If You're Feeling Sinister (studio album) by Belle And Sebastian
Belle And Sebastian bestography
If You're Feeling Sinister is ranked as the best album by Belle And Sebastian.
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If You're Feeling Sinister track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 87 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.
If You're Feeling Sinister rankings
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If You're Feeling Sinister ratings

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Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
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70/100 ![]() | 10 hours ago | thepardunk | ![]() | 70/100 |
100/100 ![]() | 04/08/2025 18:21 | ![]() | ![]() | 73/100 |
100/100 ![]() | 03/31/2025 17:05 | Pienk | ![]() | 78/100 |
85/100 ![]() | 03/31/2025 12:41 | Spartakist | ![]() | 82/100 |
100/100 ![]() | 03/18/2025 20:53 | pjsamm | ![]() | 91/100 |
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This album is rated in the top 1% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 83.3/100, a mean average of 82.0/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 83.4/100. The standard deviation for this album is 16.4.
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Album Rating: 89.20
(892/10)
Belle And Sebastian (IYFS - UK - Nov 96) - If You're Feeling Sinister
18.11.1996
1.Belle And Sebastian (IYFS - UK - Nov 96) - The Stars Of Track And Field 99
2.Belle And Sebastian (IYFS - UK - Nov 96) - Seeing Other People 100
3.Belle And Sebastian (IYFS - UK - Nov 96) - Me And The Major 96
4.Belle And Sebastian (IYFS - UK - Nov 96) - Like Dylan In The Movies 100
5.Belle And Sebastian (IYFS - UK - Nov 96) - The Fox In The Snow 100
6.Belle And Sebastian (IYFS - UK - Nov 96) - Get Me Away From Here, I'm Dying 80
7.Belle And Sebastian (IYFS - UK - Nov 96) - If You're Feeling Sinister 84
8.Belle And Sebastian (IYFS - UK - Nov 96) - Mayfly 76
9.Belle And Sebastian (IYFS - UK - Nov 96) - The Boy Done Wrong Again 76
10.Belle And Sebastian (IYFS - UK - Nov 96) - Judy And The Dream Of Horses 81
Ranked in order:
* Belle And Sebastian (IYFS - UK - Nov 96) - Seeing Other People 100
* Belle And Sebastian (IYFS - UK - Nov 96) - Like Dylan In The Movies 100
* Belle And Sebastian (IYFS - UK - Nov 96) - The Fox In The Snow 100
* Belle And Sebastian (IYFS - UK - Nov 96) - The Stars Of Track And Field 99
* Belle And Sebastian (IYFS - UK - Nov 96) - Me And The Major 96
* Belle And Sebastian (IYFS - UK - Nov 96) - If You're Feeling Sinister 84
* Belle And Sebastian (IYFS - UK - Nov 96) - Judy And The Dream Of Horses 81
* Belle And Sebastian (IYFS - UK - Nov 96) - Get Me Away From Here, I'm Dying 80
* Belle And Sebastian (IYFS - UK - Nov 96) - The Boy Done Wrong Again 76
* Belle And Sebastian (IYFS - UK - Nov 96) - Mayfly 76

Pretty good. A very chill listening experience. Only problem is that it gets kinda samey after a couple of songs, but overall, I like it.
Belle And Sebastian take everything that was good about their debut album and improve on it resulting in a fantastic experience for us. The lyrics of this album is where it truly shines with some fantastic tales told across the whole record. Stuart Murdoch is such a fantastic writer and his lyrics are so personal and relatable that it makes this record have an instant connection with most of its listeners. His delivery is brilliant as well with this vocal style being extremely appealing to my ears. Instrumentally, the group have improved as well with their diversity on display here with every performer shining in their own respect. At the centre of the music is the guitar which is consistently fantastic and grounds the sound they are trying to create allowing the trumpet, violin and all the other instruments to demonstrate their flare and add an exciting edge to the music. Overall, this is the best album by Belle And Sebastian that I have discovered so far with its vocal, lyrical and instrumental brilliance always blowing me away whenever I revisit.
Solid album

First listen:Cute music where all songs sound the same.

There's great work, and then there's work that transforms you as a person. It grips the trunk of your soul and shakes the rotten fruit from your branches.
If You're Feeling Sinister killed a part of me that was infected. When you grow up in a religious, far-right household, parts of you are bound to be deeply, irreparably sick, and the only treatment is to identify those parts and cut them out. Stuart Murdoch's loving, careful depictions of various regular people, the kinds of regular people that operate in direct opposition to the Puritan Work Ethic and thundering heterosexuality of the church, tenderly taught me what was sick and what was well...and sounded damn good while doing it.
As a young teenager, listening to this album made me feel guilty. Loving it left me feeling liberated. So I listened and listened until I couldn't feel guilty anymore.
There’s times where this really grabs your attention. Like the singer is telling a story that matters. Too often, however, it’s a breathlessly sung tale of another depressing situation played over repetitively strummed chords.
Flojo
Favorite album of my favorite band of my post-university life. Wonderful songs. Great vibe. Their run from 96-98 is incredible. Highly recommend.

At times moving, although I felt that the album's quality tailed off on the second side. The melodies also feel very borrowed from various VU tracks and Nico tracks. Good, but not deserving of a spot in the album canon.
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