LateNightTales - Belle & Sebastian

Genre soundtrack Publisher Another Late Night External Links Official LateNightTales Website Official Belle & Sebastian Website

Making mix discs, whether for yourself or for friends (or that special someone you want to get to know better) is a very involved process for those who put care into them. Sure, you can slap a bunch of tunes from your "rip" folder on a CD-R, but that's hardly the same as thinking about themes, planning the sequencing of tracks, maximizing what you want to say in less than the disc's running time.

I don't do these as often as I'd like to, in all honesty. I used to make mix tapes as a teenager and I wish I still had a bunch of those to listen back to. I make the occasional mix disc now, but I'm nowhere near as obsessive about it as I used to be. I still don't click and drag a bunch of tracks over to be burned, though.

A few years back, as a music message board I frequented heavily began to formulate into a real "community," the idea was floated to start sharing mixes back and forth. I took it upon myself to start the project. I soon became overwhelmed by the notion that I was making something that reflected me and that I was putting something out there that would be judged by others (this is before I returned to writing full-time).

The idea of just doing one single mix disc was quickly discarded as I stood before a mountain of CDs. There was no way I could whittle down my vision to a mere 80 minutes! This had to be a grand design, something that people would need all day to digest, a Grand Guignol if you will of music.

The decision was then cemented that it would be four discs jam-packed with music. New Order's "Temptation," Outkast's "B.O.B. (Bombs Over Baghdad)," Stratford 4's "Telephone," Nina Simone covering George Harrison's "Here Comes the Sun," all nestled comfortably with tracks by Velvet Underground, Pigface, XTC, and many more.

Then the artwork had to be found. Four discs equaled four distinct covers. I went with Vincent Van Gogh's "The Flying Fox" for one, Tony Fitzpatrick's "R" (with robot) for his series of "Max and Gaby's Alphabet" paintings, and two others I don't quite remember (I tried to find the discs in question, but they're hiding away in a corner somewhere out of my recollection).

Anyways, I shipped at least 25-30 of these things out to people all over the country with a hefty cost (printing covers, ink, envelopes, postage, CD-Rs). It was done and out there. People dug it, which ultimately is what the damn set was intended for.

The work put into Belle & Sebastian's volume of LateNightTales appears no less painstaking and heartfelt as the monstrosity I took on years ago. The band puts together all of the songs seamlessly and do what a mix disc does best: turn you on to new music and reflect the person who put it together. On those two counts, Belle & Sebastian have done a magnificent job.