“If You’re Feeling Sinister” album review
Welcome to The Daily Fix’s first official album review. Now, those of you who have read album reviews before in sources as illustrious as Spin (or Rolling Stone, if you’re a sheep) already know that the music has to take a backseat to the author. On that topic: those of you who frequently read The Daily Fix won’t recognize me as your usual correspondent, Maurice. That’s because I’m Thorbjorn. ON TO THE MUSIC!
Now, you probably won’t recognize the album I’m reviewing today, “If You’re Feeling Sinister”, by Belle & Sebastian. That’s because it’s a Scottish indie band, and I had to swim to Scotland to get my hands on a copy. And let me tell you - this is some good shit!
Belle & Sebastian is pretty much one guy, Stuart Murdoch. He made the band at some point in the early eighties, naming it after his love of Disney film characters. Murdoch, featured on the cover of this album, claims to have started the “transgendered indie singer” trend by changing his gender to match his woman-voice. Murdoch has claimed the inspiration for most of the songs on this album were inspired by an incident in which he was molested on a bus from Edinburgh to Glasgow by a metalhead on his way to a Danzig concert. According to Wikipedia, the album was released in 1996, but nobody ever listened to it except for me. It’s remarkable how many albums are like that…
Hmmm: what’s next? Sorry folks, I’m reading along with a Rolling Stone review as a template to learn how to write these things. Ah yes - I’m supposed to pick the songs I like the most so you can just limewire this shit instead of buying the album. BEST SONGS:
~ “Seeing Other People” ~ This song, inspired in part by The Thomas Crowne Affair, is a classic tale of teenage bisexuality we all experienced back in grade school. The music is mostly lifted from Bach chorales and transcribed into piano, but Murdoch turns this religious and reverent music into perversity, and boy, damnation has never sounded better! Humming this at work will make feminist secretaries want to fellate you.
~ “Get Me Away From Here I’m Dying” ~ This 5-chord pop masterpiece features guest vocals from Rihanna before the whore copied that chick from The Cranberries. A catchy melody and rhythm section makes this one of those songs that guitar students on college campuses across America like to play on the quad with an acoustic guitar until I punch them. Fun Fact - Bob Dylan has covered this song over a dozen times since he died in 2005 and was replaced with a Robert-zimmermarionette.
~ “Judy And The Dream Of Horses” ~ This is the only cover on the album. Originally done as a free poetry jazz jam by The Doors but never recorded because Bill Graham referred to it as “boring as fuck,” Murdoch has vamped it up with a trumpet part, and a 18-string electric guitar specially made for him by Rickenbacker. The outro syncs up perfectly with The Velvet Underground’s “Heroin,” except for the key and tempo.
or
