Search - Belle & Sebastian :: Dear Catastrophe Waitress

If I Could Do One Near-Perfect Thing I'd Be Happy...

Thomas K. Emanuel | Deadwood, SD USA | 07/09/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"My first Belle & Sebastian album was last year's THE LIFE PURSUIT, which remains my favourite album of 2006 and, honestly, one of my favourite albums of all time. I then dug into the B&S back catalogue with IF YOU'RE FEELING SINISTER, THE BOY WITH THE ARAB STRAP, and the double-disc EP compendium PUSH BARMAN TO OPEN OLD WOUNDS. And while those albums impressed me - especially PUSH BARMAN - none of them, I felt, could quite come up to THE LIFE PURSUIT. They had the autumnal whimsy and cutting lyrical observation and a boatload of great songs, but they didn't have quite the same joyous energy. Then I got DEAR CATASTROPHE WAITRESS (2003).



(Note: shortly after getting DEAR CATASTROPHE WAITRESS I also purchased FOLD YOUR HANDS CHILD, YOU WALK LIKE A PEASANT, and have since also acquisitioned TIGERMILK. And while both are fine albums, they fit into the mold established above.)



There's a timeless quality to this music; it could've been recorded pretty much anytime in the last forty years, and yet it still sounds fresh, new, exciting. Because when Stuart Murdoch's brilliantly witty lyrics, beautifully whimsical melodies, and perfectly fey vocal delivery come together against a backdrop of soulful organ, jangling guitars, and bewitching male/female backup vocals, something magical happens. DEAR CATASTROPHE WAITRESS is the most ambitious B&S album I've heard yet, fleshing out the band's newly muscular (on a relative scale anyway) attack with big orchestral arrangements and a full, punchy pop/rock sound, courtesy master producer (and sometime Yes member) Trevor Horn. Highlights? How about the galloping "Step into My Office Baby"; the soul-pop "If She Wants Me"; the exuberant "I'm a Cuckoo"; the wistful character-sketch "Lord Anthony"; the near-epic, New-Waveish "Stay Loose"... my biggest gripe with this album is the somewhat garish golden cover artwork. Honestly. Otherwise DEAR CATASTROPHE WAITRESS is one of the finest collections of pop songs I've ever heard.



In fact, largely thanks to this album, Belle & Sebastian have finally ascended to my Top 25 Rock Artists. (That's right, I keep track of crap like that. Anal? But of course! Pointless? You betcha!) They've been hovering in the region for months now, but DEAR CATASTROPHE WAITRESS finally put them over the edge. I love it!"

"I was choking on a cornflake" (* * * * 1/3)

Blake Maddux | Arlington, MA United States | 02/28/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Dear Catastrophe Waitress rightly restored Belle & Sebastian to their former glory following a few musical missteps. This was very fortunate, as it would have been a shame for their flame to have burned out when leader Stuart Murdoch still has this and 2006's The Life Pursuit somewhere inside of him. While the delicacy of the band's songs was a large part of what made the band so beloved, that well had started to run dry. Thankfully, producer Trevor Horn, who seems like a very unlikely choice, recognized that Belle & Sebastian could sound just as good if their songs were consistently bouncy and uptempo. The final product of this collaboration was an album that basked in retro every bit as much as its predessors, but with a more pronounced late 70s/early 80s feel.



"Step Into My Office, Baby" is a shimmering, pristine chunk of schmaltzy 70s pop, and a rather amusing tale of romance in the workplace. The title track stars one of the many types of characters with whom Belle & Sebastian have always sympathized. It also makes their longstanding Love influence more obvious than ever by borrowing the staccato string riffs from that band's "You Set the Scene".



These first two tracks find the band in firmly uptempo mode. However, "Piazza, New York Catcher" is Murdoch at his folky, meandering storytelling best. It also contains some of his best lyrics, and he sings through them breathlessly. "Asleep on a Sunbeam" features lovely female vocals, which are always welcome on a Belle & Sebastian album. Fortunately, they pop up again in the background of "Wrapped Up In Books", which is driven by a punchy beat reminiscent of The Cars' "Shake It Up". In a similar vein, "Stay Loose" is powered by the sort of robotic rhythm that defined new wave. This comes as less of a surprise when one recalls who produced the record. (The tune also starts off with an organ that makes it sound like it was the main influence for the Napoleon Dynamite soundtrack.)



The album's upbeat mood is further punctuated by "I'm A Cuckoo" and "Roy Walker", two of the most joyous numbers in the band's entire catalog. (Although the former's lyric "I'd rather listen to Thin Lizzy-oh" is somewhat cringeworthy.) But for old time's sake, Murdoch offers "Lord Anthony", about a bullied know-it-all who would surely find kindred spirits on any other B&S album. The remaining tracks - "If She Wants Me", "You Don't Send Me", and "If You Find Yourself Caught In Love" - make up the album's weaker moments. However, they are certainly not enough to bring the overall quality down significantly.



Dear Catastrophe Waitress is the third Belle & Sebastian CD that I have reviewed, and the third to which I have awarded 4-1/3 stars. I am not sure why I am reluctant to give any of them 5 stars. After all, their music is great, nearly brilliant at times, and listening to their best albums certainly amounts to a 5-star experience. Maybe I feel like their songs lack profundity, and are perhaps a bit too whimsical at times. Whatever the case may be, Dear Catastrophe Waitress certainly deserves to rank among their very best efforts, and when it was released in 2003, it was surely their most dynamic to date."

B&S's most coherent and addictive achievement

Jeffrey Comer | Illinois USA | 02/19/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I've been impressed by all of Belle and Sebastian's albums and EPs, from Tigermilk to The Life Pursuit; however, I believe that Dear Catastrophe Waitress stands out as their most coherent and addictive achievement. While the more personal acoustic guitar and piano driven songs on their earlier albums are charming, the full sound on this album--with ample strings, brass, synth, and glam-rock guitar--fits perfectly with B&S's invariably catchy melodies. "I'm A Cuckoo" is a song with ear-catching propulsion that somehow mananges to maintain a beautifully melancholy atmosphere. The lyrics vacillate between evoking bittersweet emotion and chuckles, as these Scots are never the types to take themselves too seriously. There are so many songs to love on this album, although I find "You Don't Send Me" lacks the variety and power of the rest of the album. The final tune on the album, though not the most impressive on the whole, has what is to me B&S's most beautiful few bars: a brilliant vocal harmony, reminiscent of Simon and Garfunkel at a their best, which builds into a guitar solo, replete with excitement and feeling."