Thursday, December 28, 2006

LateNight Tales Belle&Sebastian


Belle And Sebastian’s Late Night Tales is perhaps the one of the best in the series so far and has got to be one of the best compilations of its kind.

Plenty of bands talk about going their own sweet way, pleasing themselves and ploughing their own furrow, but it’s hard to think of any working band or artist who opens themselves up as resolutely as Belle And Sebastian. Never tied to any scene in the first place (and still further out on a limb ten years later), these Glaswegians seem to have developed as a band that can draw influence from just about anywhere. And when there are seven distinctly individual personalities feeding the creative fire within the results are multifarious and often surprising.

Pure pop, Sixties psyche, Seventies rock, West Coast harmonies, beat groups, folk balladering, punk, indie, girl groups and bossanova, are just a few of the slants to crop up without musical contradiction within the Belles own work. So it is perhaps less than surprising that their choices for Late Night Tales comprehensively cover the waterfront.

Just who chose what is never expressly made clear, but what is presented is a treasure trove of musical nuggets, some in the public domain, but often lovingly disinterred specially for the purpose… and certainly never put together quite like this. Ladies and Gentleman, we give you, Belle And Sebastian’s Late Night Tales.

Track listing

  1. "Gratuitous Theft in the Rain" - Rehash
  2. "How Long Blues" - Jimmy and Mama Yancey
  3. "Here's What's Left" - RJD2
  4. "Questions" - Lootpack
  5. "O My Friends You've Been Untrue to Me" - Demis Roussos
  6. "French Disko" - Stereolab
  7. "On a Clear Day You Can See Forever" - The Peddlers
  8. "Cissy Strut" - Butch Cassidy Sound System
  9. "Ring of Fire" - Johnny Cash
  10. "Freeman" - The Ethiopians
  11. "Do You Really Want to Rescue Me" - Elsie Mae
  12. "It's an Uphill Climb to the Bottom" - Walter Jackson
  13. "I'm in Your Hands" - Mary Love
  14. "Coś Specjalnego" - Novi Singers
  15. "Lost in the Paradise" - Gal Costa
  16. "People Make the World Go Round" - Paperclip People
  17. "Uhuru" - Ramsey Lewis
  18. "Fly Like an Eagle" - Steve Miller Band
  19. "Get Thy Bearings" - Donovan
  20. "Green Grass of Tunnel" - Múm
  21. "Casaco Marron" - Belle & Sebastian
  22. "Taireva" - Eric And Mondrek Muchena
  23. "Let Your Conscience Be Your Guidance" - Space Jam
  24. "Watch the Sunrise" - Big Star
  25. "Bedinerie from Bach's Orchestral Suite No.2 in B Minor" - Boston Baroque
  26. "When I Was a Little Girl" - read by David Shrigley

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