Haven’t had any Saint Etienne here for, oh, at least a couple of weeks. This was their first single (but you knew that) with a terrific video that screams “late 80s/early 90s London” to me with its collision of a trippy, happy Second Summer of Love vibe with twee Indie — not to mention the football shirts. It’s odd seeing Pete and Bob without Sarah Cracknell in front of them but that Moira Lambert was pretty cute too.
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.
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.
I’m flying off to London today for a weeks holiday so there won’t be any new posts until after the festive season. It’ll be the first time I’ve been “home” for Christmas in probably 10 years so I’m looking forward to it more than usual for the obvious reasons: Seeing the family, cozy pubs, turkey and roast tatties (they don’t have those for Christmas in the States), mince pies, the Queen on the telly, the tree in Trafalgar Square. If you avoid Oxford Street the city is a lovely place to be this time of year.
So have a very merry Christmas everyone. I’ll see you on the other side of it.
My wife just sent me a link to this and for some reason I’d never seen it before. Always loved the song of course but with the video it almost made me cry. Either I’m just a soppy old git or work stress has turned me into an emotional wreck – or it really is that lovely.
If this was Simon Bates’ “Our Tune” segment on the radio and he was to tell the story of my wife and I courting it would probably end with this song, the closest we have to “our” tune.
During our very first telephone conversation I mentioned that I liked Saint Etienne and it wasn’t just that she liked them too which pleasantly surprised me, but I was absolutely gobsmacked that she’d even heard of them in the first place (very rare among girls in America.) I knew at that moment there was a good chance I was going to fall in love with her.
The sentimental musings of an ageing expat in words, music, and pictures. Mp3 files are up for a limited time so drink them while they're hot.
Contact me: lee at londonlee dot com
