B & S Provide the music to a film (Strytelling - Belle & Sebastian)

Member Name: anthony j e

Product:	Strytelling - Belle & Sebastian
Date:	30/01/03 (35 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Moments of class

Disadvantages: Boring instrumentals

As a Belle and Sebastian fan, I must be brutally honest about this one, and admit that it isn't up to the quality of previuos offerings from the Scottish indie outfit. For a start there is a load of dialogue on here which might mean something if you've seen the film, and i haven't, so this is not a good start for someone who owns everything that Belle and Sebastian have previousley released.

Another negative point is that lyrical content is sparse, this could be down to the fact that this has been written to go alongside a film, and whoever directed the film will have had a lot do do with what was used and what was dropped. Maybe there was a whole heap of stuff written for this one which might appear on later releases.

"Storytelling" starts off with with the gentle strumming of an acoustic guitar, a lovely piano, sweet baseline and a violin which is a quality instrumental that kind of pops up again on track number five. The second piece is again an instrumental with a voice on there in an attempt to make it slightly less dull. Track number four picks up a little bit with the use of a harmonica, and its until track number seven before the Belle and Sebastian we all know and love come to the surface with "Black and white unite" which is the first on "Storytelling" to have any lyrics. Don't get me wrong here and think that I only appreciate Belle and Sebastians lyrics, because everything about the way they put things together appeals to me, it's just on this one it doesn't have the same affect somehow.

Back to the gyst, track eight is again an instrumental which is an interesting one that has a kind of combination between jazz and ballet, and then comes the title track which is a typical B&S number with the use of all the usual instruments and the split vocal duties between Isobel and Stuart.

Track number twelve "Football" is a short satirical song about the sport mentio
ned in the title, thiteen is a short instrumental, fourteen "Wandering alone", a song that i'd previously heard on radio one when B&S played a gig in Northern Ireland in order to raise money for the NSPCC. This one is a kind of jingley jangley pop tune that could be one of those kind of holiday memories if Lunn Polly done pakage holidays to Glasgow.Track sixteen "Scooby driver" is one of the highlights of "Storytelling" even though it only lasts for just over a minute it's still vintage B&S. Seventeen is that same instrumental that has been tasted twice already on tracks one and five. And that brings us up to the closing track which isn't exactly "Lazy line painter Jane" but still has enough about it to do B&S the credit which they truly deserve fo providing us with a quality band who keep their feet firmly in the territory where they want to remain.

Summary: