Belle & Sebastian have been making music since 1996 when they recorded Tigermilk. Success of that album was enormous. Their follow-up was called If You’re Feeling Sinister, which was hailed as one of the most original additions to the musical landscape in years. After Sinister, opinions about its follow-ups, The Boy With the Arab Strap and Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant, were a bit varied. Some people felt these records were parodies on B&S’s own songs, others thought of them as an even better effort than Sinister. Last year’s Storytelling (a soundtrack for Todd Solondz’s movie) was generally seen as the most awful thing the band had done in its history.
And now we have Dear Catastrophe Waitress, the first "real" B&S record in three years.
It seems that B&S found the "spirit" again; Waitress sounds as if the band finally refound the joy of playing music. In songs like "Piazza, New York Catcher" and "You Don’t Send Me," B&S sound like a fresh young band, ready to unleash their songs to an unknowing world. Also, a song like "Lord Anthony" has that same ‘unspoiled’ feeling that, for example, Tigermilk’s "We Rule The School" had. "Lord Anthony" even hints at some unexplored terrain for the band, if you pay attention to the classical orchestrated introduction of the song.
Though not their strongest album, Dear Catastrophe Waitress is a fine record indeed.
1. Step Into My Office, Baby
2. Dear Catastrophe Waitress
3. If She Wants Me
4. Piazza, New York Catcher
5. Asleep On A Sunbeam
6. I'm A Cuckoo
7. You Don't Send Me
8. Wrapped Up In Books
9. Lord Anthony
10. If You Find Yourself Caught In Love
11. Roy Walker
12. Stay Loose
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