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It's fair to say that it's been a long time since i've listened to Belle & Sebastian. I remember at some point last fall, i was in a record store with my friend and they were playing this album and i thought 'wow, this band always comes around at the right times', because it was about four years or so prior to that time that i first started getting into them, so therefore, most of their music reminds me of not only that time in my life, but that time of the year. today was getting pretty cold and i felt like i needed to listen to something that was going to accompany the weather, so i downloaded this. with the exception of what i heard in that record store, i had never listened to this album before today. if you're hip about the BBC Sessions, then you sort of know that these live recordings have been going on for years and plenty of pretty incredible bands have played pretty incredible sets there. i've only recently really gotten into live recordings, i find it really interesting to hear the different variations and improvisations that happen with certain songs. Belle & Sebastian isn't necessarly a band that's going to jam out some improv greats, but the songs on this album certainly have a different feeling to them then the ones done in the studio. Seymour Stein was never really one of my favorites from The Boy With the Arab Strap, but this version, with the organ coming through the cracks and it's subtlely different guitar pieces feels really good. and i've always really liked I Could Be Dreaming. plus, i've never heard the last four songs before and (My Girl's Got) Miraculous Technique is not only a great song name, but also has a drum machine/sample that leads to nothing but feeling really content.
There are very few things that i like about the 1990s, and the fact that the first ten songs on this album are from 1996 and 1997 seems so weird to me. i don't know what era Belle & Sebastian's music sounds like, but it's certainly not the time in which it was actually made. the band is pretty timeless and the songs are just really really catchy and really really well orchestrated. plus i love this cover.