Arab Strap Reviewed
Arab Strap
Ten Years Of Tears
(Chemikal Underground)
Rubbishing a farewell tour and album, Arab Strap’s final contribution is a hodgepodge of live tracks, B-sides, and what not, the sort of thing most bands pass off when they don’t know what to do next.
It’s fair to say Arab Strap did know when they reached this point: end it. Arab Strap’s talk-rock always trumped that of fellow Scot (ex-Belle & Sebastian member) Stuart David, and were probably the most interesting among the student-union crop of Lowlands bands including B&S, Mogwai, Bis, and The Delgados. Before cutting themselves off last year, Aidan Moffat and Malcolm Middleton berthed an unending stream of uncomfortabilities (“The Girl I Loved Before I Fucked” and “It was the biggest cock you’d ever seen” rank up there), finding a way to be miserable without rubbing off on their listeners. In fact, Ten Years Of Tears, seeing how it would be an awful intro to the band, is somewhat of an uncharacteristic “thank you” to fans who endured six albums of one-way conversation.
The only genuine concession to the compilation format is their first single, “The First Big Weekend,” which pretty much sums them up: “Then at 10 o’clock in the morning we went downstairs to buy some drink. We had intended to watch the football in the afternoon but we’d passed out by then and slept right through it, awaking to find that England had won two-nil.”
Not that they’ll be much happier without one another.
— Steve Forstneger
