Words and Music by Saint Etienne

Is their first album since 2005. I know there's been a wee bit of chat on the Saint Etienne thread, but figured this deserves it's own thread.

A flurry of activity today with a video for the new track and announcement of gigs in May to coincide with the album release, which I don't think I'll be able to go to.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEWEAqNR2XQ

Anticipate now.

Oddly unexcited. Not keen on the single.

And I generally love them.

it's catchy but I don't dig the production

I'll buy it of course, but the single doesn't do much for me either. Fox Base Beta was really damn good, though.

Kind of a subtle tune for a single - I like it a lot.

I can't wait to hear "DJ" - aka the new one they've been playing live - in a recorded version, it sounds like it could be one of the best things they've ever done.

This is going to be a good thing.

When I saw the cover, I was a bit 'meh' about it, but looking a touch closer...

http://assets.umusic.co.uk/saintetienne/StEtWordsCover.jpg

The single is right up my alley, though I think Cracknell's voice is starting to sound a little boring. "DJ" also sounds very promising. Also pleasantly surprised to see they've included "When I was Seventeen." I don't think many people know about it but it's been on Youtube for a while and it's pretty great imo:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZppLu40oQfE

are those street names imposed on the london grid, or is it a totally make believe map?

http://www.wearedorothy.com/art/song-map-unlimited-edition/

I had been shopping online for artsy maps & found this a while back, before I'd seen the album cover. I like it! Didn't buy the print though.

the print is shoreditch, i don't recognise where the album is.

That cover is hideous. I don't quite believe they are using a cheesy image like that, already available for under a fiver. Is it possibly a fake?

I think this might be the album I'm mosting looking forward to this year. Love the single and the artwork, great to have them back.

I sort of want them to sound *mature* in that reminiscing about the lea valley sort of way.

That could describe everything they have released since Good Humor, so I think you are not going to be disappointed.

turns out the cover is a rather messed-with croydon:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=croydon&hl=en&ll=51.37679,-0.093083&spn=0.013983,0.031543&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=36.315864,64.599609&hnear=Croydon,+Greater+London,+United+Kingdom&t=m&z=15

I don't know, if any band has earned the right to use that image on their album cover, it's Saint Etienne.

poo croydon-the field mice or saint etienne?

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-m4oLz3xxVuc/T1ItTdzLvuI/AAAAAAAAJ5c/1k-gnyyPiVw/s1600/Saint+Etienne+Tonight+single.jpg

So our remix of the single is coming out on all formats including rather thrillingly the 12" vinyl! One mix is by us, one is by Richard X and another is by The 2 Bears so it seems we're in pretty good company.
http://store.universal-music.co.uk/restofworld/vinyl/saint-etienne-tonight-12-vinyl-single-2012/invt/0602527961545/

Their video! Our remix!
enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jG_s5vkLGMU&list=UUSdQZi2ldPV8g6qLefmRtMg&index=2&feature=plcp

great job!

thanks!

The extended version of this is, like so many singles, so much better than the single version.

This is lovely.

http://www.pitchfork.com/news/46254-listen-new-saint-etienne-answer-song/

SAINT ETIENNE PRESENTS SONGS FOR THE LYONS CORNERHOUSE
http://www.cherryred.co.uk/shopexd.asp?id=3643

Anyone know what's on the extra CD on the deluxe edition? None of the retailers I looked at had a track listing.

Weird, isn't it? (To have a bonus disc which is presumably meant to make you pre-order/buy early but then not tempt with details).

No doubt something that will come out again in three years time to fan club members with added bonus features and remixes for a "bargain" price...

(I do mean that with love)

Tracklisting has now been announced for the deluxe edition.

