The Bells Line is the third album by Australian rock band 78 Saab. It was released in 2007.

The three-year gap between albums was described in one newspaper story as a source of consternation for the band: "Nash says it stems from a combination of laziness and the need to juggle day jobs to pay the rent." The album's chief inspiration was described as coming from songwriter Ben Nash's four-hour commute between his childhood home, his parents' farm in Orange, New South Wales

Orange, New South Wales

Orange is a city in the Central West region of New South Wales, Australia. It is west of the state capital, Sydney, at an altitude of . Orange has an estimated population of 39,329 and the city is a major provincial centre....

 and his Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

 base. The Bells Line is the name of the road that leads from Richmond in Sydney's west through the Blue Mountains, the route Nash would take going home.

The album's opening song, "Sleepless Nights", begins with the line, "Up on the Bells Line, we disappear ..." "That came to me as I was driving with my wife just on twilight on a cold winter's night," Nash told the Herald Sun

Herald Sun

The Herald Sun is a morning tabloid newspaper based in Melbourne, Australia. It is published by The Herald and Weekly Times, a subsidiary of News Limited, itself a subsidiary of News Corporation. It is available for purchase throughout Melbourne, Regional Victoria, Tasmania, the Australian Capital...

. "A lot of ideas come to me when I'm driving, and I like the way subconscious thoughts materialise that way."

The band rehearsed for the album in an old church hall near the Nash family property before joining producer Wayne Connolly

Wayne Connolly

 Wayne Connolly is an Australian producer/engineer and musician. Throughout the 1990s Connolly played in Sydney band The Welcome Mat, who released a series of critically acclaimed albums and EPs through Waterfront Records and id/Mercury...

 in the studio. "We froze our arse off. It was the middle of winter, but it was a productive time. A lot of ideas were thrown around," Nash said.

Track listing

(all tracks by 78 Saab)

1. "Sleepless Nights" – 3:38
2. "Drive" – 4:00
3. "One of These Days" – 3:42
4. "Needle in the Hay" – 4:20
5. "Messed Up" – 4:18
6. "Lean on In" – 3:42
7. "Kandahar" – 5:15
8. "Haul Away" – 3:06
9. "Nothing as It Seems" – 4:10
10. "Sleepyhead" – 4:58

Personnel

• Jake Andrews – guitars, keyboards, vocals
• Nicholai Danko – drums, percussion
• Ben Nash – vocals, guitar
• Garth Tregillgas – bass
• Tim Kevin – piano ("Nothing As It Seems")
• Jim Moginie
  Jim Moginie
  James "Jim" Moginie is an Australian musician. He is best known for his work with Midnight Oil, of which he was a founding member, guitarist, keyboardist and leading songwriter...
  
   – keyboards ("Kandahar", "Sleepyhead"), guitar ("Sleephead")
• Jason Walker – pedal steel ("Sleepless Nights", "Lean On In", "Haul Away")