That Belle and Sebastian question

A correspondent wrote and asked "What is your favorite Belle and Sebastian album and why?"

The thing about B & S was they were like the Smiths for the 90's, and not just in the sorta-folk/sorta weird music and oft-outre subject matter. Like Smifs, they were dropping ep's like crazy at their peak, and, prior to the Internet's dominance of all coverage, these records could just appear: I remember being in a Borders at Christmastime 1998 (I will spare you from reciting what I had for lunch) and seeing a copy of "3...6...9...Seconds of Light," and having no prior knowledge it existed. It contained "Le Pastie de la Bourgoisie" with its Nick Eddy-pleasing "give yourself up to the allure of Catcher in the Rye," and my all-time fave B & S song "Beautiful": "They let Lisa go blind, let Lisa go blind, let Lisa go bli-yi-yind"...SIGH. Now, of course, everything is ugly.

Anyway, though, it's not an album, I will go with this ep. Strictly speaking, album-wise, ...Sinister.

Thank frig this is finally CLEARED UP!