Be properly extra double nice about So Tough

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

...because Foxbase Alpha is near-perfection and So Tough goes the extra mile and is even more so and Leafhound is as head-swimmingly brilliant as anything i can think of off the top of my head and i don't recall ever reading anything (favourable or otherwise) about this particular track, ever. And i just wanted to post something.

― Alex Linsdell, Tuesday, 18 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

more importantly...

is "she lives by the castle" really written about sarah cracknell?

― gygax! (i forgot my blog password), Tuesday, 18 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

She comes from Windsor, so quite possibly yes.

I've also always adored "Leafhound" and can't understand why nobody talks about it: so much *texture* in the song!

― Robin Carmody, Tuesday, 18 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"no rainbows for me", good gawd what a beautiful song.

― justin, Tuesday, 18 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

No mention of the Simon Price cameo so far?

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 18 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

With good reason.

I continue to maintain, however, that Tiger Bay is their masterpiece, especially side 2 - one of the bleakest sequences of '90s music, maybe up there with Walker's Tilt.

Sound of Water is the co-subject of one of many Church of Me pieces I'm currently trying to knock into shape - namely, popular music about getting old gracefully, and the significance of water in same (the other co-subject? King of the Beach by Chris Rea - two records which I think have an awful lot in common, although they approach the subject from diametrically opposed angles).

― Marcello Carlin, Wednesday, 19 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I agree re "Tiger Bay", although 1) I'm not sure if I'd say "bleak"... maybe poignant? and 2) "So Tough" comes awfully, awfully close.

― Tim, Wednesday, 19 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I've never been able to get my head around "Foxbase Alpha" for some reason, it seems too jumbled for my liking. The way I see it is that the Field Mice were making the rich tapestry of "For keeps" in the same studio around the same time, so why didn't St Etienne make something that sounds richer?

But "So tough" and "Tiger bay" are both superb pieces of work. Has nobody got a good word to say about "Jump the morgue" though? To me the first two minutes sound like the kind of record Kraftwerk should have made around that time - spare and spacey. And side two of "Tiger Bay" is so bleak. I had it for Christmas 1994 and it really made me feel down playing it that night, so it always reminds me of that particular day.

― Rob M, Wednesday, 19 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I dug out Tiger Bay again after Tim chose it for 102. My feelings remain the same - very strong in the first half, but that Western Wind/Tankerville sequence just does nothing for me. Not bleak, just ... dull. I know it's only 7 minutes, but as the centrepiece of Side 2 it seems all wrong. Side 2 of "So Tough" also goes downhill at about the same point (ie after "Conchita Mertinez").

These criticisms should be read against the fact that Saint Etienne were one of my favourite bands of the 90s, and the singles and their b-sides from these periods led me to hope for perfection on the LPs.

― Jeff W, Wednesday, 19 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

See, for me "Western Wind/Tankerville" is just about the peak of the album. Not in terms of being my favourite track (that's probably "Former Lover" or "Grovely Road" - Tiger Bay is probably the only Saint Etienne album where I reckon they really get the classicist numbers perfect) but just in terms of bringing everything to a glorious pinnacle.

― Tim, Wednesday, 19 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

A few things...
Nobody's mentioned _Good Humor_?! That is the pinnacle of their career, so far. Not a weak moment on it. For a while, it seemed like each (proper) album was better than the one before it, until the disappointing _The Sound of Water_.

_So Tough_ has great songs, but the production is quite different from other albums - it seems like any edges are smoothed down, and it's a little too reverb-y sometimes. And the out of tune flute solo in _Mario's Cafe_ is distracting (why couldn't they fix that?!).

"Hobart Paving" from _So Tough_ was covered in the German film _Bandits_ about an all-girl fugitive rock 'n' roll band; however, they changed the lyrics around ("Hold on princess" instead of "Hobart Paving") and called it "Catch Me." "Rain falls like Elvis tears..." - just lovely.

"It's All Gone Horribly Wrong" = best song ever about plumbing mishaps?

