Track Listing

1. State I Am In
2. Expectations
3. She's Losing It
4. You're Just A Baby
5. Electronic Renaissance
6. I Could Be Dreaming
7. We Rule The School
8. My Wandering Days Are Over
9. I Don't Love Anyone
10. Mary Jo

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4766 in Music
• Released on: 2000-09-01
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
Belle and Sebastian met in an all-night café in Glasgow, and their debut album, Tigermilk was written and recorded over the next few weeks. It's remarkable, therefore, that Tigermilk is Belle and Sebastian's finest by some length; a gorgeous album poised somewhere in between the shambling Scottish charm of The Pastels and the delicate pathos of Nick Drake. The heart of Tigermilk is in frontman Stuart Murdoch's choral whisper; impossibly fragile elegies are spurred to greatness by the band's energetic Northern Soul rhythms and sprightly folk. Tigermilk, though, is replete with a muscular tension on tracks like "Expectations" and "I Don't Love Anyone" that downplays Belle and Sebastian's sometimes annoying tendency to drift into syrupy twee-ness. --Louis Pattison

CD Description
Originally released in an edition of 1,000 vinyl LPs as part of a college music business course, Belle & Sebastian's 1996 debut TIGERMILK rapidly became a highly sought-after collector's item. Reissued in 1999 to combat a flood of expensive bootlegs, the album shows that the band's later acclaim was not unfounded.
Nine of the 10 tracks feature main songwriter Stuart Murdoch's winsome vocals, a mix of acoustic andelectric instrumentation and a grab-bag of pianos, horns, flutes, and hand claps. The odd one out of the bunch is "Electronic Renaissance", an electronic keyboard knockabout that recalls Depeche Mode's more insistent moments from the VinceClarke era. Standouts among the other tracks are "Expectations", the tale of a square peg at school who is "known for being strange/Making life-size models of the Velvet Underground in clay", the lyrically wistful but musically charged "She's Losing It", and "I Don't Love Anyone", which references Felt, a band Belle & Sebastian cites among its influences.

Customer Reviews

Still my fave album by Belle And Seb
No one writes songs like Belle and Seb do. No songs full of ye ye ye choruses, no same old love songs telling the same tired old tales.
Just unique stories about life's simple beauty, irritating little annoyances, unfortunate situations and normal everyday thoughts and feelings.
These songs will immerse you into the lives of others, make you feel for them, care about these imaginary peoples lives much like a good tv show.

The opening song for example tells the story of a young man whos life has strayed from his childhood dreams, not neccessarily through any fault of his own but more life seems to have been against him from the start, which is beautifully conveyed with clever lyrics: "the priest in the booth had a photographic memory...wrote a pocket novel called the state i am in".
The clever attention to detail continues and when you notice the wonderful little link between the first song and the last you'll be laughing because it is so perfectly done. the girl whos life is going nowhere: "she's reading the book the state i am in, but it doesnt help at all" :D brilliant.

The best Belle And Seb song ever written in my mind is also here, "I Could Be Dreaming" yet another wonderful tale with a simple but effective tune that instantly hooks you.

I could talk for a long time on every song on this album, but there is a word limit so i better sum up by telling you that you must own this, after a few listens you will be in love and it will never be far from your cd player.

Hope this has been helpful :)

An album with some depth
This was my favourite album for a long time. The superb debut by the superb Belle & Sebastian.

It's so refreshing to hear intelligent, poetic lyrics that don't feel the need to rhyme when it doesn't fit. Beautiful memorable melodies with simplistic chord structures married together with vast sensitivity. Although they are simplistic, the are so in a deliberate, knowing way (not like an Oasis 'we can't actually do anything else' simplicity). You only have to hear "Jonathan David" to realise the band's musical genious.

The theme of the album seems to be based around how you feel as a post-education 20-something trying to get your head round the world. Viewing past experiences and feelings in a beautiful way.

Everybody should own this album. It has stood the test of time with me (which is very rare).

Perfect
So simple and pure, reminiscent of late-50s, early-60s bands. Great lyrics and some of the purest melodies ever produced. It has to be said that I didn't like B&S when I first heard it a few years ago and it took me 6 years to buy this album. I'm sorry I waited so long. If you haven't got a B&S album and you think you're wavering, buy this - you'll not regret it.