Search And Destroy: Saint Etienne

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Because I can't be arsed thinking of a clever thread today, and because Josh and I were just talking about them.

Search: "Only Love Can Break Your Heart", "Kiss And Make Up", So Tough, "He's On The Phone", Xmas 93, "How We Used To Live" (I was so wrong about that record)

Destroy: Good Humor - boring as hell.

― Tom, Thursday, 10 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

How timely, just as I was listening to 'Check Your Head' on my way to work wearing my St.Etienne 1976 footie shirt (true!), it occured to me in a flash that St.Etienne are in fact the British Beastie Boys. And a good thing that is too!

Search: Foxbase Alpha. One of the truely great albums of the 90s. + 'Avenue'.

Destroy: that one with wotshisname from the Charlatans, some crap about X-mas.

― Omar, Thursday, 10 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

weren't they responsible for the lovely ' seven ways to love' as Cola Boy or is my memory too blunted ?

― geordie racer, Thursday, 10 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I can't actually remember how that Cola Boy track went, but I'm certain that some of St Etienne had something to do with it.

― Richard Tunnicliffe, Thursday, 10 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Yeah, Cola Boy was them, or partly them.

As was the marvellous "Supermarket" by Supermarket.

― Tom, Thursday, 10 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Search: Pierre Boulez (was born there; went in retreat there during May 68 to Get His Head Together in the Country, and — basically — took totally the wrong route into the future thereafter)

Destroy: anything to do with football

― mark s, Thursday, 10 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

au contraire

supermaket was in fact lawrence's baby & a finely formed sprog it was indeed.

search: filthy,avenue, hobart paving, like a motorway, nothing can stop us.

destroy: most of tiger bay & all the sub pop guff of recent years.

― cw, Thursday, 10 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Search: Singles. All of them, starting with "he's on the phone". Or get "too young to die". Destroy : tiger bay (except the singles), Xmas 93

― fernando, Thursday, 10 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Search : Foxbase Alpha. The only one I have, but it's excellent. Destroy : Join Our Club.

― Dr. C, Thursday, 10 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Search: Foxbase Alpha, So Tough Tiger Bay (under rated), It takes a Mess of Help to stand alone, Places to visit EP and Sound of Water. I wouldnt go so far as to destroy Good Humour - it is pretty bland, but not awful - and the cover art is too nice to want to destroy it.

Destroy: the only thing to destroy would be the xmas single withI hat waste of space Tim Burgess. What were they thinking?!?!

Theay are still my favourite band of the nineties - MUCH better than the Beastie boys, who are clearly over-rated. Prehaps it's a London thing (a cliche, but true) - I was on the St. Etienne mailing list for a while and most of the international fans seem to prefer the later stuff to the earlier, which seems very strange to me. They are in no small way responsible for my love of North London...

― Robin, Thursday, 10 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

both too young to die (singles 90-95) and so tough are bone fide classics. most everything upto 95 is great. everything sice isn't exactly what you'd call bad or anything, just not the heights of the older stuff.

and i think the idea of them as the british beastie boys holds pretty true actually. (this is not an insult by the way)

― gareth, Thursday, 10 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Yeah, totally agree with the N. London thing. And the Beastie Boys thing makes tons of sense - I've always found the Boys rather annoying whereas Saint Etienne I've always thought terrifically cool in a very approachable way.

HOWEVER the Xmas thing with Tim Burgess is one of my favourite singles of the 90s. Absolutely wonderful.

― Tom, Thursday, 10 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Search: Nearly everything, but especially "Avenue". It is not only my single of the 90's, I think it might just be my favorite single of all time full stop. I don't really have any rational explanations of why, it just is. St. Etienne are magical.

Destroy: Well, if I were forced to destroy something I would probably say Good Humor. I hated the Sound of Water when it came out, but that has grown on me quite a bit so I don't think I could destroy it.

― Nicole, Thursday, 10 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Search: Too Young To Die which has put me off their albums as they ipso facto can't be as good. Particularly I Was Born on Christmas Day and He's On The Phone. Also one of the few pieces by Julie Burchill that I really like.

