Baxendale
You Will Have Your Revenge CD
Le Grand Magistery. HRH-016.
by Keith McLachlan.
September 4, 2000.
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One of these days, after I have earned my stripes, I
will be admitted to the secret society of record
reviewers and then be privy to the collection of chain
mail and be given the encryption key to secret
messages on the backs of cereal boxes and sour skittle
packages. These messages explain in minute detail
exactly which buzzwords and phrases should be used in
reviewing a record. Apparently the commandment
enclosed in the last directive was that Baxendale were
to be chastised for being 'ironic' and for the most
part each and every person who has reviewed this album
has duly obliged.
It seems they all think Tim Baxendale doesn't actually mean it, his youthful posturing and music making for the thrill of it is all a hopeless sham. Especially cruel since we as pitiable Americans are entirely unaware of the true concept of irony so we are doubly tortured. Ah but then it should follow that my ignorance of irony would be more than a bit of a blessing for it allows me to address this record without any sort of revealing agenda, and it has cause I truly love this record.
But first somewhat of an aside, have you ever noticed how it only seems to be pop fans who are able to admit loving records? And how supposed serious indie rawk fans are only allowed to admit that certain records are more 'cool' than others. I have and it makes me wonder why anyone would want to listen to anything they didn't at least receive joy from. Take the upcoming Radiohead lp for instance. It promises to be the most overanalyzed piece of poo ever and will anyone ever listen to it and swoon? Not likely. They will all prattle on for days about how daring and inventive and dangerous it is, especially for a band of their stature, and then they will sit on their hands for another four years waiting for redundant h and his crew of serious musicians to get off their bums and make another sterile and heartless record.
However, I find that pop records have an entirely different aim. I find that they (for the most part) are not searching for critical approval but rather for the approval of the pop fan's, be they 9 or 43, hearts. Baxendale, who are likely ironic as isn't it inherent that everyone English must be, score miserably when it comes to serious music minds but hit home runs with the hearts of people who truly believe music is the most important thing in the world not because of the status it endows upon them but because of the void that would exist within them were the music to suddenly be excised.
The music here is not revolutionary, but then when was the last time a revolutionary pop record not made by the Super Furry Animals was any good? A long long time ago. For the record the often repeated comparisons to Pulp and Pet Shop Boys are dead on, and I also hear some similarities to fellow toy synth tinkerers Figurine but 'You Will Have Your Revenge' is most easily described with one word: fun. The songs are shouty sing-along travels through adolescence with a keen mind at the wheel. The songs are each guided by a vision filled with social commentary by someone who might not have any agenda except for clearing the room of pompous fakers and replacing them with breathless dreamers.
Just as when you are officially old when you purchase that first Ford Crown Victoria, you are eternally young as long as pop music moves you through a shared sense of spirit and community. Baxendale should galvanise your belief that the world is still safe for people who prefer their music to be entertaining and their worldviews to be molded from everyday experience and not by C students with cool haircuts and jaundiced attitudes.
Beaumont
Discotheque A La Carte CD-EP
Siesta. siesta 95.
by Keith Mclachlan.
August 2, 2001.
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This is where it all goes ABBA. Thank goodness it
didn't go P. Diddy instead. Beaumont is so much
better than Blueboy and the remarkable good fortune of
life has made it so we still have Lovejoy around to
remind us how good Blueboy were each time Lovejoy
writes another "Blueboy" song. The a-side is disco,
but elegantly manufactured for the dance floor in your
head. The Bacharach cover is like a tithing. The
comedy skit is a mistake. The remix is underdone.
Beaumont economy sized, the portable hit parade.
Beaumont
This Is... Beaumont CD
Siesta. Siesta 112.
by Keith McLachlan.
March 9, 2000.
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This is stunning! If you were crying into your Pear
Cider over the end of Blueboy then cry no more because
this is Blueboy. The supposed radical departure from
Blueboy that is supposedly encompassed in this lp has
not quite materialized. Maybe it is just the
ultra-distinctiveness of Keith's vocals but I can
easily imagine anyone putting this record on sight
unseen and them mistaking it for Blueboy. So maybe the
name change was more for internal inspiration? Maybe
Paul and Keith can now tell all of their friends that
they are in this great new band and how those old days
of stodgy tunes and dodgy clothes that was Blueboy have
thankfully been put to rest. Ah but when a record this
great is the result of such shenanigans you start
thinking that maybe other bands should follow suit and
maybe a change in nomenclature would help them throw
off the shackles of staleness and doledrums.
The record is pure Siesta, wonderful cover art, super stylish arrangements and performances with an air of superiority that makes you happy to be condescended towards. It is decidely Blueboy-ish but perhaps with more reliance on the jazzy plucky songs, none of the rock'n'rolla of the last record. The lyrics are very cosmopolitan and less concerned with any single love but more of the loves of modern life with a vintage pair of raybans on to filter the newness with a tinge of retro. Every song is wonderful, in fact it is difficult to pick a stand-out and this clearly makes this the first contender for album of the year, decade, millenium etc... and this in a year that has already seen many wonderful releases in the two short months of its existence.
