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The Life Pursuit
 
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The Life Pursuit

~ Belle & Sebastian
4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
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The Life Pursuit + Dear Catastrophe Waitress + Tigermilk
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Product details

  • Audio CD (6 Feb 2006)
  • Number of Discs: 1
  • Label: Rough Trade
  • ASIN: B000BM2OUQ
  • Other Editions: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 6,663 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Track Listings

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 Description

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'.

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Customer Reviews

28 Reviews
5 star:
 (15)
4 star:
 (6)
3 star:
 (3)
2 star:
 (2)
1 star:
 (2)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.1 out of 5 stars (28 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Lament for Isobel, 7 Jan 2006
By Wg Metcalfe "Will Metcalfe" (Coventry, Uk) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
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.
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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Still Changing, moving on, get used to it., 10 April 2006
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.

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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Different, but the same., 20 Sep 2006
By S. Murphy (Worcester) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
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...'
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars 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. Read more
Published 14 months ago by pjr

2.0 out of 5 stars 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.
Published on 15 Sep 2006 by Executive Dad

5.0 out of 5 stars A national treasure.
I had the pleasure of seeing B&S during this year's Edinburgh festival on a beautiful Sunday evening in Princes' Street gardens with the back-drop of the castle. Read more
Published on 9 Sep 2006 by caitlin

5.0 out of 5 stars Chill Out
This is a fabulous collection of memorable tunes. I am sorry to all the B&S aficionado's who have been reviewing on here as I have come to them late (last 3 years) but exploring... Read more
Published on 31 Jul 2006 by EKjambo

4.0 out of 5 stars re-inventing. Oh yes, re-inventing
does not require many words. Most adventurous B&S album to date, by far. Best album? possibly, it really is this good. Read more
Published on 11 Mar 2006 by C. P. Robertson

5.0 out of 5 stars Something Special
After hearing 'Arab Strap' on the radio years ago (probably on Peel) I have been checking out this special little band with great interest,thinking that after 6 albums... Read more
Published on 25 Feb 2006 by Mr. S. Berwick

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent
Probably their most consistent album since The Boy With The Arab Strap. Traditionalists may be disappointed, and there are still a couple of tracks which (at the moment) I find... Read more
Published on 15 Feb 2006 by R D Fraser

5.0 out of 5 stars Still getting better, 10 years on
I'm in no doubt, this is a great record. Belle & Sebastian have always been about tunes, and there's no shortage of them here. Read more
Published on 12 Feb 2006 by FoxyPablo

3.0 out of 5 stars another sunny day...
many of the reviews here lament the abscence of isobel campbell, who used to play cello for belle and sebastian. Read more
Published on 12 Feb 2006 by M. Hann

1.0 out of 5 stars Belle and Sebastian heads South
Following on in their general trend towards happy-go-lucky, vaguely off-kilter 70's inflected fare, 'The Life Pursuit' slops up the culmination of directions that... Read more
Published on 10 Feb 2006 by George Reynolds

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