Destroy: Despite all the wordage about Sound of Water being the perfect blend of sophistication and pop, I just can't get into it. It just sounds too bored, too calculated.

I'm not so sure about the North London thing: I understood the brilliant promise of "Got the cash, feeling flash, in Leicester Square" long before I ever saw the place.

― Andrew Farrell, Thursday, 10 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

First three albums are my searches, without question -- all grand in their own way (and to agree with Nicole, "Avenue" is damn sweet). _Foxbase_ is still my favorite of the bunch, and leave it to St. Etienne to have a track consisting of nothing but Simon Price talking about drinking.

Anything described in terms by US music crit losers as 'so nice to hear St. Etienne giving up that techno stuff for something a little more soulful' should generally be shot. As should the losers -- there's one clown who writes for either the _LA Weekly_ or _OC Weekly_ who I really need to track down on this matter.

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 10 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Search: Too Young To Die (how strange, I was only listening to it 10 minutes ago. It must be summer.) and Tiger Bay.

Destroy: Much of Good Humour and So Tough.

― Ally C, Thursday, 10 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Could someone explain the 'North London thing'...

― Guy, Thursday, 10 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Can't really think of anything that needs destroying, but I'm sure there must be something. I think they're really going strong right now.

Great point made about the Beastie Boys. Have Saint Etienne ever had their hand in a fanzine? I bet it would be ten times better than Grand Royal. (However, it couldn't possibly top the peerless Motorbooty.}

― Andy, Thursday, 10 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

hold on, hold on, hold on. everyone is excepting this beastie boys thing at face value. can anyone explain to me in what ways they are the beastie boys of britain? in part because i can't see the connection and mostly because i do take that as an insult.

― fred solinger, Thursday, 10 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Bob Stanley did a fanzine BEFORE StEt, but I can't remember its name. I didn't really rate it, tho I only ever saw one issue. Clunky layout, and a bit too "ooh ooh Tiger Bay is where Shirley Bassey was born!" for my tastes. If that makes sense. Actually so were StEt, really: which is why I brought Boulez up. I wuz always just a bit bored by the given limit-point of their obsessive-reference universe.

And, y'know, football... Fuck football.

― mark s, Thursday, 10 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

It was called Caff. You can find an article from Caff, about - but of course - Talullah Gosh, on www.twee.net .

― stevie t, Thursday, 10 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Caff = cockney for Cath = good name

Caff = cockney for Café = crap name

But why?

("Twee" would be self-protective irony, no? It doesn't work, does it?)

― mark s, Thursday, 10 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

st etienne as british beastie boys, now this really is interesting. there's an archivist feeling about both, thats kind of retro yet not stultifying. this comes out in the samples used. theres also an old obscure film thing there. and lots of referencing.

i think its unfortunate that the comparison is seen as an insult to st etienne. perhaps this comparison would have been stronger 6 or 7 years ago (although both groups are past their best). do the beastie boys come in for unfair criticism because of their gradual move into worthyism, which st etienne, for the most part, seem to have avoided?

i do feel they are transatlantic cousins, but its not that easy to say why. anyone help me out here?

― gareth, Friday, 11 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Well since I was the mastermind behind this connection ;)

Reverence/reference for past heroes, esp. cult. One can see this in the sleeve of 'Foxbase Alpha', all these footie-card photo's of Brian Wilson, Francoise Hardy, etc. as their personal Hall of Fame (nowadays not so shocking). Beastie Boys did the back-sleeve of 'Check Your Head' in the exact collage style of Sly Stone's 'There's A Riot Going On'. Icongraphy very much of interest to both bands.

Big interest in cool: Bruce Lee, yr old skool rappers vs. extremly cool 70s French footie team, obscure British stars.

Reference get's its way into lyrics, for instance: St.E "He hit me/And it felt like a kiss" (ripped off some 60s girl group?) Beasties' 'Time for a livin' at the end uses the exact lyrics of Lee Perry's 'Soul fire'.

But most important: both groups are dub-wise. Again 'Foxbase' and 'Check YH' make very smart use of dub. There's not much pure reggae on both records, but a whole lot a dubbing is going on. Lots of echo, space in production, bass, intricate studio-tricks, etc.

not sure about the video's but what I can remember both groups like to use a 60s/70s style in their video's.

