Belle and Sebastian

Although this debut record was released in 1996, it remained largely unheard until 1999 -- when public demand far exceeded the original 1000 copies pressed. Though made as a college project (!), Belle & Sebastian hit the ground running, their confidence and wit shining through even on the most melancholy tracks.

Most Belle and Sebastian cultists would pick 1997's If You're Feeling Sinister as the
enigmatic, literary Scottish swish rockers' finest moment. Others insist the band has gotten
even better since, as evidenced by the cheery fluff and girlie vocals of 1998's The Boy
With the Arab Strap. Both factions could probably use a chocolate malted and a kind word
now and then, but the odds are better that this reissue of the band's wicked-rar... More >

It's their 1996 U.K. debut, done cheap back when school was the main thing they knew. So they made up songs idealizing the yearnings of every sexually confused young person who ever sat alone in a lunchroom humming a Chills song. Soaring wistfully above a misery recollected from something like last week, Stuart Murdoch clearly believes these kids are superior beings. But he's so nonconfrontational in his elitism that only a jock wouldn't root for them. (Grade - A-)