#1 – Belle & Sebastian Write About Love
If I had showed you all a jumbled up list of the 15 albums on the countdown how many of you would have automatically put this at #1 for me? A pretty high percentage, right? I mean is there a more of an album in my wheelhouse than one called “Belle & Sebastian Write About Love”? They’ve consistently been a perennial favorite of mine for *years* and when you thrown in album with this as the theme, game’s over folks. Also take into account that out of my personality traits, those such as love (obviously), nostalgia, and loyalty are constants and all those are at play here. I suppose what I’m trying to say is that even though it’s really not the best album on this list, and if I were an objective man about it this should be somewhere in the middle of the top 10 and probably not #1, it’s still at the top spot because I’m me. However, it’s still *my* list and remember…it’s called “Josh’s *Favorite* Albums” so nobody’s under the real impression this is objective.
With all that said, it’s been a bit of a wait for this disc. Their previous effort, 2006’s The Life Pursuit, is still one of my favorite albums of the past decade yet other projects slowed the pace of getting this one out. Stuart Murdoch (their principle singer and songwriter) spent much of his time in-between working on the God Help The Girl project (Which made my top list last year) and that sucked up time that could have been spent on a new B&S album so it’s understandable. So anyway, this came out in October, and I even caught them the Sunday before the album came out so timing was on my side in this case.
Okay, so let’s go over a few album highlights. Although not the single, I think the tune that caught a lot of people, and did so off guard, was the opener, “I Didn’t See It Coming” which I suppose is kind of ironic. This is so as it’s a “Sarah” song as it was written by band member Sarah Martin and she sings lead as well. She usually writes and sings songs that are well enough but the vast majority of their work is written by Stuart so she usually seems to get maybe one or two songs per album. Having said that, I think it’s brilliant and was one of my favorite album tracks of the year. Next to this tune is “I Want The World To Stop” which I had thought was going to be the first single, as it has that vibe, but has a cool 60’s-ish feel to it. It’s funny because the actually single, “Write About Love” is good tune, but hasn’t grabbed me the way these other tracks have. Music’s funny that way. Probably the biggest surprise on the album, if you’re not ready for it, is in “Little Lou, Ugly Jack, Prophet John” which is a duet between Stuart and Norah Jones. It’s great. You’re getting ready to hear another song, the intro starts up, and before you know it Norah Jones is on a Belle & Sebastian album. Seems random but nice anyway. It does contain a line I think many of us can relate to who have been in and out of love. When they sing, “What a waste, I could have been your lover. What a waste, I could have been your friend.” it does hit home. Then there’s the requisite Stevie Jackson song, “I’m Not Living In The World” with its many key changes. It’s always good to hear Stevie. Exploring faith and God is the topic in “The Ghost of Rockschool” as the protagonist wakes up in the morning feeling distant from God after seeing God everywhere the previous day. It tackles the ups and downs we sometimes have with that balance between feeling God close and then not seeing Him anywhere. In “Read The Blessed Pages” it appears to be another in a line of songs about former B&S member Isobel Campbell, who abruptly left the band 10 years ago, but I read recently this isn’t the case. Regardless, it’s a tune about how you can have someone so close and intimate with you, who then unexpectedly leaves. This, obvious, can also be the case in romantic relationships as well which is why it’s emotionally effective.
Well that’s about it. I hope they don’t wait close to 5 years before the next album. I am glad to have seen them live again and hope that maybe this is the release they make it in America. Naaaaahhhhhhhh…Not going to happen but oh well. They’re lovely people who make equally wonderful music. Here are the requisite videos.
I Didn’t See It Coming
I Want The World To Stop
Write About Love
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