I Could Be Dreaming: the Belle and Sebastian song-by-song, album-by-album thread

Today's song is "The Book of You", written by Belle and SEbastian; produced by Ben H. Allen III.
Lead vocals are by Sarah Martin.

Lyric.

Ben H. Allen: additional synthesizer, programming, percussion

 

For me, this is a big step down in quality from the other Sarah song on the album, and I don't like her vocal on this - her breathy voice struggles to compete with the glam stomp - 2.5/5.

 

It's a fun one. The bridge is very melodic.

But I agree that Sarah 's voice comes out short.

3/5

 

I find the sound of the band frankly annoying on the verse; it obscures the melody: the chorus soars though and the lyric throughout is typically too excellent to give a bad rating to. Another mature love song.

I agree that Sarah's very pretty voice doesn't sound good trying to compete with this arrangement, but still:

4/5

 

In theory I think I should like this song, but something really doesn’t gel. 2.5.

 

Sarah's voice is about the only thing I like about this. Once again this could have been a good song, but the arrangement is not right for it.

2.5/5

 

The Book of You - I enjoy it reasonably 3/5

There's something off about the rhythmic stuff in the verses.

 

I don't share the dislike of the backing in the verses. I like the bounciness of the guitar. This is a big party song.
It's risky to give a 5 to a song that's so new to me, but I'll risk it. 5/5, first one I've given for this album.

 

The Book Of You 4/5

 

The Book of You: 2

I couldn't remember anything about this one (and I've listen to the album many many times when it came out). I agree with pretty much every negative comment you guys have said - weak vocals, annoying backing track. Also, the album is long enough, there is no point in having such an average song as a penultimate track. I could have given 2.5-3, but I'll give a penalty point here for superfluousness.

 

"The Book Of You" sounds like Sarah wrote the song as she normally would, as the underlying melodies are just as pleasant as her other songs (especially the chorus), but then someone decided to turn it into a synth-based song, and unfortunately Sarah's vocal style just can't handle it, so it ended up being a bit of a mess.

I'm sure there's a good song in there somewhere underneath all the rubbish, so I'll give it a generous 3/5.

 

Our votes for "The Book Of You"

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2-0
3-5
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Average: 3.375

 

Today's song is "Today (This Army's for Peace)", written by Belle and Sebastian and produced by Ben H. Allen III.

Lyric.

 

An excellent album closer with a lovely melody - 5/5.

 

A companion piece to You Made Me Forget My Dream.

really nice dreamy quality to it. 5.

 

Tomorrow I'll hold up the album Girls for Peacetime Want to Dance" after that the following:

• Born To Act
• Two Birds
• Piggy IN the Middle
• A Policeman's Silence
• Olympic Village 6 AM - B&S single, 2016
• Rock Your Baby-Stevie Jackson and the Wellgreen, from 2012
• My Ever Accumulating Losses - Roy Moller (co-written by Stevie Jackson), 2016
• 2013- by Justin Velor, co-written by Chris Geddes, from 2013
• Live 2015

Note, I'll go through the non B&S songs (in red, above) all on one day, I haven't even checked if they even stream yet.

On the 26th we'll start with the 2017-2018 triple EP How To Solve Our Human Problems 1-3.

 

Today (This Army's for Peace) - 3.5/5 I like it

 

One day Ben H. Allen woke up, looked at himself in the mirror, and said "Today, I'm not going to mess up another Belle and Sebastian song, but instead give it the production it needs".

4/5

 

Beautiful end to the album.
4/5

 

It's OK but I don't get much into it 3/5

 

I really should like "Today (This Army's For Peace)" more than I do, because it is a dreamy album closer and of course it's a welcome relief that the synth is nowhere to be heard, but for some reason I just find it a bit dull. The melody is ok but the whole tempo seems too slow and it doesn't change much in over 5 minutes. Like some other tracks on this album it's far too long.

3/5

 

Very dreamy, 21st century neo-psychedelic: this is the song that reminds me a little of Animal Collective and other underground music that was fashinable ten years ago.

Still, I'm n ot sure if this treatment is exactly the best one for this otherwise pretty little song, but what the hell, 4/5.

 

Our votes for "Today (This Army's for Peace)"

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2-0
3-2
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Average: 3.9375

 

Today, Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance, the album.

 

I think I like this album more than most of you, though not unequivocally. Its a double album on vinyl (even the 12 song version) and like many double album it has a certain stylistic sprawl to it: 80s and 90s dance/pop, a few 21st century touches, a bit of Russian/Eastern Ukrainean sounding folk-pop, the Caribbean disco and general seventies funk alongside Life Pursuit-ish clunk and early Belle and Sebastian pastiche -- can you pastiche yourself? Belle and Sebastian can.

But unlike many of the great double albums in which the sum can be greater than the parts, I can't help but think that it would have been a more enjoyable album if shortened. I know that the market has drastically changed and the time when B&S could release a 35 minute album and then another 30 minutes on EPs has gone forever, but I think it might have made it better for me: if the songs must be long (and I think that most of the long ones justify their length: though I realize not all agree, they all sound good to me.)

So basically, I accept the album for what it is: but if you're going to make a long album due to the demands of the modern market (and generally eschew singles) you might as well go whole hog and include all of the songs.

We'll see over thenext few days if the bonus tracks are any good -- I hope they stream.
Typically B&S bonus tracks/B-sides have at least one sparkling gem amid the genre exercises...

I'm giving the album a solid 4/5 -- I like where they've gone with this album; it's almost as good as Write About Love, but is more varied. I like what Ben H. Allen III brought to the proceedings too: he managed to really expand them while they still retain that B&S 21st century sound (as opposed to their 90s sound.)