Glad to hear that the songs I heard from the B&S album don't reflect that the whole thing is a dud, but a lot of the ideas definitely come from other places. "Allie" is great. Sounds like it could be on "The Life Pursuit". "Enter Sylvia Plath" sort of reminds me of Saint Etienne. "The Everlasting Muse" is actually a really cool song, but it ends up sounding a LOT like "Waiting for the Sun" from the Doors at one point. "Perfect Couples" is "Remain in Light"-era Talking Heads meets Happy Mondays. Overall I just don't think all the experiments work. They're stretching really hard to make it a diverse record...they want to sound like another band by expanding their sound, but in the process they lose some of what makes Belle and Sebastian so special. I think some of it is really fun...there's a ton of heavy production. I think I'll need more time to absorb this one. I'm glad they're not rehashing the same things, but I'm not certain this was a total success. It's like they're taking their approach to "Your Cover's Blown" and trying to be more of a disco band. But it doesn't feel as exciting as that song. That being said "The Book of You" is really good, and I don't dislike "The Party Line" as much as I did the first few times I heard it.