Disc 1
01 Over The Border 05:05
02 I've Got Your Music 03:46
03 Heading For The Fair 03:45
04 Last Days of Disco 03:35
05 Tonight 04:38
06 Answer Song 03:25
07 Record Doctor 53
08 Popular 03:23
09 Twenty Five Years 03:40
10 DJ 04:39
11 When I Was Seventeen 03:37
12 I Threw It All Away 03:27
13 Haunted Jukebox 04:15

Disc 2
01 Tonight (Two Bears Remix) 07:19
02 Last Days of Disco (Erol Alkan Remix) 06:16
03 DJ (Stay+ Remix) 03:45
04 I've Got Your Music (Golden Filter Remix) 07:08
05 Popular (Tom Middleton Cosmos Remix) 08:17
06 Heading For The Fair (The Time And Space Machine Waltzer Remix) 07:57
07 Tonight (Club Clique Remix) 04:43
08 Answer Song (White Horses Remix) 03:37
09 Haunted Jukebox (Summer Camp Remix) 03:26
10 I've Got Your Music (Kisses Remix) 04:22
11 DJ (Muddyloop Remix) 04:16
12 Last Days of Disco (Beat Connection Remix) 04:41

Popjustice have the new single as the song of the day. It's good but easily the waekest of the three tracks that I've heard from the album. http://www.popjustice.com/songs/saint-etienne-ive-got-your-music/

hey we're on this. we just found out! track 7 too; always a lucky number.

Found this link http://brightonmusicblog.wordpress.com/2012/04/28/words-music-by-saint-etienne-conversation-by-pete-wiggs/ seemingly there's a 3 disc 'super deluxe' edition! Haven't saw any mention of this before.

...Popular is genuinely funny. It flips the old pop narrative of knowing an amazing secret club where the cool cats hang out: here, the club is an internet messageboard populated by people who want to discuss Pussycat's 1976 No 1 Mississippi in depth. It's less The In Crowd than that episode of The IT Crowd where Moss joins a society of exceptional Countdown contestants.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/may/10/saint-etienne-words-music-review

"Tonight" is one of the year's best, a wonderful driving-down-the-interstate track.

Petridish xpost: no it isn't.

But the song does mention "Baby Jump."

Saint Etienne were probably the last band I actually "collected" (ie. bought the various cd singles as well as the albums). Reading the first two thirds of the Petridish review made me feel vaguely hopeful for the album, the last third didn't. Not that I've ever taken notice of one of his reviews before.

I'm probably not the only one who is more interested in hearing the bonus disc(s) rather than the album proper.

It'll be the two disc version for me ... but here's the three disc:

http://store.universal-music.co.uk/restofworld/box-sets/saint-etienne-words-and-music-box-set-2012/invt/0602537023561/?utm_source=SaintEtienne150512&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Album+Playback&utm_content=UMGUK6724-220283

Ooh, tempted. But £36 is too much for me. Would be keen to have the map though.

Not yet played disc two but so far I think my favourite thing about the release is Pete Wiggs' beard on the inner sleeve.

Emails went out for digital versions for those who bought the box set, so the third disc should show up online before too long. Going to listen when I get home!

This album is pretty great. "DJ" and "Over The Border" are the standout tracks for me. Coincidentally, they remind me of "Action" and "Finisterre" (the song) respectively, only much better.

Yeah this is really great return. Over The Border is just a perfect opener but I think it's the last four songs that really make the album. Need a bit more time to let the rest of the album sink in.

I'm surprised that I'm finding the latest single to be the weakest song.

Liking it but not loving it atm. "Over the Border" is all a bit too much jumpers for goalposts, no?

Over The Border is similar in feel to Teenage Winter but the lyrics aren't quite as clever. It's still a great song and as someone who loves New Order, Dexys and anything on Postcard I can't help but be moved by it.

A lot of it seems leaden and heavy-handed, to me.

yeah, sigh. picks up near the end, dj is nearly great. over the border as a better finnisterre is offtm tho

Map for sale separately here:
http://www.wearedorothy.com/art/song-map-unlimited-edition/

Actually that might be a different one - same idea though

There is something profoundly weird about hearing a band with actual profile singing a song about your friends that goes to the extent of actually naming them.

The remix of DJ on the bonus disc is much better than the regular version. It sounds like real club music for starters. Or it somehow recreates the effect of a loud club in a way that is quite fun. The regular version is weirdly flat and quite boring to me. It's trying to be pop but it's like they haven't listened to what's in the charts these days. In the remix Sarah's voice is relegated to being more of a sound effect or just part of the mix, rather than leading the track. It's a good, druggy number.

