I saw them at Cambridge last month. they have really tightened up their act since The "Catastrophe waitress" tour. They were good doing shambolic, they are good as a tighter act, know what I mean ?. I must confess I do miss Isobel. I have never understood why she left, I think both parties are the worse for it.

she left because she left Stuart Murdoch for good, they had an off/on relationship for some time...

Now that I did not Know, I don't blame him for the on part of the relationship. She is as cute as a kitten.
I often think that B&S could do with a decent female singer, bless Sarah, But she is best on backing vocals. I was no great fan of Isobels voice either. Not knocking, they both are brilliant musicians, not imho singers.
The contrast when you hear Monica Queen on "Lazy line painter Jane" is amazing, boy that girl can sing.

I hate Green's voice on that song actually, it's nearly reminiscent of Meatloaf's co or backing singers...

I know what you mean, but feel she compliments Murdochs softer vocal. My main point was it shows what a strong female vocal adds to the mix. That said, Wagnerian connotations aside I find the meatloaf duets are some of his best. So maybe it is a taste thing.

I guess it's a taste thing yes. I used to have a best of when I was a kid, but now his music makes me feel ill.

Belle and Sebastian is simply one of the most bizarrely consistent bands ever. They are so ecclectic and superficially inconsistent, but I love listening to all of their albums all the way through, and I find that even the weird songs grow on me. Anyway, they are tight and were great and unbelievably charming live.

meh, listened to the new record two times and it's mostly pish, I think... faulty production and some of the songs just ain't right...

I agree. I have tried listening to it twice now and I can't get all the way through one single song.

"we are the sleepyheads", "dress up in you" and "funny little frog" are ok, although the latter's intro is so very much like another one, someone somewhere said it's "ain't no mountain high enough", which is possible.

anyway saw them live on Tuesday and they were rather good, although they should ditch "song for sunshine" and "mornington crescent" from their set. horrible stuff. they weren't as good as when I saw them in 2004 anyway, mainly because of the sucky new stuff, but also because they didn't play all songs very enthusiastically