Face It, It’s The Best

Marble Valley “Computer Man” – Westy, he cannot drum! And so he doesn’t anymore, as far as I can tell. It’s sorta weird to think about it, but Marble Valley has become a vehicle for Steve West as a frontman, with his band covering everything else. It’d be like the Pavement equivalent of the Foo Fighters, but Gary Young already beat him to the punch with “Plant Man.” If you’re very familiar with Pavement, and I mean super super super familiar, to the point that you’ve heard dozens of live bootlegs from over the course of their career, you’ll probably hear this as being sorta similar to the sort of on-the-spot chants and improvs that Westy and Bob Nastanovich would play here and there to get through lulls in the set, but developed and polished into a pretty sharp indie rock song. The track has a very odd mood – mellow and relaxed, but also a bit ominous, with silly lyrics like “everybody talk about CPU capacity!” delivered in a dry deadpan, with the song coming together to sound like the inner workings of a bored yet optimistic IT guy. (Click here to buy it from Ear Rational.)

Belle & Sebastian @ Castle Clinton, Battery Park 7/4/2006
I Fought In A War / Another Sunny Day / The Model / Sukie In The Graveyard / Don’t Leave The Light On, Baby / Le Pastie de la Bourgeoisie / Jonathan David / If She Wants Me / Lord Anthony / If You’re Feeling Sinister / Funny Little Frog / Your Cover’s Blown / Dirty Dream Number Two / I’m A Cuckoo / The Wrong Girl / White Collar Boy / Sleep The Clock Around // (Stevie Jackson plays “The Star Spangled Banner” on his guitar) / The Boy With The Arab Strap

Hmm. Good show, but what a weird setlist! Some ideas:

1) A lot of the setlist was obviously influenced by the fact that they had four additional string players, so naturally the set was focused on songs from their middle period when they went a bit nuts for string arrangements.

2) Did they just get sick of playing The Life Pursuit songs all the time for the past several months? If so, that’s a shame. I don’t care what anyone thinks; it’s their best album. I was disappointed that they skimped on those songs, especially since I was so desperately hoping for “Song For Sunshine,” which wouldn’t have just made me happy, but would have fit perfectly on a day when the band was playing an outdoor show that was postponed slightly by a rain storm, and the sun was out by the middle of their set. Just sayin’, Belle & Sebastian!

3) Does anyone really like “Le Pastie de la Bourgeoisie”? I mean, really like it, a lot? If so, would you care to explain yourself in the comments box? Thanks.

4) I wonder if they deliberately wrote this setlist to be as different from the other two NYC shows from this year as possible, or if it just sorta worked out that way.

5) “If She Wants Me”! Yes!!! Not just one of my favorites, but maybe the song in their catalog that has the greatest personal meaning for me. No, I’m not explaining – listen to the lyrics, it’s fairly literal.

6) Highlights, in addition to “If She Wants Me”: “Don’t Leave The Light On, Baby” (so so gorgeous!), “If You’re Feeling Sinister,” “Funny Little Frog,” “Dirty Dream Number Two,” “White Collar Boy” (always a winner!), “The Boy With The Arab Strap.” Also: Stuart Murdoch’s banter, especially when he launched into this bizarro motivational speach that boiled down to encouraging everyone in the park to rise up as one against the cops of New York City.

Elsewhere: If you were curious about what I thought of The Devil Wears Prada, you’re in luck.