I've only listened once straight through but overall I dislike the vibe of this album. It's partly because lots of it seems like an eternal re-write of Mario's Cafe or Mr Donut except the playfulness of those tracks has been stripped (or sounds forced) and everything is happening in the wistful past tense. Over The Border is embarrasing. Then there is so little of the diversity that made their earlier albums so interesting. Whither the likes of Railway Jam, Cool Kids of Death, Urban Clearway, etc? It's just song, song, song, song. Too much Cracknell.

Round about Good Humor they started segregating their more interesting material onto eps, remixes or special release albums, using the "real" albums for their most formal and carefully curated songwriting. Combined with the fact that they are apparently running out of things to say, their "real" albums have now become quite boring as a result.

The second disc is really quite enjoyable though. Pretty much no duds.

There is something profoundly weird about hearing a band with actual profile singing a song about your friends that goes to the extent of actually naming them.

i can't work out whether that's my favourite song on the album because of that or because it's the best song

everything OTM - this is leaving me super cold and I quit listening after four or five tracks. A bummer.

This album reminds me of Madonna

But not of MDNA I hope (haven't listened yet)

everything sorta OTM but still wrong. "DJ" is pop. It just doesn't sound like current chart-friendly pop. And why should it?

Re "Over The Border," I agree that the whole wistful nostalgia is by now a St Etienne cliche and starting to get a bit tedious. But in a song so good and beautifully crafted, I think they can be forgiven for it.

To me WAM is Saint Etienne leaving behind their "quirky" side a bit. I miss that side too, but I've always felt that sometimes it gets on the way. Sometimes. They are so, so great at straightforward pop that I don't see any problem with them doing an that an album of just that.

Finisterre aside, I haven't immediately taken to a Saint Etienne album on the first few listens since So Tough, so I'm not going to write this off yet. In fact, walking to work yesterday I had Last Days of Disco going round in my head quite a bit, so it is starting to grow on me I think.

I haven't really given the main album a fair shake yet but I can't see me warming to it too much because of Sarah being smeared over everything so much. And the overall sepia-tinge in the album to be claustrophobic. Even a song called "Tonight" seems to be somehow set in the distant past. And they are trying to do a concept album but they forgot one of the rules of concept albums, which is that when you have a pompous spoken word bit like in Over The Border, the LAST thing you do is get the lead singer to read it. Obviously you get in a well-known actor or comedian such as Ewen MacGregor or David Mitchell to read it. The chorus bit is fine as it is though the wistfulness is terrific.

The second disc is really kicking my ass though. Especially the first three tracks which make me think how cool it would've been if they had the balls to make this the album proper.

"real dance music"?

Some minor quibbles with “Over The Border”:

“Peter Gabriel. Peter Gabriel from Genesis.” To avoid confusion with all those other Peter Gabriels.

About listening to the charts: “Tuesday afternoon, 12:45, Saturday evening, 5:00.” Um, SATURDAY? Unless they’re alluding to the football results.

Actually, they probably are, there.

Love that Beat Connection dropped the 'would you go to sleep with a fella' sample at the end of their remix on disc 2. Overall I really enjoyed the album but definitely prefer disc 2. Absolutely agree with the 'too much Sarah' criticism. I thought it was the way her voice was mixed but maybe it's just too much of her singing everywhere.

I think St. Etienne lost it with Good Humor. Tiger Bay is the last album of theirs I really loved yet I buy them all and then re-buy them in deluxe editions and box sets. Part of what I love about them is their references. They name some music I love and they name some music i've never heard of but can't wait to hear. This started way back with the booklet to Foxbase Alpha and continues to this day. I'd love to go record shopping with Bob and Pete.

But there is a world of difference between using your influences to inform your music, whilst somehow exposing them to any listeners who are clued-in enough to notice, compared with just cropping up in the middle of a quite boring techno-lounge track and saying "I always really liked Marc Bolan". We already know that they like Marc Bolan. They covered one of his songs about 15 years ago, around the same time as recording an icy T-Rex pastiche called "Star". And Bob as blogged about Marc Bolan, which is another thing: the song lacks verisimiltude as it's presented as Sarah's story, yet anyone who knows anything about them will have no doubt that this is Bob and/or Pete's experiences. And I think the "Saturday evening" thing is a mistake - there's nothing in this song except wistful musical memories.

