With Davy and Simon both swooning over Saint Etienne this past week I figured it was about time I put in my tuppence-ha’penny worth. Though I’ve posted a lot of St. Et tunes here in the past I’ve never actually written anything specifically about them which is a real oversight on my part because in many ways they are the musical patron saints of this blog. Years before the phrase “Cool Britannia” was scribbled on a vodka-stained napkin by some marketing executive in a Soho bar and our past was sold back to us as a Union Jack-draped cartoon, Saint Etienne were rummaging around the (at the time) forgotten dusty corners of the English Pop Culture Shop for music, words, and samples to cut-and-paste together into records that sounded like love letters to England — or more specifically, London — and also the life-affirming magic of pop music itself. But Saint Etienne aren’t The Village Green Preservation Society, despite their magpie-like sampling of the past their music is as much about now as it is then. To them, London — and pop music — isn’t a museum but a forward-moving constantly-changing experience soundtracked by House, electronica, dub, folk, and film music, often all on the same album.
A group as conceptual and knowing as them could end up sounding better in theory than in practice — a concept album about a council estate? — but Saint Etienne also make incredibly poptastic records and been doing so for nearly 20 years now, something I wouldn’t have put money on when I bought Foxbase Alpha back in 1991. What I think makes them a truly great band (in a mold that seems to have been broken now) is that their best moments are often to be found on b-sides, EPs, and even fan-club only releases, which makes compilations of unreleased and single-only tracks like You Need A Mess Of Help To Stand Alone, Interlude, and Continental (which until last year was an expensive Japan-only release) all well worth splashing the cash on to hear gems like these.
Download: Sushi Rider — Saint Etienne
Download: Sometimes In Winter — Saint Etienne
Download: Hit The Brakes — Saint Etienne
I can’t think of any other band that has tucked away so many goodies on flip-sides and other hard-to-find places (and that includes The Smiths) and it’s this attention to details like b-sides that makes them so damn loveable, they appreciate the nerdy joys of pop fandom and the power that music has to enhance and romanticize our lives. To my mind they are the best English pop group of the past twenty years and anyone who disagrees I will see outside afterwards.
cryingallthewaytothechipshop.wordpress.com 
They have done some great stuff over the years. My favourites are ‘London belongs to Me’ on Foxbase Alpha, and ‘Milk Bottle Symphony’. I first saw them in 1991 at the London Astoria (now bulldozed in the last year to make way for the London Crossrail), supporting the World of Twist (remember them? – check out ‘Sons of the Stage’, ‘The Storm’), and was dazzled by Sarah Cracknell’s radiance. Although their albums were quite experimental in places, they never forgot to make cracking singles. (I even liked their cover of Right Said Fred’s ‘I’m too sexy’).
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I’m with you every step of the way. As important a “London” band as The Kinks or Madness. And non album and b-side and unreleased tracks as good as any by Weller. My favourite band of the last 20 years by far.
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Have you got last years Foxbase Beta album? Its essentially a remake/remix but its keeps the original track list and the songs themselves. Really damn fine, not a replacement for Alpha but a companion.
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Crikey, it’s hard to keep up with all the reissues.
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off to hear the chaps play a soul selection down the social this very evening as it goes. for free which always helps too
x
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Aye, tunes.
You are largely responsible for their inexorable rise in my estimation, I’ll have you know.
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This is a topic that is close to my heart… Best wishes! Where are your contact details though?
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