Belle & Sebastian - Dear Catastrophe Waitress
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Music CD Cover
Artist: Belle & SebastianEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2003-10-07
Music Label: Sanctuary Records
Soundtracks:
- Step Into My Office, Baby
- Dear Catastrophe Waitress
- If She Wants Me
- Piazza, New York Catcher
- Asleep On A Sunbeam
- I'm A Cuckoo
- You Don't Send Me
- Wrapped Up In Books
- Lord Anthony
- If You Find Yourself Caught In Love
- Roy Walker
- Stay Loose
Free Music Notes for Dear Catastrophe Waitress
Free Music Review: Say a prayer to the man above...
Hit: 5 Stars
Dear Catastrophe Waitress is Belle and Sebastian's fifth studio album, and I have to say they're back to their best. Not many other bands make it to five albums and still can claim they're at the height of their powers (eg. blur, radiohead etc.). Certainly the writing was on the wall for B&S. They rose to fame on the strength of their incredible no-budget debut "Tigermilk", which no-one heard on it's initial release as part of a school project. They toured, gained a fan base, released only EPs and refused to talk to the press. By the time they released their second album "If you're feeling sinister" they had perfected the art of lo-fi orchestral pop. Sadly they were still dreadfully shambolic live. They then reached a cross-roads. Basically they were selling too many albums and becoming too famous to claim they were still "lo-fi" and "underground". From this crossroads they sadly took the wrong path, and the next two albums "The boy with the arab strap" and "Fold your hands child, you walk like a peasant" (despite having increasingly bizarre names) committed the sin of deception. The band spent too much time trying to sound like they didn't care, trying to pretend they were still recording in someone's bedroom, ever fearful that Mum was going to come in and tell them to "Turn that bloody racket down!!". Also Stuart Murdoch generously let some of his less talented band mates try their hand at songwriting. Not the best idea...Anyway, after "FYHCYWLAP" got a decidedly muted response from fans and critics alike, the band took some time off to record a soundtrack to the (brilliant) Todd Solondz movie "Storytelling". I think this experience finally convinced the band they were too good to pretend to be bad. The next EP releases shone with a newfound sparkle, and added a large shot of Phil Spector-esque production. Also the band began to (gasp) rehearse their live show, and now in concert they are a gleeful explosion of virtuoso multi-instrumentalism, boundless energy and pre-schooler-in-music-class fun.
All this biography illuminates the necessity for this album to be different. Only by eschewing the lo-fi sound of old could they grow as a band, expand their sonic horizons and more fully realize their musical vision.
Album opener "Step into my office, Baby" swaggers in with the same vibe found on the "Legal Man" EP. With a lively horn section, cheeky double-entendres and chiming harmonies it serves notice that while they've previously claimed to "rule the School", they now mean it! And you'd better not try to stop them...
The title track carries on in the same chirpy vein, while "If she wants me" drops the pace but keeps the funkiness.
For me though the highlight of the album is track 4, "Piazza, New York Catcher". It's a throwback to the early days, just Stuart and his acoustic guitar and his long time obsessions with homosexuality, America and religion. It's classic B&S and it's a testament to how far the band have come that it sounds somewhat out of place here.
Other highlights include the upbeat "Wrapped up in books", the tribute to 80's Northern Irish TV game show "Catchphrase" host "Roy Walker" and the bizarre album closer "Stay Loose", that drags the B&S musical powers up into the 80's.
"Dear Catastrophe Waitress" is a great album by a great band that has learned to escape the shackles of their past (goodbye lo-fi, good riddance Isobel) and learn how to have fun again. It's just what the world needs right now...
Dear Catastrophe Waitress Poster
For a band with such a modest, homespun feel as Scottish cult heroes Belle and Sebastian, the utilization of a big pop producer like Trevor Horn could easily have been a tragic mistake. Instead, it proves to be a stroke of brilliance. Rather than doling out the kind of overblown mountains of sound he's heaped on artists like Seal and Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Horn simply expands the B&S palette in a completely organic, extremely effective manner. The arrangements are more fleshed-out than usual, the textures more varied, and the overall sound a bit more sprightly and sunny. All this is to the good, however, as the band's unerring melodic sensibility and gently quirky lyricism remain joyfully intact. The interaction of Belle and Sebastian's trademark twisted-twee songcraft and the effervescence of Horn's production makes DEAR CATASTROPHE WAITRESS one of the group's most instantly appealing albums.Just when they seemed sure to fade away into twee-pop irrelevance, this obscure Scottish indie-pop act releases their strongest album in seven years. With lots of help from uber-commercial producer Trevor Horn (ABC, Yes, Pet Shop Boys, t.A.T.u.), singer-songwriter Stuart Murdoch finally gets back to leading his band. It was a nice idea to have everyone else share the vocal spotlight on Fold Your Hands and Storytelling, but wasn't Murdoch's delicate voice so much of what made us all fall in love with the band in the first place? Clearly, Horn understands this, just as he understands that the preciously lo-fi sound had to go. Horn brings every instrument into a crystal-clear, lovingly retro, Top of the Pops clarity. It's their most diverse album by far, from the marching, uptempo(!) drums on "Step Into My Office Baby" (which sounds like Melanie meets Adam and the Ants) to the fractured, New Wave-organ-driven "Stay Loose" (the close as B&S has come to Talking Heads territory). What a nice surprise. --Mike McGonigal
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