"Peter Gabriel from Genesis" is to distinguish from Peter Gabriel the guy that did Sledgehammer. ie. it's 1974, not 1984.

So they are not allowed to have Mark Bolan as an influence and at the same time explicitly state it in a song?

if they lost it w/ good humor, id implore every other band to lose it in a similar fashion

They already acknowledged Bolan as an influence by recording "Is It True?" and "Star". They didn't have to explicitly state it. Just like they didn't write a song that goes "Oooooo I really like the Beach Boys la la la la la/and you should check out the TV Personalities". That info is hardwired into their oeuvre but they are not what the songs are about.

'good humor' is the shit imo

that was my entry point to st et. maybe if i'd followed them from the debut i'd be disappointed by it but idts

Good Humour is my least favourite St. Etienne album. The songs are fine but I can't stand the production. Loved those Trousers Enthusiast mixes of "Sylvie" and "Loose That Girl" tho. Also "Lover Plays the Bass"

To me, their masterpiece is still "So Tough".

So Tough is the masterpiece.

I've really tried to love other SE albums as much as So Tough but none comes remotely close. As a singles band they are top notch though – certainly better than their Brit peers of the nineties.

The more I listen to this album the more it just sounds like generic American pop music or Kylie Minogue or something. It sounds totally unremarkable (though tbf I've heard v little Kylie and she might not be unremarkable and sorry if I called her that)

I'm a little afraid to listen to it. It's been in the house two days and, of course, I will listen to it. Some of the reviews though...

Never heard Finnisterre, I realised a few days ago - so I got that also. Gonna spin them both out tomorrow and through the Bank Holiday Weekend together a fair bit I think. See how they work together. (I adore everything else - almost esp. the post "hits" stuff: Good Humor / Sounds / Tales records. So we'll see.

Stevie I'm actually shocked you're not a huge Kylie fan!

I really love "Come Into My World" but I"ve never really taken the initiative to listen to her other stuff, though a few weeks ago I was going through my record collection and found this:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/511fYEIPCgL._SS500_.jpg

kylie has many amazing singles but whenever people try to make the case for *her* being interesting i get confused - the minute the songcraft dips below gold standard she sinks and can't salvage it through force of personality

^^ ^^
^^ ^^
Lucky boy! That means "Turn It into Love" is within your reach. Don't miss out!

Some of the reviews though...

I did notice that it only got 1 out of 5 on FACT

Surprised how many reviewers are saying it's their best since Tiger Bay. I think Turnpike House is mostly incredible but because it didn't sell it seems to have been lumped in with all the others to fit this return-to-form narrative. Or maybe people really don't like Turnpike House as much as I do.

The new album is my least favourite Saint Etienne LP. I like the thematic ideas but don't think it's executed well ... much of it does sound like bad Kylie.

xp - that struck me as weird too - turnpike house is great!

finally listened to the remix disc this morning, lots to like there. im warming up to some of these tunes generally, i think

Apart from sounding more current, the remix disc really does sound more like a Saint Etienne album of old: a mix of fun techno jams, three or four complete songs (Sarah's voice is generally less obnoxious on the remixes as it's been treated in various ways) and some bangers. If you dropped the second version of DJ which is a bit superfluous and threw in some a couple of acousticy interludes and it could be up there with Continental.

Don't let those "some reviews" put you off, kraudive. Most of them are favourable (and that FACT one is completely OFFTM).

I really like the new album a lot but there is no way it's as good as Turnpike which is probably my third favourite album after the first two. Words & Music doesn't have the variety or flow like Turnpike does but there is plenty to love on here.

I disagree. The FACT review actually misses some of the problems with the album but it's the only one I've read that makes sense. eg. This: "it’s painfully reminiscent of being cornered by your best mate’s hippy-ish mum the morning after a heavy night out, listening to her discuss her youth as she cheerfully scrubs your vomit from her sofa and waves away your apologies.". Very OTM.

xpost BTW.

I don't know if "lol, they're old" is ever a valid musical critique

The review does actually excuse that by stating that they bring it on themselves, which makes sense to me.

Also, they are not really that old. Same age as George Harrison was when he released "When We Was Fab".

