Customer Reviews

If You're Feeling Sinister

5 star:		(69)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I got turned onto B&S rather by accident and picked up this album as my second purchase after 2006's "The Life Pursuit". This is one of those albums that seems to have been placed into a moment in time. It is clear and distinct compared to almost anything else of the 1990s. Every song is unique and the lyrics are catchy and quirky. Stuart M's voice drips across flawless melodies. Definitely in my top 10 albums of all time.

This was the first B&S album that I bought and I love it. Tracks 1-7 are flawless and some of the best music you'll get to hear anywhere. Songs 8 and 9 aren't bad songs they just dont stick in your head like the previous do. The last track picks up where the first seven left off. All in all this album is fantastic and very fun to listen to. If you just like good music and great songwriting then pick this one up. There are a variety of intruments used and every song is worthwhile. If you're new to B&S this is THE place to start. ENJOY!

Anyone remeber Donovan? He had a few hits back in the 60's. Belle and Sebastian sound like today's Donovan. Pretentious! Maybe it is Donovan? Whatever happened to him? He could be doing this stuff today? He was doing this stuff 30 years ago.
I would pass on this, unless you liked Donovan. Well then buy some Donovan...

Pazz

I had never heard too much about Belle & Sebastian other than a good word and the occasional rave review and didn't give them much thought. I heard 'Like Dylan In The Movies' at a friend's house and had to hear more. This album completely exceeded all of my expectations and made me a permanent fan of the group.

Musically, the album is very folkish, with most acoustic guitars, or clean electric guitars. On some songs ('Seeing Other People', 'The Fox In The Snow') the piano is the dominant instrument. Many of the tracks are also augmented with trumpet melodies ('The Stars Of Track And Field') and gentle string arrangements ('Like Dylan In The Movies', 'The Boy Done Wrong Again'). The lyrics are another high point to this album, they are absolutely fabulous. Sometimes dark, sometimes thoughtful or introspective, and always interesting.

Despite what a few reviews say, this album is not esoteric or difficult. It's actually quite catchy and melodic, even easy on the ears. It's very quirky and has that very Anglo European kinda feel to it. The music is very tonal and really quite simple and pleasing. It's not an album that "scenesters" have to pretend to like, because it easily gets by on its own merits. If you've heard good things about this group, please buy this album, it's well worth it.

consider this analogy-
belle & sebastian is to the beatles as president bush is to president reagan- A WATEREDDOWN VERSION

if u didnt like the beatles please do reject this over rated indie tunes to be forgotten with good time

... in a few years. while I don't like If You're Feeling Sinister more than all the Belle and Sebastian fans... If You're Feeling Sinister was one of the most suprising albums to come out of the 1990s'. i prefer other Belle and sebastian albums like "Boy with the Arab Strap"... but i'm weird I guess. but fans think If You're Feeling Sinister is their best, and should be in everyone's collection.

Claimed as belle and sebastian's best work, "If you're feeling sinister" is one of the best albums of the '90s.

Belle and sebastian certainly aren't getting the credit they deserve, "If you're feeling sinister" will be consider as one of the greatest albums ever. Ever? maybe not, 'in my opinion'. but definitely one of the greatest records of the 1990s. it released in 1998 and was a shocker to indie fans. songs like "Fox in the snow", "Dylan in the movies", "Me and the major", and the title-track "If you're feeling sinister" simply describe how great this album is. so, why read my review? go ahead and buy/download this record and you see.

Actually, "If you're feeling sinister" is a landmark in music history.

**** stars!

I would clutch this record to me like a baby blanket. Of course B&S are always charming, but this is really it...It is not cute, pleasant or 'nice' (adjectives commonly used in reference to these lovely Scots by condescending detractors), but rather a fabulous, rollicking yet consistent album that sends shivers up and down the spine. The opener 'Stars of track and field' is a stunner. Beautifully evoking so many ghosts of popular culture (think Nick Drake, 'If...', just about every boarding school story...), it begins simply, gorgeously and builds to a devastating climax. And then comes track 2, 'Seeing other people', with that infectious piano riff and more evocative, glorious lyrics. The last track 'Judy and the dream of horses' is just to die for - deceptively light, striking and lingering with the sugar-on-top of fabulously twee recorders. In between there are a thousand moments of lyrical, ecstatic bliss. Buy this sublime record, for it shall melt even the greatest cynic, and make idealistic young dreamers of us all...

I guess I lost out on the meaning of the word, and if you know I assume you are better 'versed' than I in pop language. I really don't care though. I love Belle and Sebastian because they are beautiful, creative and perfect for a bipolar lady such as I. There are the tunes set on a poppy landscape with melancholy lyrics that make you forget how sad it may be. There are the tunes that make you want to sing aloud and maybe even dance to (if you have that luxury available)--then there are the quiet songs that break your heart and make crying in your car on the way to work okay. Everyone has their own opinions, so I'll ignore the negative reviews, and just love them as they are. There are no bad songs on this album. It is strong from start to finish. Each song is a story that is worth telling and I'm glad that I can have a listen.

I bought this some time ago on a hunch and some good press I had read about them-I was amazed. The stories the lyrics tell are slightly subversive, but they are politely delivered for 34 year old suburbanites like me to enjoy with the volume low or moderate. My favorite, Stars of Track and Field builds from a simple acoustic guitar accompanying a voice, and the title track's vocals skip along wonderfully with the nostalgic children playing in a schoolyard behind it. MayFly sounds like a Housemartins song, and Judy and the Dream of horses is a Godsend with its triumphant horns bringing the album to a glorious close. I will certainly buy morte after this first taste, and am glad the musicians could not find proper jobs as the liner notes suggested they tried first.

If you're feeling sinister stands as one of the best albums of the nineties, perhaps best ever. The music has a timeless feel and the lyrics speak to universal truth and beauty that can readily be understood and appreciated by everyone. No surprise then that this was their "breakthrough" album, meaning that more than their friends heard it...
This album is threaded through with an incredible joie de vivre- a group of young people playing any instrument they can get their grubby little hands on with an emphasis on spirit over perfection playing the songs written by one of their mates. When one of your mates is as talented as Stuart Murdoch though, you're going to go far.
Despite the needless attention given to the bands fear of the press and faceless nature, it doesn't really matter who the band are. The songs speak for themselves so clearly, creating their own little white middle class bubble of daydreams and poetry and crushes on unattainable boys and girls and an utter fascination with the world around them, interpreted through their own vision of course.
Each track on here strays fantastically close to perfection. The stand out tracks for me are "Get me away from here I'm dying" and "Seeing other people", but it would take a heart of steel not to melt in front of the beautiful melodies crammed into this short album.
To classify it as lo-fi, folk rock or twee pop really doesn't do it justice - this is some of the best music ever created and if you listen to it you'll love it.