The Boy With the Arab Strap by Belle & Sebastian

The Boy with the Arab Strap, Belle & Sebastian's third album, came out in 1998 on Jeepster and Matador, and it's the Glasgow band finally taking its time. The first two records had been knocked off in a matter of days; this one, produced by Tony Doogan, took months, and you can hear the extra room in every hushed arrangement. They'd held it back while If You're Feeling Sinister found its American audience, filling the gap with the Dog on Wheels, Lazy Line Painter Jane and 3.. 6.. 9 Seconds of Light EPs.

Stuart Murdoch's gang had become a proper collective: Stevie Jackson and Isobel Campbell wrote songs of their own, more voices took turns at the mic, and Mick Cooke's trumpet brightened Campbell's cello, Stuart David's bass and Chris Geddes' keys. The music got more adventurous too. It's chamber pop with a bookish wink, and the jaunty title track is the one that stuck.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.