’25 Years’ is Goldfrapp with all traces of sex, lust and luridness replaced with the preoccupations of a couple from Location, Location, Location.

I'm quite possibly OK with that.

somehow I'm not sure "lol old woman, you asked for this" is any better

Listening to this now for the first time btw; I don't really know Saint Etienne aside from "Only Love Can Break Your Heart"

I mean, the only thing I took away from that review is that the reviewer is a dick

regardless of that review's ~accuracy~/validity/etc, the pull quote from it on the FACT homepage - "Sounds like it was written by a quiz machine in a Wetherspoons" - is one of the funniest disses I have read in a while.

Indeed. Plus, I like music reviewers who are dicks. It's traditional.

i was a lil surprised no one took a crack @ remixing '25 years'. if u make it sound like less of a showtune i could be into it. as is, it's def my least fav track

awful synthesizers worthy of presets

This is an annoying meme. I'm sure there are plenty of synth presets that sound cool and I'd guess that Saint Etienne doesn't just use presets anyway.

The first paragraph is fine. The second paragraph's detour into preset-land is "DANGER WILL ROBINSON" territory well-mined by people who can't make a cogent argument for why they dislike something without leaning heavily on cliche and by the time it gets to "Sarah Cracknell is your mum", I have no reason to take anything this guy says seriously. (The later evocation of pilates as the specter of all things horrible and awful is just confirmation.)

My main beef with the FACT review is that it completely dismisses the music as

"...a dirge of acoustic guitars, awful synthesizers worthy of presets and a rhythm section straight from a Tune A Day drum tutorial."

4 songs into this

I am finding this to be very polite, mannered music that is not really my thing. It appears to be well made and I kind of dig "Heading For The Fair" but there's nothing that's making a lasting impression.

Also, yes St. Etienne have grown up and they are writing about their love of music past and present. What is wrong with that?

"Tonight" is good, though

it's actually kind of hilarious that dude raises pilates as something to get angry about re: album subject matter since this song is kind of evocative of Madonna to me, particularly in some of the vocal phrasing (and of course Madonna caught a ton of shit for rapping about pilates on "American Life")

Also, they are not really that old. Same age as George Harrison was when he released "When We Was Fab".

um an interesting analogy.

A tambourine usually isn't an EVENT but when it came into the proceedings at around 1:12 on "Answer Song", I stopped, rewound a little bit, and listened to it again

DJP if you like "Tonight" you will also probably like "DJ".

"very polite, mannered music that is not really my thing" and "nothing that's making a lasting impression" = my problem with most of SE albums since 1994.

I still adore "Tonight."

but I'm a sucker for that big beat and ooh-ooh-ooh-oohs

xxpost The two remixes of "Tonight" are better though. I love the one that opens the second disc. And the one that retains the song should really have been the album version.

The preset thing is lazy and stupid. But "dirge", yes. I find the positive reviews to be more baffling. I think the Guardian said something like "dizzy with the joys of pop" whereas I find it to be claustrophobic and irritating. Pitchfork said it was the best since Tiger Bay which is quite laughable. I should mention that I am a massive fan of the band, have travelled to foreign countries to see them etc and generally behaved like Sarah Cracknell's schoolmates re. Peter Gabriel about them. It's just that they have completely lost their way with this album.

hahahaha "Record Doctor" started and I was all "oh why are you going all Dirty Projectors here ;_;"

"Record Doctor" is the only obvious dud, imo. both musically and lyrically.

Fortunately it's short enough.

now that I hear the lyrics to "Popular", I don't quite get how dude got the impression it was about going to wine bars, which is another point against his review

okay I hear the Kylie-isms on "DJ"

wine bars are dope imo, vv chill and fun. i also like beer bars. why can't we have everything in life? fern bars were probably cool too. why was that used as a steely dan dis? idk, reviewers are amusing sometimes.

