Product Description

After the success of the most recent Belle And Sebastian album, "The Life Pursuit", band leader/singer/songwriter Stuart Murdoch decided to pursue his dream of writing a rock musical scored for female singers. After auditioning vocalists via Internet contests, he made his choices and, with all members of Belle And Sebastian backing him up, recorded this breathtaking record. It combines the strengths and feel of early Belle And Sebastian records in a broader musical palette, which draws equally on musicals, 60s girl groups, 80s indie, and most of all, classic pop.

Track Listing

1. Act Of The Apostle
2. God Help The Girl
3. Pretty Eye In The Tub
4. A Unified Theory
5. Hiding Neath My Umbrella
6. Funny Little Frog
7. If You Could Speak
8. Musician, Please Take Heed
9. Perfection As A Hipster
10. Come Monday Night
11. The Music Room Window
12. I Want Your Jeans
13. I'll Have To Dance With Cassie
14. A Down And Dusky Blonde

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9506 in Music
• Released on: 2009-06-23
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .23 pounds

Review
"Spanning glam, soul, country, and 70s AM rock...Murdoch is at his best detailing his famously quirky characters" --Pitchfork

Customer Reviews

Lovely production fulfills Murdoch's potential
This album is an absolute masterpiece of postmodern honesty - equal parts hope and despair, to spectacular result. The album has the same thrilling qualities many people might attribute to some of the best work of the Smiths or others who combine a healthy touch of 60s-70s baroque with silky smooth singing and dead clever lyrics. Some of Stuart Murdoch's most achingly sweet productions and melodies come to life here with the dreamily perfect smorgasbord of expertly executed female vocals and impressive musicianship as well. This is a film soundtrack that does not need a film. God, I wish I could see that film! Beautiful craftsmanship like this is sadly uncommon in modern popular music. This will be a delightful and simply fun classic for years to come.

a quick overview
To start, I agree with what the other reviewer has said. As I am only the second person to review this album, I thought I'd give some basic info potential fans may be wondering about...
1. If I am a Belle and Sebastian fan, will I find traces of their music in this and like it as a result? YES, many traces indeed, from Stuart Murdoch's actual singing to his clever lyrics to his lyrical phrasing to some very intelligent and proper British songwriting (Pretty Eve in the Tub is reminiscent of I Love My Car in it's cleverness). Some nice harmonies too from the group of female vocalists assembled.
2. Are the B & S songs on this album basically xeroxes of the original versions found of the Life Pursuit? NO. Acts of the Apostles is considerably different and Funny Little Frog is a slower, more soulful 70's version with lots of strings. Well worth the addition of them on this disc- not just filler.
3. Are there any throwaway tracks like on B & S's other peripheral project "Storytelling?" Sort of- there is a jazzy instrumental but it is only 1 minute long and it's actually kind of catchy in a pseudo Brubeck Time Out sense (nowhere near the level of that of course). Considering the amount of tracks on this disc, 1 quick filler song isn't bad.
Overall, this album contains extremely fun and smart British songwriting that made albums like XTC's Skylarking and Shelleyan Orphan's Century Flower so enjoyable in their time. It is not mired down in the self pity and pseudo despair that Smith lyrics are often consumed with so enough of the Smiths comparisons please! Lastly, there are some very strong female vocals on this album, most notably from a woman named Catherine Ireton who takes most leads and does a beautiful job with them. Not your typical B & S female vocalist- her voice is a pleasantly surprising soulful one. Well worth the money and a follow up.

A perfect album!
This album gets better and better every time I listen to it! Beautiful songs, great 60s sound, astonishing female vocals (and some nice male vocals too). I bought the vinyl edition, which is great, and that also gave me a free mp3 download. I can listen to it everywhere, which I do! My 4 years old daughter has also become a God Help The Girl Fan!