― Ernest, Wednesday, 19 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I like Good Humor a lot, but is still very much my Fourth Favourite... Goodnight Jack and Postman and Dutch TV are all up there with their bestest moments ever (and, although i generally love their albums, St Et were ALWAYS about 'moments'), but the more uptempo stuff like Lose That Girl and The Bad Photographer, though pretty good, lose out a tiny bit due to semi-absence of velocity-whoosh propulsion-thing. These tracks don't stand up quite so well when heard in isolation, though work geniusly as part of stripped-pine pine-fresh country-air vibe. Sound Of Water is good enough, but bits of it buffed'n'polished to a sheen in a way that doesn't encourage TOUCHING. Or else certain tracks don't come together amazingly well, like Boy Is Crying (chorus and verse are, y'know, exactly the same) and Just A Little Overcome (slighty bewildered by Mr Reynolds' total love of this, is much lovely twinkling in search of a song), and How We Used To Live (generally very good, but the mid-section light years ahead of the rest. And making use of Sean O'Hagan is acceptable, but the second he starts nudging in christing-bontempi-ersatz High Llamas direction, PUNCH THE FUCKER OUT. Sarah saves the day here, thanks to her non-mumbling/non-male vocal technique). Sycamore is snuggly and tremendous, though, and Downey CA. is ideal midsummer midday moment music, and Heart Failed both the dark-heart and the obvious highlight (perfect review somewhere in the Freakytrigger archive, will not pass this off as my own work as i cannot remember exactly what was said. But was very very accurate).

Hopes are high for Finisterre (or whatever is called), as apparently "less conceptual, more varied and upbeat" than SOW. They were the first band i ever really really really loved, is vital to my wellbeing that they rescrape the heights of 91-94 again. I anticipate in drooly manner.

People really like writing about Saint Etienne, don't they? Hurrah!

― Alex Linsdell, Wednesday, 19 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Some good stuff, but I prefer 'Friends' and 'Love You'

― dave q, Wednesday, 19 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Nobody's mentioned _Good Humor_?!

To echo Marcello re: Simon P: for good reason. In my case, at least -- Blur and St. Etienne, two bands that essentially stopped functioning for me after 1995, though I hear their ghosts keep putting out albums.

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 19 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"So Tough_ has great songs, but the production is quite different from other albums - it seems like any edges are smoothed down, and it's a little too reverb-y sometimes."

My take is the opposite - "So Tough" doesn't have my favourite * songs* as such, but it's so dreamily produced. "Railway Jam", "Calico", "Avenue" etc. Reverb is good. Dub is good.

― Tim, Wednesday, 19 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I think the Sound of Water review - by Robin - has got lost, don't know if I still have a copy of the HTML. You can still read it by digging around that web archive place though.

― Tom, Thursday, 20 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

seven years pass...

Disc 1 - Side 1
1. Mario's Cafe
2. Railway Jam
3. Date With Spelman
4. Calico
5. Avenue
6. You're In A Bad Way
7. Memo To Pricey
8. Hobart Paving
9. Leafhound
10. Clock Milk
11. Conchita Martinez
12. No Rainbows For Me
13. Here Comes Clown Feet
14. Junk The Morgue
15. Chicken Soup
Disc 2 - Side 1
1. Everything Flows
2. Railway Jam Vocal Version
3. Who Do You Think You Are
4. Some Place Else
5. Duke Duvet
6. Paper
7. Johnny In The Echo Cafe
8. Archway People
9. California Snow Story
10. Join Our Club
11. Everlasting
12. Snowplough Instrumental
13. Rainy Day Women
14. Peterloo Instrumental
15. I'm Too Sexy
16. Stranger In Paradise
17. Hobart Paving Van Dyke Parks Version

― Mark G, Friday, 24 July 2009 12:50 (sixteen years ago)

will get ("Rainy Day Women"?!)

― Gigolo Grasiento (baaderonixx), Friday, 24 July 2009 13:54 (sixteen years ago)

gimme gimme gimme

― unban dictionary (blueski), Friday, 24 July 2009 16:45 (sixteen years ago)

yesssss

― hallmark race cards (donna rouge), Friday, 24 July 2009 17:00 (sixteen years ago)

What is "Hobart Paving Van Dyke Parks Version". Is that the version that was on the single (which is better than the album version I think).

― everything, Friday, 24 July 2009 19:08 (sixteen years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.