"wine bars" as a pejorative makes my teeth grind as much as "soy latte-drinking liberals."

music for soccer moms can be pretty good too.

my final verdict on this is "this album made me look to see if the first Broadcast album was on Spotify, which it is, so now I'm happy"

xpost. This is not music for soccer moms. It's music supposed to appeal to music freaks. I played this for my wife who is not a soccer mom but is certainly not a million miles from that demographic. North American, loves music but is completely disinterested in music culture, record stores, expensive headphones etc. She was quite revolted by "Over The Border" and made me take it off at track two. I noticed she was listening to the remixes yesterday though.

o i was talking more generally, like music for rednecks can be awesome also.

To be fair, that last ICP album was a worse mistake than Words and Music by Saint Etienne.

... what does that have to do with anything (also, who has paid attention to ICP as a musical act since 1999?)

You are posting on ILM and yet you ask that question?

1000 posts and counting:

Gathering Of The Juggalos 2009 Infomercial

"as a musical act"

Don't let those "some reviews" put you off, kraudive. Most of them are favourable (and that FACT one is completely OFFTM).

― daavid, Wednesday, May 30, 2012 7:00 PM (3 hours ago)

It was the FACT review a little, yes. But more really threads like this, containing comments from obvious fans of later albums who said they were underwhelmed. Of course, I'll make my own decision when I have time.

Well, I've given it several listens over the past week, and there are one or two things on it that I think are okay, but I think I'm ready to give up on this album. It just isn't doing it for me. The Words just aren't very interesting - where's the old, strange poetic imagery of lines like "rain falls like Elvis tears", or "oh, the clown's no good" - and the Music is fairly characterless poptimist din. Oh well.

I need to get this earworm of my first encounter with "Systems of Romance" out of my head first.

xp see?

I think it's the last four songs that really make the album.

― Kitchen Person, Tuesday, May 22, 2012 9:35 AM (1 week ago)

Very much agree with this.

Synth at the end of the chorus in "DJ" is very Italo.

xxxxp hey thanks everything! glad you like it.

we've only just had our copies through and clocked that the remix before ours is by Richard 'Grid/Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve' Norris.
had no idea who 'Time And Space Machine' was!

I think the FACT reviewer was annoyed because the album has tunes on it. I realise that this is a terrible neoliberal conceit in FACT World.

What's that obvious soundtrack-y sample at the start of 25 Years? It's probably really obvs and is totally bugging me.

xpost to piscesx. Yeah that remix of Coming Through the Fair is another favorite. It scratches my "Cool Kids of Death"/"Stoned To Say The Least" itch quite nicely. I have a copy of the new Time and Space Machine album but haven't got round to checking it out yet. Basically I've been listening to this all week now.

(Sarah's voice is generally less obnoxious on the remixes as it's been treated in various ways)

^this is v otm; i <3 sarah but on the reg songs shes overwhelming

predictably i think this album is pretty great. first go-around and i was not particularly thrilled but it sounds better every time i give it a go.

Best tracks anyone? To lead me into this.

dj
tonight
popular
when i was 17
last days of disco

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdIB21d-Lig

i warmed up to this album in a big way btw & it kinda works 4 summer imo

yea tonight & both remixes are in constant rotation the last few wks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrBtDsf9x3s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mf1Trm4ltRM

i like this album, totally surprised as nothing of theirs has clicked with me since the 90s!

this album probably skews a bit closer to their 'tiger bay'/'continental'-era sound than anything else they've done.

i know the first song is 'obvious' a bit but i really like it

i really like you!

http://wiki.luukland.net/images/3/3f/Face-Blush-120px.png

A nice Saint Etienne track here:

http://wiaiwya.bandcamp.com/track/steeplechase

so...I like this? "DJ" grabbed me by the collar, maybe because it reminds me of "Action."

ya i think i officially like this album

really gets better w/each listen imo. looking forward to the tour!

This is their best album since So Tough, which after years of fruitless exploration on my part is a relief.

i would give good humor a re-scr...re-listen. i feel like a lot of people aren't into it bc of st et expectations, it was my entry point and i think it's a pretty sweet album. more club 8 labrador swedish pop style than a st et album.

Good Humor is outstanding.

I like GH best of the post-ST records.

Tales From Turnpike House is by far my favourite since So Tough, there are no bad songs on that album. Agree that Words & Music just gets better and better.

aye.. there's a ballot coming up fairly soon, I believe.

Finistere for me - but admittedly I haven't heard the two last ones

Finally getting to see "What Have You Done Today, Mervyn Day?"

