Belle & Sebastian
Push Barman to Open Old Wounds
(Matador)
When Belle & Sebastian first ignited the Glasgow music scene in 1997, the band drew many comparisons to the Smiths — for its preference for lonesome, monochromatic portraits adorning its record covers, for its sophisticated lyrical and musical savvy and for releasing scads of EPs. This latest disc assembles every Jeepster/Matador EP release in a neatly packaged and chronologically arranged two-CD set. Even the untitled 1998 UK-only EP is nestled in here between 3…6…9 Seconds of Light and Legal Man. While many will own all of this, the purchase is easily justified in order to have all the material assembled in one place, so that you can marvel at how consistently brilliant the band has been right from the start.
—Dave Hayden
This article appears in Dec 6-12, 2007.