The Third Eye Centre

Belle & Sebastian’s last compilation, 2005’s Push Barman To Open Old Wounds – which collected the consistently excellent singles and EPs the band released on Jeepster Records between 1997 and 2001 – arguably stands as the greatest existing testament to the Glaswegian pop band’s brilliance and singularity. The Third Eye Centre, a new gathering of B-sides and rarities, is the Push Barman… for this second phase of their career (their Rough Trade years): a period which has never quite reached the heights of that earlier era.

It remains the case that few can write an idiosyncratic radio-friendly single like Stuart Murdoch, but the turn towards more polished production, fuller chamber-pop sounds, and an embrace of the kitschy tendencies latent in earlier work has resulted in a band which is more difficult to take seriously – and to love – than the Belle & Sebastian of the ’90s and early ’00s.

There are tracks on The Third Eye Centre that exemplify this: Richard X’s shiny electro-mix of the Sarah Martin-sung ‘I Didn’t See it Coming’ exacerbates the cheesiness of the original to an unbearable degree, while ‘Love on the March’ and ‘Your Secrets’ finds the group at their most twee and irritating. It’s interesting to hear their forays into other genres, though while these experiments work on the country hoedown ‘Stop, Look and Listen’, their attempt at ska on ‘The Eighth Station of the Cross Kebab House’ is bizarrely boring.

Like much of Belle & Sebastian’s recent output, The Third Eye Centre doesn’t want listeners to take it seriously: in fact, it’s often very silly, representing the collected works of a band simply playing around.

The Third Eye Centre certainly doesn’t come near Push Barman… for consistency or quality, then, but there is fun to be had here. ‘Suicide Girl’ zips along with ’80s synths and a guitar solo, Avalanches’ remix of ‘I’m A Cuckoo’ turns the track into a village summer party where everyone’s having a great time with percussion, and another remix sees ‘Your Cover’s Blown’ camped up and made dancefloor-ready by Miaoux Miaoux, to surprisingly enjoyable effect.

Like much of Belle & Sebastian’s recent output, The Third Eye Centre doesn’t want listeners to take it seriously: in fact, it’s often very silly, representing the collected results of a band simply playing around. As always with Murdoch’s song-writing, there are flashes of lyrical wit, but nothing here stands among his best work, and the compilation is unlikely to serve as an entry into the band or be seen as essential by all but the most eager of fans.

Similar To: Camera Obscura, The Gentle Waves

MP3: ‘Suicide Girl’, ‘Your Cover’s Blown’ (Miaoux Miaoux Remix)