Great Magazine Reads: Belle and Sebastian launched their music without a persona, and my favorite 23 early tracks
“If people want to know who this band is,” said Stuart Murdoch in the early days of Belle and Sebastian, “they’re gonna have to work to find out.”
Indeed, I was a fan of the Glasgow band back in the 1990s for several years before I knew much about them or what they looked like. The formation of a collective that continues to pump out catchy and exciting rock n’ roll is the focus of an excellent feature in the July issue of MOJO Magazine.
When starting out, leader Murdoch had “post-viral ME – chronic fatigue syndrome. I’d had a really active 1980s, running marathons. Then I couldn’t even get out of my room. Next I was back at my folks’ house and I’d started writing songs.”
Many major labels wanted to sign the mysterious band, but they had already signed with a new independent called Jeepster. Murdoch said, “I also decided I wouldn’t do interviews. I wanted to get on with what was in front of me. I didn’t want to talk about the middle-of-the-road ’70s records that were there in my heart – records like Andrew Gold’s Never Let Her Slip Away.”
His girlfriend at the time is on the cover of the band’s debut record Tigermilk “sort of breastfeeding” a stuffed tiger. (That cover art is oddly tough to find online now and has been replaced with a cartoon version of that image.)
Murdoch said he “sent a copy of Tigermilk to Morrissey and wrote him a letter. Never heard back. Who didn’t like The Smiths?”
His inspiration for the masterful (and my favorite) second album If You’re Feeling Sinister was Court And Spark by Joni Mitchell and Tapestry by Carole King. He fell in love with bandmate Isobel Campbell, who is still making great solo music, during the mixing of Sinister and said, “It became a tensh-fest, full of tension. Instead of seven democratic people within a group, we were a couple in a group. It became tricky. I was not a good boyfriend to Isobel.”
Here are my favorite 23 Belle and Sebastian songs from the 32 collected on the band’s first three albums, which are by far my favorites. That said, someday I may do a fuller list that includes the top songs off all 12 B&S studio releases, and they also have a very rich collection of EP tracks. I think you basically can’t go wrong with Belle and Sebastian. But I would recommend starting here:
The Stars of Track and Field, If You’re Feeling Sinister
Like Dylan in the Movies, If You’re Feeling Sinister
The Boy With the Arab Strap, The Boy With the Arab Strap
Get Me Away From Here, I’m Dying, If You’re Feeling Sinister
The Fox in the Snow, If You’re Feeling Sinister
Expectations, Tigermilk
The State I Am In, Tigermilk
Judy and the Dream of Horses, If You’re Feeling Sinister
Dirty Dream Number Two, The Boy With the Arab Strap
Me and the Major, If You’re Feeling Sinister
My Wandering Days Are Over, Tigermilk
Sleep the Clock Around, The Boy With the Arab Strap
If You’re Feeling Sinister, If You’re Feeling Sinister
I Don’t Love Anyone, Tigermilk
It Could Have Been a Brilliant Career, The Boy With the Arab Strap
Seeing Other People, If You’re Feeling Sinister
She’s Losing It, Tigermilk
A Summer Wasting, The Boy With the Arab Strap
We Rule the School, Tigermilk
Mayfly, If You’re Feeling Sinister
I Could Be Dreaming, Tigermilk
You’re Just a Baby, Tigermilk
Seymour Stein, The Boy With the Arab Strap