is so solid it almost sounds effortless.

Belle and Sebastian is a fantastic band and I hope to hear many great things from them in the future.

The Boy with the Arab Strap moves like the tides. It's the aural equivalent of napping on the beach too close to the water, as it cycles among feelings of baking in the sun, to the gentle lapping of water against your toes, to the soft crashing of waves washing over. And back out again. If I had to list the best "fall asleep with the headphones on" albums of all time, this album would be right at the top with the Cure's Disintegration, and Pink Floyd's Meddle. One of Belle and Sebastians finest works.

It could have been a brilliant career - 4/5 Great opener. It's not uber mellow, but it is ubermelodic.

Sleep the Clock Around - 5/5 A wonderful, bouncy song that's hard to describe. After all this time I still have no idea what it's about, because I haven't ever tried to assemble the lyrics into any coherent story. When I first listened to it I loved it but assumed that due to it's simple melody, it would become repetetive, but I was wrong.

Is it Wicked not to care - 3 One of Isobel Campbells few self-written songs. I've never been a huge fan of her voice (When not used in a backing capacity) and her song writing isn't particularly good either, but this is not too bad. The melody seems a bit sophomoric, and seems to sound like a theme song for a BBC children's show from the 80's.

Ease your feet in the sea - 4 I love Stuart's vox in this one. Nothing about this tune is meant to be riveting, just a simple song about the ocean. It fits in well with the imagery evoked by the music and lyrics of the rest of the album.

A Summer Wasting - 3.75 Another summery tune (obvious?) that seemed like a low point at first but grew with my love for the album. If you heard this alone you might be inclined to think it's not a great tune, but in context of the album, it works well.

Seymour Stein - 2.75 This song achieved a little fame when it was featured in High Fidelity. In the scene, Dick is listening to the track and Barry (played by Jack Black) comes in and shuts it off, saying it sucks, only to put on Katrina and the Waves, of all things. Barry isn't far off the mark - I've always considered this the albums low point - The music is boring and uninspired and Jackson's vox are a little too warbly to be convincing. It also doesn't seem to fit well with the album. On the bright side, i've always been fond of the delivery on the lyric "Record company man....I won't be comin' to dinner."

Space Boy Dream - 2 Oops, except for this throwaway track. When will B&S learn that electronic music is for people that can't write good songs without help from computers? Even Electronic Renaissance on Tigermilk is a "skipper" on most days.

Dirty Dream Number II - 5 Annnnd we're back. Very possibly the best song on the album. Driving and delicious to behold, with a great intro.

The Boy with the Arab Strap - 5 Another winner, easily one of the best tunes on the album and one of B&S's classics.

These song by song reviews always tend to take longer than I expected, so I'll sum up the last three tracks like this. "Chickfactor" sounds exactly as you'd expect a song called chickfactor to sound. "Simple things" is not the worst Belle and Sebastian song ever, but it's not the best either. And finally, if I were writing this album, I could not have thought of a more fitting way to end the album than "The Rollercoaster Ride."

Eight-person band Belle & Sebastian prove that pop is not confined to the brainless bubblegum genre. The melancholy melodies of "Boy With the Arab Strap" show Belle & Sebastian at their peak, with their gently complex music and quietly restrained pop songs.

"Arab Strap" starts off with "It Could Have Been a Brilliant Career," an elusive, quirky little tune that builds up from near silence. Following it up is the almost-catchy, percussive "Sleep the Clock Around," the darkly beautiful title track, the wistful "Summer Wasting," the lulling "Seymour Stein" with its magnificently shivery organ, and finally it finishes up with the pretty, downbeat "Rollercoaster Ride."

Nobody makes the sad stuff any prettier than Belle & Sebastian. "Boy With the Arab Strap" is not quite perfect -- "Seymour Stein," despite its lyrical brilliance, has a forgettable little tune, and the lyrics vary wildly. But their work here is certainly enjoyable and beautiful, balancing out the sweetness, the humor, the melancholy, and the coffee-shop-poet dissatisfaction with life.

The songs brim over with vague unhappiness, an ethereal sense of how the world is full of misery. It's best shown in "Boy With the Arab Strap": Stuart Murdoch sings with deceptive perkiness, "Do you ever feel you have gone too far?/Everyone suffers in silence a burden..." Murdoch let the others do several of the songs for this album, which gives a vague, weird feeling of creative unevenness.

Stuart Murdoch does most of the vocals, and his murmuring voice seems perfectly suited to the songs. And the piano and shimmering violin are backed up by the keyboard, organs, jazzy percussion, delicate chimes and little sonic flourishes like a jet going overhead. One highlight is the delicious bagpipe solo in "Sleep the Clock Around," which completely dominates the music.

The dismally lovely music of Belle & Sebastian is in good, though not perfect form on "Boy With the Arab Strap." Best advised for those who dream of dark coffee-houses, and poetry that drips with loneliness.

Belle & Sebastian is something magical, so magical and amazing that at first glance they seem like nothing. It takes a while to sink in, and in that time their music tends to confuse you, for you've never heard something like this before. But after time, Belle & Sebastian will earn a spot in your heart as one of the most pleasant songcrafters you will ever hear.