Please free to add comments, insights, etc.

― Omar, Friday, 11 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Search: He's on the Phone (duh)

Destroy: Stanley as journalist. Even if he IS part responsible for signing the Preachers.

― Ally, Friday, 11 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Search: anything, really, from 1990-95 up to and including Too Young To Die, especially the first three proper albums, and certainly including the B-sides on You Need A Mess Of Help To Stand Alone. You genuinely can't go wrong. The TYTD remix CD, some or all of which may or may not have also been Casino Classics, is ace.

Destroy: I might, someday, think I was wrong about Sound of Water. But I can't imagine ever liking most of Good Humor, which I only ever played once all the way through before realising the mistake I'd made. As Tom says, boring retro-pop.

― Robin Carmody, Friday, 11 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

i quite like good humour, but so tough is the only absolutely essential record. sound of water is just dreadful dreadful dreadful. i've never actually heard tiger bay but nothing can stop us is somewhere beneath good humour except for when they had donna savage on vocals for 'only love can break you heart' who of course needs a search and destroy for Dead Famous People-search 'arriving late with torn jeans' destroy 'all hail the daffodil' and the flying nun ep.

― keith, Friday, 11 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

four weeks pass...

Why is Stevie an expert on old fanzines? (I know he's an expert on new fanzines.)

'North London thing'? I'm not sure I would call Leicester Square North London. To put it mildly.

I certainly hope that St Etienne aren't the Beastie Boys of Britain. I own some St Etienne LPs. I certainly hope never to own anything to do with the Beastie Boys.

― the pinefox, Saturday, 9 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

ten months pass...

I actually like Good Humour - it's chill out music like The Crdigans -Life - really swirly and relaxing.

OK I'll get me coat.

― Izzy, Tuesday, 16 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

five months pass...

SEARCH SEARCH SEARCH: "The Bad Photographer"

Destroy: The horrid plinky piano behind the verses of Sylvie (though very much search the song otherwise)

― Graham (graham), Tuesday, 15 October 2002 12:10 (twenty-two years ago)

We did this before and I am pleased to repeat myself.
Search their cover of Neil Young's Only Love Can Break Your Heart, the second song on their first album. Afterwards everything was going down the hill and therefore destroy the rest.

― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Tuesday, 15 October 2002 12:45 (twenty-two years ago)

Can I reiterate *yet again* that anyone who does not have the long version of Tiger Bay is missing out on what is perhaps the greatest album ever assembled?

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Tuesday, 15 October 2002 13:06 (twenty-two years ago)

Tim - is that the 15-track German release you're talking about? More importantly, is this the version you picked for 102? (would explain a lot if so).

― Jeff W, Tuesday, 15 October 2002 13:24 (twenty-two years ago)

Yes. I had previously had the shorter version (with "I Was Born On Christmas Day" and no "He's On The Phone", "I Buy American Records", "Grovely Road", "Hate Your Drug", "Western Wind" or "Tankerville") and lost it, but the revised model incomparably outclasses it. It's a broader, sadder and more sweeping collection, and I can't imagine Saint Etienne ever finding a way to best it.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Tuesday, 15 October 2002 13:55 (twenty-two years ago)

I like all that "a cup of tea, a bun," stuff. Is there any on the compi-lation?

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller), Tuesday, 15 October 2002 14:05 (twenty-two years ago)

tim is so on the money here btw.

― toby (tsg20), Tuesday, 15 October 2002 14:16 (twenty-two years ago)

I have never been able to find this version of Tiger Bay, though I'm guessing I could buy it for a gazillion dollars on ebay (grr argh to the evil millionaire who bid up the cherry red compilation a few days back).

And it does need to be restated, Avenue is the best single ever.

― Nicole (Nicole), Tuesday, 15 October 2002 14:17 (twenty-two years ago)

"I have never been able to find this version of Tiger Bay, though I'm guessing I could buy it for a gazillion dollars on ebay (grr argh to the evil millionaire who bid up the cherry red compilation a few days back)."

