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Amazon.co.uk Review
Given Belle & Sebastian's eccentric way of doing things, it's hardly surprising their soundtrack to the Todd Solondz movie, Storytelling, did not work out quite as planned. Plenty of bands have written scores to imaginary movies. Belle & Sebastian, however, have composed an imaginary soundtrack to an existing movie; only six minutes of this music was actually used in the film, and plenty was completed after the film was released. The weird thing is, it all fits together rather nicely. Storytelling is a more consistent beast than the last couple of B&S albums, with no obvious moments of real shambling horror. Instead, the discipline of writing (vaguely) to order seems to have made the band perversely less uptight. So Stevie Jackson's ambling harmonica piece, "F*ck this Sh*t", is a close cousin of his beautiful work with the Bill Wells Trio--and also, explicitly, Dylan's soundtrack to Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid.
Amid the lilting instrumentals and snatches of dialogue from Solondz' fine movie, there are a clutch of quietly impressive songs. "Black and White Unite" continues Stuart Murdoch's artful reorganisation of the legacies of Love and Simon & Garfunkel, while on "I Don't Want To Play Football" he chooses to stereotype himself further as the sickly child always picked last at games. Best of all, there's "Storytelling" itself, in which Sarah Martin pursues the issues of authorial responsibility tackled by Solondz in the movie. "In directions, actions and words, cause and effect, you need consistency", she politely chastises, targeting Solondz as much as his characters. This is retribution, Belle & Sebastian style: truly, revenge has never been so sweet. --John Mulvey
Product Description
BELLE & SEBASTIAN Storytelling (2002 UK 18-track CD album featuring a collection of vocal and instrumental recordings inspired by a real film by Todd Solondz of the same name picture sleeve JPRCD014)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
This is truly the most diverse Belle and Sebastian album yet. Much of the album contains quiet, acoustic songs - without lyrics, but these are cleverly interspersed with dialogues (from the film) and more classic Belle and Sebastian tracks. There are other surprises to come, Scooby Driver is very different to any of the band's previous songs, but is still great. It seems that Belle and Sebastian can master whatever they put their minds to - what will they do next?
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
having witnessed them play live recently and then feeling that they have lost their magic recently, my love for belle & sebastian began to wane slightly, and when i put this album on for the first time i thought it had gone forever.
however, with it being belle and sebastian i decided to give it a few more listens and give it a chance before dismissing it...and them completely. now I have to try hard to get some of these tracks out of my head.
what you really have to remember about this album is that it is not a typical belle & sebastian album, but a soundtrack so you really treat it as such. that said, they still manage to show they're greatness through their instrumentals and lyrical ability on tracks such as "wandering alone" and "big john shaft". their choice of dialogues from the film seem to fit the album perfectly too.
with this album, belle & sebastian manage to show us that they can produce a record differently to their usual style and in a different context and still produce something wonderful.
like i said, give it a few listens.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Storytelling is a wonderful collection of songs, instrumental tracks and clips from the eponymous movie. I'm a passionate B&S fan but I enjoyed this more on first listen than their last album. Its fabulously chilled out: tracks like Night Walk could be from an acoustic version of Moon Safari by Air. But the band prove they can up the tempo as well on tracks like Scooby Driver and Storytelling. I think this is an album with a broad appeal and not just for existing fans - so get in there!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Belle & Seb do Jackanory
It's funny how particular regions or cities possess very specific modern musical traditions: Liverpool's Merseybeat and its 80s alternative bedrock; Manchester of the late-80s and... Read more
Published on 7 April 2004 by Man Raised By Penguins
Well I like it...
"Oh no, they've really lost it... I've liked them from Tigermilk" "A real return to form after a lacklustre few albums" These are the comments that have met every Belle and... Read more
Published on 25 Mar 2004 by "cly_and_tell"
words and music
this is Belle and Sebastians fourth album and is most definately the most different. It has been written as a kind of 'extended soundtrack' to the film of the same name. Read more
Published on 3 Sep 2003 by crispin
Hmmm does not really do it for me
Maybe I'm not quite the fan I thought I was, all of B&S's previous albums have beame true classics in my music collection, I think they're great. Read more
Published on 27 Jun 2003 by PA Hughes
A "Harlem Globetrotters" album
Diverse. Well maybe but personally I just found it didn't hang together at all. Kind of like a pre-season friendly where its both teams in name but what you see on the field is... Read more
Published on 7 Aug 2002 by David
Different
I didn't see the film that this is the soundtrack for but I heard it was pretty dire. Luckily this album isn't! It is true that this is an odd album! Read more
Published on 13 Jun 2002 by "fitter_happier_person"
good on the most part few dodgy tracks though
with the recent peel session and probably their best single yet in i'm waking up to us expectations wereh going to be high for the latest belle and sebastian lp. Read more
Published on 12 Jun 2002
The state that I am in
Having enjoyed B & S's work since introduced by Mark & Lard on the graveyard shift, I am always eager to get my hands on their latest offering. Read more
Published on 8 Jun 2002
Good B&S album
Even though many of the songs were not ready at the time the movie was released, the album is very much like an original soundtrack. This is good for one and bad for one reason. Read more
Published on 4 Jun 2002 by allan@sikk.org
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