836. Belle And Sebastian - If You're Feeling Sinister (1996)

Track Listing

1. Stars Of Track And Field
2. Seeing Other People
3. Me And The Major
4. Like Dylan In The Movies
5. Fox In The Snow
6. Get Me Away From Here I'm Dying
7. If You're Feeling Sinister
8. Mayfly
9. Boy Done Wrong Again
10. Judy And The Dream Of Horses


Review

I had never really gotten what all of those obsessed Belle And Sebastian fans were all about... I get it now. After having two amazing albums by them in a row here I have developed a new appreciation for them.

Each single track here is great, overall it might be infinitesimally inferior to Tigermilk, where they were more experimental. There is a sense here of Belle And Sebastian focusing on their eventual sound.

This sounds therefore like a distillation of Tigermilk, as such it is a more consistent album, it loses something however by not being as innovative as their first outing. However, for all intents in purposes, this is really the first Belle and Sebastian album, as Tigermilk only reached 1000 people on its limited release. As such this was the album which had true impact. And it is pretty damn near perfect, the lyrics, the music, the delivery...

Track Highlights

1. Seeing Other People
2. Mayfly
3. If You're Feeling Sinister
4. Stars of Track and Field

Final Grade

10/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

If You're Feeling Sinister is often considered to be Belle & Sebastian's career high point. Band leader Stuart Murdoch has stated in interviews that this is probably his best collection of songs, although they are not very well recorded. In 2005, Belle & Sebastian released a live version of the album entitled If You're Feeling Sinister: Live at the Barbican on the iTunes Music Store. Its purpose was to offer fans a better recorded version of If You're Feeling Sinister.


If You're Feeling Sinister: