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LAZY LINE PAINTER JANE
Belle and Sebastian
(Matador)
Lazy Line Painter Jane is a boon for Belle and Sebastian's fans on this side of the pond. Within its slipcase are the three, four-track EPs the Scottish folk-pop collective put out in Europe in 1997 before the release of their breakthrough third long-player, The Boy With The Arab Strap. An album's worth of material, then, with only one song reprised from their proper records -- a different version of The State I'm In, from their debut Tigermilk. As you might expect, there are a few sketchy, demo-quality recordings of songs that were obviously not good enough for Arab Strap, but too good to leave in the vaults. But there are many more B&S gems tucked away, most notably Dog on Wheels (imagine Nick Drake with a driving rhythm and Spanish trumpet); Lazy Line Painter Jane (a surging Velvet Underground-ish rocker with perfectly placed handclaps, boy-girl harmonies and swirling church organ) and A Century of Fakers (a sweet folk-pop melody coupled with a nasty lyric. The same tune is used with a different vocal, a surreal monologue about spotting The King, on A Century of Elvis.) Any one of those tracks is worth the price of admission.
Track Listing
Disc: 1
1. Dog On Wheels
2. State I Am In, The
3. String Bean Jean
4. Belle & Sebastian
Disc: 2
1. Lazy Line Painter Jane
2. You Made Me Forget My Dreams
3. Photo Jenny
4. Century Of Elvis, A
Disc: 3
1. Century Of Fakers, A
2. Le Pastie De La Bourgeoise
3. Beautiful
4. Put The Book Back On The Shelf