I would like to talk about the greatness that is Saint Etienne

I've recently been listening to 'The Misadventures of Saint Etienne', which they did as a soundtrack in 2001. There are some absolute gems on it, esp. 'Do It All', 'Find Me A Boy', and 'It's the Way I Fell For You'.

'Finisterre' was wonderful. I'm so anxious as to what they'll do next.

I've been trying to figure the chords out to a number of songs lately, to do a tribute act or something around town. I've got Hobart Paving, Pale Movie, Like a Motorway, He's On The Phone, You're In A Bad Way, and a few b-sides so far.

"Tiger Bay" (the Euro version) is definitely one of the finest albums of the 90's.

I agree completely. Billions of times better than I'd expected considering how they'd had the "good as a studio band only" rep for nearly a decade.

Greatness is hardly the word. Saint Etienne, at their best, conjure up a sound evocative of times so sweet, dusty, romantic, humourous, sexy and damn stylish like no-one else can for me anyway.

I think if anything their music has been too pristine to be indie-lite chart-friendly, but too unpolished to be proper pop like wot the radio likes.

I personally didn't get into "Good Humour" at all, even "Sylvie", but otherwise every album does it for me. And like all good ones, none of those albums is truly flawless. Ok, maybe "Tiger Bay".

or during the fact in my case. meh.

I saw them on the "Sound of Water" tour -- and it was amazing!

sometimes they seem to fritter away their best songs. "like a motorway" has that absolutely great pulse which is undermined by their choosing to have that bongo breakdown every umpteen bars. and stuff like "mario's cafe", i can't knock it, but as long as i held on to my st etienne records, i hardly ever listened to them. eventually during one particularly vicious spring cleaning, i sold them.

"Greatness is hardly the word. Saint Etienne, at their best, conjure up a sound evocative of times so sweet, dusty, romantic, humourous, sexy and damn stylish like no-one else can for me anyway. "

i guess, but i always felt like they never made up for being several times removed from certain evident sources--girlpop, etc.--all of which i get more out of.

p.s. bob stanley has put together some neat compilations of girpop for the rpm label.

They've made something similar by the sound of it, called Caff which is about Cafes mentioned here on the News page of their site which they've apparantly learned how to update. The sounds are working though, which is a shame.

Is anybody else creeped out by the abject lust for Sarah Cracknell a certain kind of Indie Kid ManBoy is willing to share i? I mean here i am wanting to discuss Ambient Dub influences on Tankerville and where that I AM THE JAPANESE SAND MAN sample comes from on B92 and all they want to say is how much of a faintly creepy crush they had back in the day. There's an anthropology study to be done here i think...

...and i really can't decide if i love the fact that i'll never find all the squiggles the Et have commited to wax and whatever the alien technology that powers CDs is, or if it just really annoys me. I do like saying HARD TO FIND JAPANESE IMPORT which is perhaps in itself an answer...

and have they really been dropped by Mantra? And have i caught up with the thread yet?

Destroy: most of Kelly's Locker, frankly.

See, I'm so far gone that when faced with 'What is there to get?', I can only wonder 'What ISN'T there to get!'. St Et are the band I can least define my love for, although they're by no exaggeration my favourite band, and the only band that I'll still actively hunt down singles etc. for. I wonder sometimes whether it's just the touches I've fallen for, i.e. ALWAYS having clever liner notes, being so damn smart about pop culture, delicate lyrical references, plenty of irreverence, whatever. But I always come back to impeccably solid pop songwriting surrounded by inventive, creative production that never serves to obscure the candy floss. The touches just add to the whole package. They make me feel GOOD, at any point, just by existing, I guess. 'Too Young to Die' states my case best, I think, though it's all good. 'So Tough' is marvellous, esp. Mario's Cafe, the singles, and BIG POINTS for the underrated Leafhound.

There is some classic stuff on Built On Sand! Search 'Suburban Autumn Lieutenant', 'Nazi Jaloux', 'Jaydip Pharmacy', and esp. their Bond theme, 'Tomorrow Never Dies', which just as cheesy and wonderful as you'd expect a St Et Bond theme to be. It's a glorious toss-off.

Saint Etinne; of course a seminal group, as we've all discussed before. "Finisterre" is a cracking album... Something like "Stop and Think It Over" is just sublime, and the single, "Action", was a shimmeringly wondrous development of their early sound. I like the whole album. "Good Humour" is probably the weakest but still decent. "So Tough" is my personal favourite; those spoken samples... the whole gloriously *placed* ambience.

They're certainly very important to me personally, as well as a relaxing listen too - the first two anyway... "Tiger Bay" and "The Sound of Water" can be quite subtly unsettling, and "Finisterre" is the most high-octane they have been.

It has quite a few really good songs: the stylish "Tomorrow Never Dies" a demo comissioned for the James Bond movie (and they went with Sheryl Crow!?), "Please", a beautiful Brill Building ballad that will have you dreaming about Sarah Cracknell for days, a live version of "We're in the City", and a few pretty instrumentals (Jaydip Pharmacy, Keep Nothing) in the dreamy fashion of "Shad Times" (from Continental). St. Etienne at their most melancolic!

Looking at it, there might have been a certain laziness in the 'indescribable' comment. Although I could probably fill a whole page (and bug the crap out of everyone else here) with my attempts to do so - and STILL not do so to my own satisfaction. This is what comes of being an obsessive..

are the finisterre and caff films coming onto dvd? they've played at the barbican recently.

Haha I love it and may be forced to buy a DVD player to watch it.

http://photos.friendster.com/photos/90/38/6718309/5232213527272l.jpg

The email I got from S.E. said NYE on the header and I didn't look closely and just excitedly posted this.

Anyway, wherever it is, it's not in L.A., dammit.

I guess Poison at the Rainbow Room would be the essentialist L.A. equivalent.

Since Gear! started this thread, I should mention that I recently checked out the 90s poll results, and then when I DJed the other day I found Tiger Bay, thought I recognized "Like a Motorway" from the Singles list (it was #83) and put it on. Wow!!! Great track, I've listened to it over and over since then. What should I get next??

LOL OTM. But perhaps it's changed since last year - what would it be today??

I used to think the "He's Gone" part said something totally different.

Nothing Can Stop Us (Alternative Vocal)
7 Ways 2 Love (Sarah Vocal / Original White Label)
Who Do You Think You Are (Debsey Vocal / Original Mix)
Hobart Paving (Alternative Single Mix)
Like A Motorway (Demo)
Former Lover (Single Mix)
Western Wind (Demo)
Angel (Original Mix)
Burnt Out Car (Original Mix)
Sylvie (Alternative Single Mix)
Madeleine (Alternative Mix)
Lose That Girl (Demo)
Heart Failed (In The Back Of A Taxi) (Demo)
How We Used To Live (Berlin Rough Mix)
Milk Bottle Symphony (Alternative Mix)
Goodnight (Demo)

very amusing, self-effacing notes on each track as well.

you know if anyone wants a copy i could burn it for them, it is quite good.