This is what I want Saint Etienne to sound like, to be like, these days.

bought a ticket 4 the boston show - excited! have nvr seem em live

http://saintetienne.greedbag.com/

The special "US" edition that's impossible to get in the UK unless you spend tons on ebay is, um, possible to get now.

Basically, the second CD is all-new (bar two) songs, about ten in total.

Disappointed that I missed them when they were in town recently; I checked this album out after the poll and it's quite good, best I've heard since So Tough.

Heh, when those extra copies went on sale yesterday, the greedbag site instantly died and didn't come back for hours. Their limited edition fuckery is getting pretty tiresome. Four editions of the latest album, three with different track listings, two extremely difficult to buy... except on eBay, of course. It's 2012 guys... do pre-orders for the limited edition releases and press up enough to satisfy demand. It isn't hard.

That Greedbag site was horrible, and you're right, girl from spirea x, the fuckery one must endure to receive their many limited releases is absurd. This isn't the first time that they couldn't handle the surge from users when offering something new, either. Quite a lot of us in the states didn't live anywhere near where the band was playing, and then to have to scurry for a copy of an album's worth of material from a band we've been following for more than two decades. They should work that out.

I think it's things like this that make things like peer-to-peer filesharing ethically justifiable in certain circumstances.

Absolutely, especially when you know a load of these were bought just to end up on ebay. Love the band, but not going to buy the same album twice.

feel free to PM me if you are looking for those tracks.

may not last long but someone put the whole special US edition on yt; i really love 'solid gold'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfCm4Pu0AqE

I'm going to take this opportunity to remind everyone that a Masters at Work rmx of "Nothing Can Stop Us" exists:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sdeADYESwg

Don't let those "some reviews" put you off, kraudive. Most of them are favourable (and that FACT one is completely OFFTM).

― daavid, Wednesday, May 30, 2012 7:00 PM (3 hours ago)

It was the FACT review a little, yes. But more really threads like this, containing comments from obvious fans of later albums who said they were underwhelmed. Of course, I'll make my own decision when I have time.

― kraudive, Wednesday, 30 May 2012 23:00 (11 months ago)

This is a lovely Saint Etienne album. It'd be good to read what people think a year or so in. It's sounding GREAT tonight, esp next to the Daft Punk that I've put it up against a lot this week. I love that also obv.

I like it a lot too. Its similar to their old stuff both in sound and "spirit" i think, and sort of stands out bc the vibe is very 90s. Great band.

X months later and this album makes me so happy. Much better than I initially thought.

This album could practically be an ilxor (of a certain age and place). And "Answer Song" is gigantic.

Yeah.

Damn i wish i put this on my iphone now. I want to hear it again.

After sitting with this for a while, it's not as good as I first thought. There's a few very strong songs (Tonight, When I Was 17) and several similar tracks that don't hit the same peaks. Also I don't usually complain about Autotune but it bothered me on this album - one thing I always loved about Sarah's voice was that bit of vulnerability when she wouldn't hit pitches perfectly, and I feel like it got Autotuned out? Not sure I would care if I wasn't so familiar with her voice from the pre-Autotune era.

Never got into this. Usually love Saint Etienne.

Ditto. The bonus disc is everything I want from a Saint Etienne album and I think as a stand-alone album it would be up there with any of their best if you made a couple of minor changes here and there. But I can't even listen to the main disc all the way through - it leaves me feeling queazy. Hate all that record store/vinyl fetish/I heart the 70s subject matter and Crackers' delivery and the way her voice is recorded is a major turn off. There are some nice musical bits but also lots of annoying sections. I think it's pretty poor overall.

Been out of the loop for a while but I really liked this and dig the new Suede album as well./jackie_harvey

Yeah I still love this. I don't rate it quite as highly as Turnpike House but it's up there. (Suede album is also great)

this album is so beautiful

otm

this album rules and i find most of the discussion of it itt extremely confusing

I relistened to this this weekend bcz of you and v much enjoyed it, so thank you

the more I think about it ,the more I feel W&M might actually be my favorite Saint Etienne album.

i was otm in this thread

often "DJ" is my favorite track ever recorded by anybody