Do you have all the tracks though Nicole? You could construct it yourself, or I for you.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Tuesday, 15 October 2002 14:36 (twenty-two years ago)

Search: Cracknell duet with cutie Hideki Kaji: 'Tokyo to London'

― Mary (Mary), Tuesday, 15 October 2002 16:05 (twenty-two years ago)

I found a used copy of the German Tiger Bay a few years back - hooray! It is indeed bliss.

― scott pl. (scott pl.), Tuesday, 15 October 2002 16:08 (twenty-two years ago)

So this 15-track Tiger Bay version is the one with the beautiful girl in summer dress cover instead of the kitsch fisher painting? Because I always see that version lying around mid-price...and then decide to buy something else.

― Omar, Tuesday, 15 October 2002 17:36 (twenty-two years ago)

search: "spring" on foxbase is just as magical as the season it alludes to.
destroy: i dunno

― Aaron Grossman (aajjgg), Wednesday, 16 October 2002 03:17 (twenty-two years ago)

Have Saint Etienne ever had their hand in a fanzine?

Yes! It was called Clenbuterol (a steroid used by weightlifters apparently) and was the thing that introduced me to both Francois Hardy and Scott Walker - cripes, I got a lot to thank St Et for.

I still have a copy somewhere (the year was 1993), along with a sweet handwritten letter from Sarah Cracknell thanking me for my kind words or something - she signed it off with the wonderful words "tinkerty-tonk"...sigh...< /fanboy>

― Charlie (Charlie), Wednesday, 16 October 2002 05:07 (twenty-two years ago)

Plus don't forget Bob Stanley's many fanzines, including Caff.

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Wednesday, 16 October 2002 05:21 (twenty-two years ago)

Saint Etienne: Destroy...

..ed by Mariner, Muhren and Wark 4-1 when Ipswich Town visited in '81 on their way to winning the Eufa Cup

― Chewshabadoo (Chewshabadoo), Wednesday, 16 October 2002 16:25 (twenty-two years ago)

and they're in the French second division or something now, aren't they?

― robin carmody (robin carmody), Wednesday, 16 October 2002 17:38 (twenty-two years ago)

This longer version of Tiger Bay, my dear Tim, sounds like *EXACTLY* the type of thing that you could make a copy of for me in exchange for them there Disco Inferno EPs. If you like. :-)

Scary thing actually is that I've still never even heard "He's On the Phone" -- and it's been out for, what, seven years now?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 17 October 2002 14:36 (twenty-two years ago)

three weeks pass...

I got the german version last week cheaply enough at HMV in Dublin. Thought I was getting a raw deal not getting the painting cover but then realised it's the original plus extra singles from the 94/95 peri od-- I had Grovely Road already on the Phone cd single. In fact all the Tiger Bay singles b-sides are good. Yes, it is the definitive Tiger Bay version now.

― David Gunnip, Wednesday, 13 November 2002 15:22 (twenty-two years ago)

utterly fan-tabulous tonight at The Palace in L.A. Stay for a terrific encore. Also, the Finisterre film is very cool - Sarah Cracknell dancing (about) in front of architecture stills is pretty much the best thing EVER.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Tuesday, 19 November 2002 09:04 (twenty-two years ago)

Yay! Glad you had a good time. :-)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 19 November 2002 12:00 (twenty-two years ago)

I've been searching somewhat desperately for the Places To Visit EP after discovering that "We're In The City" and "Sadie's Anniversary" are, like, two of the best things *evah* - warm, eerie, tremulous, fragile, deep, and with Sarah at her absolute best. The bridge in "We're In The City" is so unexpected, so mortally affecting, a gentle ascension to a new plateau of mysteriousness. Are the rest of the songs as good as those two masterpieces?

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Tuesday, 19 November 2002 12:12 (twenty-two years ago)

They're mostly electronic/instrumental fiddlings, but brilliant for that. Those are the most ETIENNE tracks, easily. Hey my vinyl Tiger Bay has Western Wind/Tankerville, but not the b-sides etc you mentioned, and I don't really know what I'm missing and what I'm not.

― Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Tuesday, 19 November 2002 12:18 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm beginning to think a St. Et box set with EVERYTHING on it, while huge, would be handy.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 19 November 2002 12:24 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah if it was on RTX 'Singles, Live, Unreleased' style vinyl, I'd buy 3 copies... Tim I had a look and the Ep also has '52 Pilot' which is a loungey type thing, but a lot weirder/better than that probably makes it sound. It's as good as those songs, anyway, which is saying a bit. You don't have the Sub Pop single, do you? It was the A-side.

― Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Tuesday, 19 November 2002 12:27 (twenty-two years ago)

Y'know I GUESS I'm missing those B-sides you mentioned, but do I have more than the standard Cd? I have no idea. I probably have less. And I love Good Humor.

― Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Tuesday, 19 November 2002 12:31 (twenty-two years ago)

Andrew I think you've got the UK version, yeah? The US version doesn't have Western Wind/Tankerville, but has alternate versions of "Like A Motorway" and I think "Hug My Soul" at the end. The German version doesn't have the alternate versions, but does have Western Wind/Tankerville, as well as the other tracks I've listed.

I don't mind Good Humor as much as a lot of people, but I only really listen to the singles - "The Bad Photographer" is pretty irresistible.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Tuesday, 19 November 2002 12:43 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh, ok then. I can't imagine a better version of 'Like a Motorway' than the one I have, I think I'll live... yeah, 'Good Humor' is a record of HIGH points, the rest just carries the record along, but I like the way they do that and the highpoints are pretty high.

― Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Tuesday, 19 November 2002 12:51 (twenty-two years ago)

eleven months pass...

2xCD80 'portable' Saint Etienne go!

(disc1, 79:11)

This is Radio Etienne
Only Love Can Break Your Heart
Carnt Sleep
Girl VIII
Spring
Nothing Can Stop Us Now
London Belongs to Me
Join Our Club
Filthy
Mario's Cafe
You're In a Bad Way
Who Do You Think You Are?
Hobart Paving
Chicken Soup
Pale Movie
Hug My Soul
Like a Motorway (edit)
He's On the Phone
Burnt Out Car
Action (Mr Joshua edit)
Shower Scene

(the essential disc. mostly chronological, contains edits from Smash the System where available, weighted towards Foxbase Alpha)

--------------------
(disc2, 80:28)

Kiss and Make Up
7 Ways to Love (as Cola Boy)
She's the One
Stoned to Say the Least
Etienne Gonna Die
People Get Real
Avenue
Calico
I Was Born on Christmas Day
Cool Kids of Death
Sylvie
Wood Cabin
Goodnight Jack
Lose That Girl
Erica America
Heart Failed in the Back of a Taxi
Soft Like Me
The Way We Live Now

(the nearly essentials, also chronological)

I listen to both of these all the time; they're magical.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 14 November 2003 00:04 (twenty-one years ago)

"Tiger Bay" is definitely a must here

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Friday, 14 November 2003 01:55 (twenty-one years ago)

glad to see a couple people mention "spring" on this thread. man i love that song.

― seanp (seanp), Friday, 14 November 2003 02:17 (twenty-one years ago)

two years pass...

FYI - a copy of that rare-ish German version of Tiger Bay (the one Tim Finney loves) is available at the Tower on Sunset blvd for cheap.

― I.M. From Hollywood (i_m_from_hollywood), Thursday, 9 November 2006 21:45 (eighteen years ago)

this one?

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/B000025COI.01._AA240_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

1. Urban Clearway
2. He's On The Phone
3. Former Lover
4. I Buy American Records
5. Hug My Soul
6. Like A Motorway
7. Grovely Road
8. On The Shore
9. Pale Movie
10. Hate Your Drug
11. Marble Lions
12. Cool Kids Of Death
13. Western Wind
14. Tankerville
15. Boy Scouts Of America

― gear (gear), Thursday, 9 November 2006 21:57 (eighteen years ago)

I have that one and it's ace. I regard that as the "correct" version of Tiger Bay. However, if I remember correctly, Western Wind/Tankerville on my old UK issue cassette is different, longer and better.