The Boy With The Arab Strap is an incredible piece of work by Belle & Sebastian. The entire album stays majestical and gives you an ultimate sense of relaxation, but very strangely sneaks brass instruments in, without you even realizing how loud and out of place the trumpets can be at times. Stuart Murdoch's vocals are (as the music backing it) soothing, and stay fluent as he pumps out fairy-tale lyrics.

'It Could Have Been A Brilliant Career' starts the album off, very slowly. It sets the stage up for 'Sleep The Clock Around', a track which no one can put down. It starts soft, but includes sharp trumpets. 'Is It Wicked Not To Care' has female vocals, followed by 'Ease Your Feet In The Sea', which really does give you the 'beach' mindpicture. The album stays pretty consistant, stopping for the spoken-voice over instrumentals interlude 'A Space Boy Dream'. The album ends on a soft, yet high note with 'The Rollercoaster Ride'.

I really don't have too many things bad to say about this album. If I could give it 4.5 stars, I would. Get this album.

This was the first Belle and Sebastian album I listened to, and it remains my personal favorite (though all are exceptional, especially Tigermilk). There's nothing objectionable about any of the material, but understandably this Scottish-indie folk group won't appeal to everyone's tastes (a quick glance at prior reviews will show that). Their soft, delicate vocals and cautious, sometimes guarded instrumentation can turn off the passive listener...even put you to sleep. But the hooks are there, and they're powerful enough to grab hold and not let go. All tracks have good pop sensibility, and the lyrics (at times) are quite sharp, witty, and refreshing even when they lean towards being inscrutable.

"It Could Have Been a Brilliant Career" isn't a particularly strong song to start off the album, but B&S have a tendency for slow, modest beginnings in their previous works. It's a bit pedestrian, but is catchy enough after several listens.

"Sleep the Clock Around" is one of the album's high points. Again starting slow (and kind of reminiscent of Men Without Hats "Pop Goes the World"), it builds to a staggering crescendo....where synthesizers, horns, percussion and bagpipes take the song's thematic motif to dizzying heights that will lift you, if not force you, off your feet.

Isabelle Campbell sings "Is it Wicked Not to Care", and (contrary to popular belief) she CAN sing. She (as well as Murdoch) is apparently Drake and Dylan-inspired, with a soft silken murmur that is very 'listenable' and lovable....but perhaps the very humbleness and quietness of B&S vocals make it hard to determine if their voices are actually worth anything. The song itself is sincere, with passages that remind me of Drake's "Northern Sky", what with it's Will You Love Me 'Til I'm Dead? verse and all.

"Ease Your Feet Into the Sea" is tranquil and very atmospheric. It opens as a gorgeous love song...'Ease your feet off in the sea, my darling, it's the place to be'...but curiously takes an about face and becomes a dreary, bitter recant of a forlorn relationship that hints at suicide. It never feels uneven, however.

Other notables include "Seymour Stein", a tale of unrequited love cleverly mingled with a tongue-in-cheek apology to a record exec who was stood up by one of the band members. Strange, but somehow it works. "Dirty Dream Number Two" and the title track are the high-water marks of the album in terms of harmony, musical arrangements, and lyrical imagination. "The Rollercoaster Ride", a near 7-minute send-off, is a brilliant conclusion to a mostly brilliant album...it magnificently builds to a climax of proportions seldom seen since the Beatles closed Sgt. Peppers with 'A Day In the Life.'

It's a blessing that, while B&S seem to take extraordinary efforts to remain obscure and hidden, the treasures of their musical ideas nevertheless propagate throughout the world. These guys are too good to remain unknown.

This has to be one of the best albums of the mid 2 late 90's. Magnolia's review is pretty good. The album starts real slow but then the rollercoaster begins. It's deceptive only how they can be. What earlier seems dreadfully out of place and having the consistency of a hurricane turns out to be sweet music at its purest.

Ok...So if you own beautiful precursor to this album 'If you're feeling sinister' you probably bought it at the start of winter and spent the next two months reading and humming along while riding on city buses for a hobby (to borrow a few words from our darling Stuart). Well, all you nerdy woolen-jumper-wearers, here is your album for spring, and possibly for summer too. 'Boy with the arab strap' lacks the lovely British-ness of '...sinister', but more than makes up for it with imaginative, pretty tunes and consistently brilliant lyrics. Of course it's all nice, but there's plenty that's, well, wonderful!!!!! 'Seymour Stein' is a glorious, mini-epic (I particularly love the line about the 'north country girl'!!!) and the title track is irresistable. I could gush all day, but instead will choose to highlight the thorn amongst a dozen roses which is 'A space boy dream'. Electronic music does not gel well with B&S's lovely lyricism (does anyone actually listen to 'Electronic renaissance' on 'Tigermilk') and disturbs the beautiful balance of the rest of the album. This minor quibble aside, this is a gorgeous album, and a must for all daydreamers, scrabble-players and bookworms.