Product 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'.

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: #5724 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

Customer Reviews

Growing Up Gracefully
One should really spare a thought for some of the other bands who tiptoed onto the scene at the same time as B&S. Take pause as most of them are defunkt and few that are still going seem to be growing in popularity. B&S are probably more high profile now than they were after winning that BRIT all those years ago...

Truth is (and here come dozens of unhelpful votes) that I've always felt that Stuart Murdoch is the strongest element and Isobel Campbell was always the weakest link for me. Murdoch seems to have finally made the descision to properly lead the band and, second time out, really has nailed it thanks to not sharing songwriting duties. What results is a much more cohesive record and B&S are all the better for it. The writing is funny, bright, happy and accessible. I'm not sure which upsets the hardcore the most but I simply see this as a man developing and growing in stature as a songwriter. I'm sure that if he'd released this as a solo album some of the frustrations noted here by others would be admiration.

From the lovely piano lines of "The Act Of The Apostle" onwards there is a brightness about this. It's a development from the last album primarily because there were times on the last one it all felt a little forced. None of this feels forced. The singles are all pop inflected and veer from the almost sunshine pop of "Funny Little Frog" to the gentle glam of "White Collar Boy". Personally I'd have put "Song For Sunshine" out as it has a-sunrise-on-a-beach-after-a-night-at-a-rave feel about it. Then there's the two acts of the apostles which (although I'm an athiest myself) seem to compelling hint at Murdoch's own faith. It's no bad thing at all.

In truth this is a coherent, well written, nicely produced album with a good many highlights. The sound of a band that's still moving their sound forward and is all the better for it. Long may it continue.

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...'

Le Pastiche De La Bourgeoisie
I'm not sure this is really moving forward. I bought "Push barman to open old wounds" at about the same time as this and it's a much more interesting listen.