SONG FOR TODAY: Belle And Sebastian - 'I Want The World To Stop'

I'm so glad Belle And Sebastian are releasing 'I Want The World To Stop' as their new single (even though singles mean bugger all these days, it just means it'll get more play on 6Music and other proper stations). I used to be a big B and S fan in the late 90's and 'The Boy With The Arab Strap' is still a big favorite of mine, while the follow up album was a little disappointing although it featured the classic 'I Fought In A War' and a couple of other great songs. But by the time they were releasing songs like 'Legal Man' and 'I'm Waking Up To Us' I had grown tired of their music, which was beginning to sound uninspired and very lame. So after about a decade of not checking out any of their new material, i listened to last year's 'Write About Love' upon its release. And while it wasn't as awful as the material that made me switch off in the early 2000's, the album certainly was no prize pig. The lead single and the title track was terrible, possibly one of the most irritating songs of 2010, and without Isobel Campbell who left a few years ago, there seems to be a void in the group's sound. But the album DID have more than a couple of tracks that represented a return to form for the group, and 'I Want The World To Stop' is just stunning.... not only the album's finest track but the finest track Belle And Sebastian have made in the last decade, and right up there with any of their early classics.

So there we go, Belle And Sebastian's album 'Write About Love' isn't that good. But it's worth a tenner just to own this song. Essential.