England - Luna Kafé - Full Moon 21 - 07/09/98
Saint Etienne
Good Humor
Creation
If my review is about Saint Etienne, it isn't to recall the legendary
green-stripped French
footy team (in a bad shape today) or to report from the World Cup
France 98, but about the band Saint Etienne. Even if this group isn't French but
English (London), being French I have my reasons for choosing to review their latest record.
First, the name, a French town near the place where I
live, and they've
collaborated with the French pop singer Etienne Daho in 1995, for the
single Reserection and
the famous song Le Baiser Français (The French Kiss...), lastly the lack of
success of their
music in France. So...
Bob Stanley, Pete Wiggs and Donna Savage (singer just for one year)
recorded their first
single in 1991 (Only Love Can Break Your Heart, by Neil Young), and
distinguished themselves
with the new singer Sarah Cracknell in 1992 with Nothing Can Stop Us and
You're In A Bad Way. Very pop and melodic, but also very electronic, like the first album
Foxbase, released in
1991 (Heavenly Records). The electronic music and
programming of
sounds take an important place in the production on the albums
released in 1993 and 1994, So Tough and Tiger Bay (Heavenly Records),
mixing folk and
techno (!). No news since 1995, except a lot of compilations: You Need A
Mess Of Help To Stand Alone (Heavenly Records, 1993), Too Young to Die (singles compilation,
Heavenly Records,
1995), Casino Classics (remixes compilation, Heavenly
Records, 1996), Fairy
Tales From Saint Etienne (Japanese compilation, Warner Bros, 1995) and
Continental (Japanese
compilation, L'appareil-Photo, 1997). There is also the pop-techno solo
album of Sarah Cracknell, Lipslide (Gut Records, 1995),
with a song recently re-issued in French by Etienne Daho with
the name Le Premier Jour. And then we have the history (failure) of the label Emidisc, founded by
Bob Stanley and Pete
Wiggs.
So we have waited four years for the new album Good Humor, the fourth of
the group and the
first released by Creation. Four years, and a real change in the sound of the
group. Recorded at
Tambourine Studio, Malmø (see Cardigans), this album shows perfect
self-control, with the music sounding
more live than on the earlier albums, sometimes pop (Postman), sometimes groove
(Lose That Girl),
accompanied by harmonica (Been So Long), by trumpets (Mr Donut), and by organ
(Wood Cabin). Two
singles are already released: Sylvie and The Bad Photographer. Good Humor
will perhaps be the
album of the consecration.
Remember that Pulp in 1992, unknown at this time, and Oasis in 1994,
also unknown, were
playing support for Saint Etienne in England. Perhaps this
group soon will get the recognition they deserve, also in France. Here, people just remember the collaboration with
Etienne Daho and the
single Reserection, which was a big hit for Saint Etienne, but just a bad
sale for Etienne Daho!
Copyright © 1998 Patrick Dubail
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