Belle & Sebastian - I'm Waking Up to Us
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Free Music Notes for I'm Waking Up to Us
Free Music Review: Have You Awakened to B&S..??
Hit: 5 Stars
I've been in love with this band since late 1997, when I was bowled over by "..Sinister." 4 years later, I'm still very much an ardent supporter of the band, but the 'head over heels' bit has faded. It's not that the magic and charm they so effortlessly weave has in anyway diminished. In fact, they've consistently put out the best chamber pop albums every year. It's just that more recent offerings have been somewhat mixed. "Legal Man" and "Jonathan David," while worthy and good, failed to capture the full talent of the band as previous releases had. There was also much division in the ranks over the quality of "Fold Your Hands Child..".. but after repeated listens, I think most will agree that 90% of the album grows on ya and stays with you as the other albums have. That said, I'm happy to report that this ep is solid gold. I loved it upon first listen, which hasn't happened with the last few B&S releases.. and I have to say it's good to be filled with an excitement for them again. "I'm Waking Up To Us" is perhaps the zenith of B&S 60's throwback sound. It's a gorgeously orchestrated and produced number that harkens back to the best days of The Byrds. "I Love My Car," with its merry accompaniment from The Uptown Shufflers, is perhaps the most fun song the band has released since "Lazy Line Painter Jane." While "Marx and Engels," the beautiful and quiet closer, slips comfortably under the heart, and takes up residence there for a good long while. The quick bit of piano that finishes the e.p. is a perfect example of the simple yet profound pleasures this band is capable of. A must have? Most definitely.
Free Music Review: sinister once more...
Hit: 5 Stars
I was quite disappointed by "Jonathan David" and a bit wary of buying this EP, but happily, it's a great little album. It meets the high standards set by "If You're Feeling Sinister," especially in the final two of its three tracks. The title-track is kind of a throwaway--not very memorable lyrically or musically, leading one to wonder why it is indeed the title track. Probably because the titles of the other two tracks would make poor album titles--isn't releasing an EP called "Marx & Engels" just a bit too pretentious, even if people like us are its audience?
Perhaps, but that song is the clear stand-out, a little like "Fox in the Snow" if it were about the person you like being more into the literature of the revolution than into you (and even Rosa Luxemburg knew what that was like). It's a great song, that you will quite possibly listen to over and over--you may even wake up with it in your head, as I did this morning. This lovely song closes the album.
The one before it, "I Love My Car," is also high quality. It starts out mellowly enough, but it will end up sounding a bit like B&S's take on "When I'm Sixty Four," replete with cheery clarinets and an upbeat tempo--a winner as well. The most unfortunate thing about this album is that it's confined to three tracks. But you'll listen to them again and again.
Free Music Review: the best so far
Hit: 5 Stars
Of course, it's all so subjective, but I think this single is the best they've produced so far. The openning track is more formally satyrical, the lead singer actually stylizing his singing voice quite dramatically! It's odd that this is the title song, though. Although certainly very enjoyable (great back-up vocals that you'll have to sing along with) it's not the best of the three. The following tracks, however, are really fantastic.
I love my car is so beautifully produced, has such rich sound, but retains that honest crisp sound that Belle and Sebastian make their trademark. The melody is amazingly catchy (if a bit jingle-like) and the beat is infectious in an old dixieland jazz kind of way. This is the first track that suddenly hit me, and I listened to it over and over, like seven or eight times in a row.
But most astounding is Marx and Engels, which I think is their most beautiful song to date. As always, their lyrics are fascinating, but the melody is just so sweet and rhapsodic. Again, the producing is really excellent. All the instrumentation is very well played and surrounds you in a soft, warm shower of harmony. With a lovely vocal counterpoint and an almost mystical ending, this song has more of a dramatic shape than most Belle and Sebastian songs. It travels farther and offers an interesting revelation at the very end. It's a total classic.
Free Music Review: Absolutely essential
Hit: 5 Stars
This EP packs more gorgeous harmony, lush instrumentation and charming lyrics into its 10 short minutes than most bands manage in a full album, if ever."Waking Up To Us" sounds a bit like a lost Roy Orbison/Phil Spector tune from the 60's, with its rich orchestration and Stuart's heart-thumping-on-sleeve vocal delivery. It's full of wonderful violin and oboe counter-melodies, and it wins my award for Best Use Of Bassoon In A Rock Song.
What if the Squirrel Nut Zippers covered the Beach Boys' "God Only Knows?" The result might sound a lot like "I Love My Car." I can't get its bouncy, swaggering horn melody out of my head. More wonderful, inscrutable Stuart lyrics here: "I love the rat who lives under the floor and makes his bed from novelettes." He's got triple the imagination of most songwriters.
"Marx and Engels" could hold its own with the best of "If You're Feeling Sinister." It's a warm, gentle piano tune, in which our hero's advances are rebuffed by that cute Communist Manifesto-reading riot grrl in the local laundrette.
I feel like all the previous B&S albums have been building toward this point. It's relaxed, whimsical, intimate and rich. You won't want to do without this disc.
Free Music Review: in defense of i love my car
Hit: 5 Stars
This is a great EP, and I agree with most of the reviews here. It starts off with "I'm Waking Up To Us" which is a song about the since departed and beautiful Isobel Campbell. As good as this song it, it is the third best song of a three-EP set. The second song "I Love My Car" has had pretty negative reviews here, but a song with a new orleans clarinet laden jazz bridge and daft lyrics with a nod to the Beach Boys and namely the rift between Mike Love and Brian Wilson (I love my Carl/I love my Brian/my Dennis and my Al/I could even find it in my heart to love Mike Love) has to be brilliant. "Marx and Engels" sounds like it could come straight from "If You're Feeling Sinister" but the sound is a little cleaner, although I think the weakest lyrically. The brilliance of the song still comes with Stu's arrangements and Isobel's countermelody which is actually a criticism of Karl Marx and Robert Engels (assumedly she is voicing the girl whom Stuart is talking about) shows the subtle brilliance one of the best contemporary bands.