― everything (everything), Thursday, 9 November 2006 22:00 (eighteen years ago)

xpost, yeah. It was there last night.

― I.M. From Hollywood (i_m_from_hollywood), Thursday, 9 November 2006 22:07 (eighteen years ago)

Search: Most everything but especially the CD singles between 90 and 93', absolutely impeccable. Foxbase Alpha, So Tough and Tales from Turnpike House.

Destroy: Good Humour. Flat, earnest, retro(brit)pop. Like drinking a warm, flat bottle of lemonade.

― Billy Dods (Billy Dods), Thursday, 9 November 2006 22:12 (eighteen years ago)

Good Humour is not Britpop, it tries to be the Cardigans, though I think it's not bad.
The only Saint Etienne album which I think should be destroyed is "Sound of Water", it's very boring, there are 2 or 3 decent songs on that.

I've also got this (German?) version of Tiger Bay, and like it, by the way.

― zeus (zeus), Thursday, 9 November 2006 22:48 (eighteen years ago)

oh, so wrong! sound of water is gorgeous! "downey, ca", "don't back down", "how we used to live", and "just a little overcome" are among my very favourite st et songs.

― derrick (derrick), Friday, 10 November 2006 10:21 (eighteen years ago)

Whre's that Tiger Bay photo taken from? Looks like Catherine Zeta Jones in an Italian town.

― David Gunnip (David Gunnip), Friday, 10 November 2006 10:24 (eighteen years ago)

yeah it's quite annoying! and there are other weird edits iirc. the US version is better overall though.

― benrique (Enrique), Friday, 10 November 2006 10:24 (eighteen years ago)

Sorry, think it says where it's from on the CD booklet.

― David Gunnip (David Gunnip), Friday, 10 November 2006 10:25 (eighteen years ago)

i just bought their 'The Trip'

― 2 american 4 u (blueski), Friday, 10 November 2006 10:32 (eighteen years ago)

the album by the british band named after an american brand of ice cream is good humor. the initial release on sub pop came with a bonus CD called "fairfax high" that you should search, because it has a handful of groovy instrumentals, some ace unreleased singles and two heartbreakingly gorgeous piano balled type songs: clark co. record fair and madeline:

"i've never been to rome
but i don't need to go
i don't need to go to know
life would be sweet and slow"

good humor itself also must be a search, because it sounds like an american high school in the seventies and saturday morning cartoons. friends who are baffled by foxbase alpha always take to good humor.

on a related search mission, find the b-sides compilation "interlude" which has the trouser enthusiasts mix of lose that girl which is epic.

i could go on.

― fortunate hazel (f. hazel), Friday, 10 November 2006 11:04 (eighteen years ago)

'good humor' is a very strange record, where they're least themselves, i think.

― benrique (Enrique), Friday, 10 November 2006 11:06 (eighteen years ago)

Search: So Tough, Tiger Bay, Finisterre
Destroy: Good Humor, The Sound of Water

― braveclub (braveclub), Friday, 10 November 2006 11:09 (eighteen years ago)

I will listen to 'Good Humor' again but I fear it's a lost cause. On a related note if anyone want to ysi 'The Fairfax High' disc to me, that would be quite lovely.

― Billy Dods (Billy Dods), Friday, 10 November 2006 11:17 (eighteen years ago)

"Sound Of Water" is not at all bad. "Good Humour" is though. Of course don't neccessarily write it off just because of the fact that it is less synth and more "Britpop" (well, more like Cardigans), but there are so many acts out there doing that kind of music way better than Saint Etienne (or Cardigans for that matter), so it would be better of them to stick to their synth roots, something which they found out on the underrated "Sound Of Water".

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Friday, 10 November 2006 11:39 (eighteen years ago)

Every day goes by "Good Humor" becomes my fav St Et, and I don't get it. Well. I do, a bit. It's just v simple, and v clear. Might tie w/"You Need a Mess of Help", tho.

― A Viking of Some Note (Andrew Thames), Friday, 10 November 2006 12:29 (eighteen years ago)

Very few tracks I could imagine destroying by Saint Etienne.