Belle And Sebastian
Fold Your Hands Child You Walk Like A Peasant vinyl LP
Matador. Ole 429.
by Keith Mclachlan.
June 19, 2000.
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I once had a Biomedical Ethics course where the teacher
thought he had a profound argument in support of
abortion rights by making the analogy that as a fetus a
fetus is simply a potential person and therefore devoid
of all of the inalienable rights that we as realized
persons enjoy, much like that as a man over the age of
35 he was a potential president and not indulgent of
the same sort of privileges that the fat man from
Arkansas is allowed to indulge in. At the time I
thought this would be an effective strategy to go out
and employ with my one friend 'Creationist Chuck' (he
possesses the most fabulous theories about creation. It
consists of a tiered approach to species development,
how every few million or billion years God just starts
over, and how Bacterial evolution is simply
microadaptation and that the whole fossil record
documenting how whales moved into the sea is all a bit
shaky cause there are no true transistion fossils) and
well Chuck (getting back to the argument) was not all
that impressed, and thinking back now from a point of
view as a more mature thinker I can't say I do not
understand his lack of awe at my new intellectual
weaponry.
Potential then seems to be of little affect when it comes to abortion rights but it certainly comes into play on the new Belle and Sebastian album. Technically, we are all potential songwriters I suppose, and the members of Belle and Sebastian as members of said band are all potentially Belle and Sebastain "song"writers, but they aren't are they? No one ever got into Belle and Sebastian because they heard 'Is it Wicked Not to Care?' or because 'Seymour Stein' was dubiously inserted into High Fidelity, nope.
All of the Stuart songs here are fantastic, top notch, angelic and moving. The others? They are B-sides at best, intermissions standing on a fence to be kind and at worst just nonsense, except for the Sarah song though which is surprisingly good but still not up to the B&S standards.
Isobel has a side project, and from her contributions here it sounds as if she saves the best material for Gentle Waves albums. Stevie should get a side project cause his songs are just dull and if he had a side project I could avoid them like I am able to avoid Looper songs. The other two must have run out of crayons for they don't add any tunes and thus probably will each have a simpering side project within weeks. Oh wait one of them is already in a Ska band. Pardon me.
So I suppose the album is great as long as you are able to program your cd player to skip the "others" tracks and concentrate on more lovely Stuart Murdochness. 'Fought in a War' will make you ache, 'The Model' will make you dance and 'Chalet Lines' will make you pause. More evidence that while being charming in theory, these things called communism and egalitarianism can't make the mediocre thrilling.
Belle And Sebastian
Lazy Line Painter Jane [box set] CD Box Set
Matador.
by Keith McLachlan.
March 21, 2000.
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Why couldn't these three cds be released on one cd? Why do you need to
pay 18 dollars for 12 songs? Where is 'Just a Modern Rock Song'? What's
up with that bland cover and can you really buy the slip sleeve
separately from Jeepster? Are people ordering it? Why do people send in
pictures of themselves on the toilet to try and be risque in the company
of louts on the sinister mailing list? What does Mrs. David do in Looper
other than an uncanny impersonation of Linda Mccartney? Is Looper the
last great grebo band? I don't think so, no. There is a Looper song
here, then the same song is done as a Belle and Sebastian song and you
realize Looper is pretty dopey all the same. The Flaming Lips are old,
why doesn't he sing? Why is it ok to like Looper and not Gentle Waves?
Why do Belle and Sebastian fans average 14 erotic Belle and Sebastian
dreams each month? Is Matador an indie again?
What are the odds that the next Belle and Sebastian record will be the
last? i'd say pretty good. They really are good enough to take on the
world, but the world seems to have let them down by not putting up much of
a fight. Why don't they let Stuart Murdoch write all of the songs? This
collection has all of their best songs and not a single one was written
by the other stiffs. Did you know March is the snowiest month in Denver?
Belle And Sebastian
The Boy With The Arab Strap CD
Matador. OLE 311-2.
by Keith McLachlan.
December 15, 1998.
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It is really good. I like it.
Especially Stevie Jackson singing 'Chickfactor.' I like that one a lot.
Oh and Isobel (swoooon!) does a nice turn on 'Is it Wicked Not to Care?'
Stuart David needs to get a new hobby though cause his track is kinda
dumb. The rest is all pretty ace. What is so great though is how in the
face of all the hype surrounding this record they manage to keep their
heads and just release a record like this, one that is so low-key and
without bombast that it makes you think they really will be able to keep
their heads while they get sucked into the vortex of global superstardom.