Belle and Sebastian are the misunderstood face of twee pop. Unfairly pigeonholed by some as a sort of limp wristed successor to wuss rock bands like Air Supply, they have a hidden strength to their music that only reveals itself after much careful listening. This characteristic of their sound has meant that they are largely limited to having a small but fantastically devoted following, whose size is entirely out of proportion to their prodigious musical talent.

Still, for those who follow the band, they have never been stingy about releasing material. "The BBC Sessions" is by no means the first Belle and Sebastian compilation album to do the rounds, but it is the first official fully live album that they've done. Unlike some live albums, "The BBC Sessions" contains a good variety of material from the across the band's entire back catalogue, neither concentrating too much on lesser-quality recent work or focusing too much on the band's older "hits".

In terms of recording quality, the album being "live in the studio" means that the audio quality here is excellent, and the mix is bereft of any screaming crowds or idiots talking loudly near the microphones. It also means that the album sounds less spontaneous than a traditional live album; the band doesn't radically rearrange any of their songs, embark on wild jams, or take any unexpected left turns. However, it's still charmingly unpolished in a lot of ways, and early takes of some tracks like Lazy Jane and Wrong Love (which eventually went on to become The Wrong Girl) do provide an interesting look at how the songs evolved before being committed onto official releases.

The actual recording itself is the product of three separate BBC recording sessions, one in 1996, another in 1997, and another in 2001. Apart from the fadeout that ends I Could Be Dreaming, the transition between the different recording sessions is seamless enough that only a dedicated fan would be able to tell, although once you know where you are, close listening is enough to pick out subtle variations in vocal and instrumental timbre. None of the songs are duplicated either, so there's no distracting "Hey, didn't I just hear that?" moments, either. In short, it's very well complied and put together, and not just a sloppy release thrown together to consolidate the band's revenue stream while they're off on hiatus.

If you're already a Belle and Sebastian fan, chances are that you probably already have this, and I don't need to convince you to go and buy it. But if you're not, the literate indie pop on display here is clear and accessible enough to turn you into one.