Please, give 'Good Humor' another few spins if it hasn't hooked you. Along with 'Foxbase,' 'Continental' and 'So Tough' I find it absolutely essential.

• the live feel
• the pop art-y sleeve
• no duds WHATSOEVER
• the bass on 'been so long'
• lyrics and vocal on 'lose that girl'
• the distant piano, lyrics and sarah's 'oooooh' on 'mr donut'
• 'the bad photographer'!
• 'erica america'!!
• 'goodnight jack'!!!

― bkjj40a (bkjj40a), Friday, 10 November 2006 15:03 (eighteen years ago)

'goodnight jack' is the one highlight.

― benrique (Enrique), Friday, 10 November 2006 15:05 (eighteen years ago)

"Split Screen" is the best song there.

― zeus (zeus), Friday, 10 November 2006 15:39 (eighteen years ago)

the pfm remix "the sea" is still a killer. unfortunately i've only got a hissy 2nd gen cassette copy. how does the rest of continental compare?

― andrew m. (andrewmorgan), Friday, 10 November 2006 15:43 (eighteen years ago)

The rest compares very differently. That PFM mix is on there, but the whole of Continental is like a mixtape in some ways. Totally pop/dance tracks right alongside glorious melancholy numbers like "Sometimes In Winter" -- which is on no other release. I would like to think you can find it for a decent price. But if you are a fan, even at $40+ I submit you will not be dissapointed at all.

― bkjj40a (bkjj40a), Friday, 10 November 2006 16:22 (eighteen years ago)

The hating on Sound Of Water makes me cry. The SOW B-sides are tremendous.

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Friday, 10 November 2006 17:30 (eighteen years ago)

oh i think i've fallen for them all over again.

incidentally, anyone in need of a bit of etienne-ish pop in their absence should totally check out hafdis huld's album...

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Friday, 10 November 2006 17:39 (eighteen years ago)

'good humour' was the first album i ever heard by them, which is maybe why its my favorite. i dunno. hearing their previous stuff, which is obv more dance-based and propulsive, i can understand why the album might be not ranked as highly. but taken on its own terms outside the context of their usual work, it's really great.

― gear (gear), Friday, 10 November 2006 19:48 (eighteen years ago)

Would destroy Good Humor as an album, but keep the songs if that makes sense. It's definately my least favourite of theirs, but it does have some good stuff and a nice overall sound. As ever some good B-sides in that era too. Are there any essential B's from Tales From Turnpike House singles? I was underwhelmed with all the ones i heard...

When did Continental get so expensive?? I thought it was still in print/readily available - it was on the offical Merchandise site last year wasn't it?

FWIW the still for the Tiger Bay cover is from Léolo.

― LRJP! (LRJP!), Friday, 10 November 2006 21:44 (eighteen years ago)

LRJP!, you should hunt down their cover of Womack & Womack's "Missing Persons Bureau," which was one of the "A Good Thing" B-sides.

― esque (esque), Saturday, 11 November 2006 21:09 (eighteen years ago)

hafdis huld's album...
christ, i didn't know this had actually been made! i will have to track this down. she had some of the best moments on 'this is normal'

― derrick (derrick), Saturday, 11 November 2006 22:50 (eighteen years ago)

two years pass...

"Method of Modern Love" is their best single since "Heart Failed" and maybe even "He's On The Phone". FACT.

― it's called a hat (edwardo), Wednesday, 14 January 2009 10:16 (sixteen years ago)

four weeks pass...

Now streaming on Spotify http://open.spotify.com/track/5T4o0vK0C5M5NH76PYrSY7 even better than the brief clips on Popjustice suggested.

― Shallow Gravy (Billy Dods), Thursday, 12 February 2009 21:49 (sixteen years ago)

"This is Tomorrow" is pretty great too!

― f. hazel, Thursday, 12 February 2009 23:29 (sixteen years ago)

one year passes...

On the affiliated tip but Simon Price passed on news he'd discovered via Bob Stanley that Andrew Midgeley aka Cola Boy had passed on:

http://www.saintetienne.com/news.html (second entry)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OQy8HMa3cI

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 8 December 2010 15:12 (fourteen years ago)

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