Belle & Sebastian - The Boy with the Arab Strap (25th Anniversary Ed.)

For the first time, Murdoch shares the songwriting credits and vocal duties with band members Isobell Campbell, Stevie Jackson and Stuart David and the album is much richer because of it. Maudlin cellos, sparkling xylophones, ecclesiastical organs and a touch of bagpipe decorate the album. It is gorgeously ornate and antique, you can almost smell the mahogany.

The Boy With The Arab Strap is like a storybook. Moral tales and grim vignettes told through the eyes of a wide-eyed child not ready for the big bad world. Hogarth might have written them if he had listened to more of The Vaselines growing up. Sometimes Presperterian in its judgement, and much like Hogarth, it is wonderfully detailed, hilarious, aesthetically enthralling and human.

The eponymous title track has become one of the most popular Belle and Sebastian songs and an iconic symbol of the live shows, when the band are ritually joined by their fans onstage as they dance to The Boy With The Arab Strap.

Tracklisting:
1. It Could Have Been A Brilliant Career
2. Sleep The Clock Around
3. Is It Wicked Not To Care?
4. Ease Your Feet In The Sea
5. A Summer Wasting
6. Seymour Stein
7. A Spaceboy Dream
8. Dirty Dream Number Two
9. The Boy With The Arab Strap
10. Chickfactor
11. Simple Things
12. The Rollercoaster Ride