Track Listing

1. Act Of The Apostle Part 1
2. Another Sunny Day
3. White Collar Boy
4. The Blues Are Still Blue
5. Dress Up In You
6. Sukie In The Graveyard
7. We Are The Sleepyheads
8. Song For Sunshine
9. Funny Little Frog
10. To Be Myself Completely
11. Act Of The Apostle Part 2
12. For The Price Of A Cup Of A Tea
13. Mornington Crescent

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5891 in Music
• Released on: 2006-02-06
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
Time has revealed Belle & Sebastian’s reputation for a rather wimpy indieness to be more the result of their relative inexperience than any real predilection for twee juvenilia. On their seventh album, The Life Pursuit, we find these errant Scots further building on the surprisingly muscular, Trevor Horn-produced sound of 2003’s Dear Catastrophe Waitress, delving into the sound of ‘70s glam and tarrying ever further from the winsome folk with which they made their name. "White Collar Boy" bumps along on Glitter Band rhythms, vocalist Stuart Murdoch –forget the patchy democracy of mid-period B&S albums; Stuart is the leader here – narrating a tale of petty theft and chain-gang romance with a feisty charisma, while "The Blues Are Still Blue" is a stylish doff of the cap to T.Rex and the Television Personalities, albeit one that evokes the spirit both, but copies neither. And oh! What foul mouths. Whether Murdoch’s announcing "They are hypocrites, so fuck them too" before a warm brass break on "Dress Up In You", or telling the tale of a teenage tearwaway on "Sukie In The Graveyard" ("She liked to hang out in the art-school/She didn’t enrol, but she wiped the floor with all the arseholes"), it’s the sound of a Belle & Sebastian that’s matured in the most agreeably immature way.--Louis Pattison

CD Description
'The Life Pursuit' is the seventh album from Scottish indiestalwarts Belle & Sebastian. With their Smiths-meet-Simon &Garfunkel melodies, Belle & Sebastian have forged a reputation for crafting sensitive-yet-subtle songs that pull at theheartstrings without sacrificing their keen pop sensibilities. Includes the single 'Funny Little Frog'.

Customer Reviews

Lament for Isobel
Those of you awaiting another 'If you're feeling sinister' are sadly going to be waiting for a long time. 'Life Pursuit' follows the previous albums more conventional approach to song writing, although there can be no mistaking Stuart Murdoch's dulcet tones it soon becomes clear listening to this record that Belle & Sebastian are a completely different band. Infact anyone hoping to call this album 'twee' will be pleasantly surprised, forthcoming single 'Funny Little Frog' is both charming and touching 'You're my girl and you don't even know it'. 'White Collar Boy' sounds like an indie take on the stomp of glam rock whilst the gently sloping 'Act of the Apostle Pt 2' has a melody reminiscent to 'Century of Fakers' intially anyway. Though the new album is another step away from the former glories it's still an album of fantastic quality. Aaaah, for the good old days. 'If you're going to grow up you got to do it on your own'. Quite.

Still Changing, moving on, get used to it.
Funny to see looking through previous reviews how much opinion can be divided by this CD. "The Life Pursuit" is very much a continuation of the direction taken in "Dear Catastrophe Waitress". It maybe doesn't have the same ultra-gloss production sheen, but this is as mainstream as you'll have ever heard B & S. None-the-less there are good songs on here, some excellent and no weak efforts. But perhaps they don't have the unique quirkiness that earlier recordings had, and those that established such a fanatical cult following.

Some familar B&S themes are here; Self-referential lyrical depreciation. Side references to religion. Musical inspiration taken from the 70s. Mainstream, but unmistakable. Equally noticable is that the band members are better musicians than ever. This is a band still on the way up, still changing, a band not yet devoid of new ideas.

I suppose it must hurt to see your own special obscure band take a direction that gets them attention outside their niche. I can't see any other reason for some of the review comments here. Common sense would suggest if you really only ever liked past B&S member Isabel Campbell's music, the best course of action is to buy a CD that she's on, not one she's not. It seems pointless to complain about her absense afterwards, never mind inventing unsavoury personal motivations for other band members based around her.

B & S are changing. They're still making good music. Join in or move on.

Different, but the same.
As much as I adore B&S's early work (my favourite album is their second, followed by the early Jeepster EPS), you cannot stay 16 forever. B&S have to grow up. How many fey songs about bedsits with scratchy guitars can they write. These people are musicians. They are not Robbie Williams churning out what they think the fans want. They are artists remaking the world in their image. You are entitled not to enjoy the music but you cannot tell them they are wrong. I have been listening to this album for some months now and it has just grown and grown and grown. It is miles ahead of the patchy and over produced DCW. The Life Pursuit is nothing if not a 24 carat gold pop classic. But, the musicianship! The playing! Listen to it on headphones once or twice - cycling on a sunny morning or walking to the newsagent. Another Sunny Day is exquisite, and as quintessentially B&S as Get Me Away From Here... or anything from Tigermilk. The only low point is Song For the Sunshine which is just badly written pap. This should have been left off and the album would have been a nice round 12 songs. This band is growing, and how. Richard Colbert has never sounded so good. It's like they've hired Jimmy Cobb or "Philly" Joe Jones or something (nice!). This is a marvellous album. Nothing this year has topped it yet and 2007 is on the way. Album of the year! Album of the year! Altogether now: 'You're my picture on the wall, you're my image in the hall, you're the one I'm talking to, when I'm coming home from school...'