saint etienne

Method Of Modern Love - sadly not a Hall & Oates cover more a 'hey Call The Shots was nice maybe we can finally get that top 10 hit?'

also COLA BOY REMIX

This is GREAT.

Is that the thing Richard X was supposed to be producing for them or is that still in the pipeline?

this one is X-produced yeh

wow that's really good

Yep, thirded or fourthed or whatever. Fucking awesome!

: D

I want to believe...but it sounds a bit bland to me.

must be playing a different track for me cause zzzzzz

sarah cracknell brushed past me at a cinema the other day.

Foxbase Beta

Journey through the past, part 5.

Rumours have been flying left right and centre, but we can finally confirm that disco dynamo Richard X has taken Foxbase Alpha and re-arranged it into a brand new beast called FOXBASE BETA. Using the original masters, adding cellos, electrix, choirs, and the spirit of Brian Cant he has created something really special - spruced-up yet reverential, it is essentially a 2009 up-date of Foxbase Alpha, given a shot of vodka and a loving caress. We're chuffed. It feels unnervingly like jumping into a Tardis.

FOXBASE BETA will be issued, via the fan club, as a limited, numbered 2CD set of 3,000 copies, which will also include FOXBASE EXTRA, three unreleased recordings from the original album sessions: a just discovered coda to Girl VII (we'd forgotten it existed), a summery instrumental called Richard III, and the first, very different, take of Kiss And Make Up, which was the very first Saint Etienne recording. We cut it one afternoon in January 1990, and then Only Love Can Break Your Heart in the evening! It was all so simple then. These tracks won't be available anywhere else.

There will also be a 'directors' commentary' on the bonus disc. Informative, yes. Pithy, quite possibly.

An un-numbered, single disc edition will be available at gigs and through Rough Trade. It will also be available for digital download (with the commentary but without the bonus tracks).

For club promo, a 4-track 12" is currently at the pressing plant, including extended Foxbase Beta version of Only Love Can Break Your Heart (plus instrumental mix), the FBB version of Girl VII (grrrreat), and Gothenburg's Balearic princes Air France's mix of Spring. We'll have 200 copies of this available through the fan club. As soon as we have them we'll let you know.

Foxbase Beta will be available to pre-order on Monday 21st of September. More details next week.

England in the World Cup finals, 3 Of A Kind's Babycakes playing on my hi-fi, Foxbase Beta finally put to bed. Late summer, early autumn, and all is good.

love

Bob xx

what is that sound? some kind of metal, spoon-like implement against wood?

It was all so simple then. These tracks won't be available anywhere else.

Ah, but it's not that simple now, Bob.

looking forward to this, i was having a bit of a richard x / girls on top retrospective while i was working the other day.
kiss & make up + only love in one day, thats a pretty productive day imo.

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

Bob Stanley interview in The Quietus: http://thequietus.com/articles/02685-saint-etienne-s-bob-stanley-interview-reissues-and-the-problem-with-britpop

ok i think i am in love with that girl.

Samples of the FBB versions of "Girl VIII" and Only Love..." are up on their myspace:
http://www.myspace.com/saintetienne

I think X did a good job on Girl VIII but not on "Only Love...". That bassline is a bit tedious IMO.

Was just listening to "Method of Modern Love" and remembered the little New Order bit:
"There's no sense or reason why we're shot with a bolt of blue..."

who wrote the sleeve notes for the latest batch of deluxe versions?

also coming soon "songs for the dog and duck" ...

free 3 track live ep for signing up for the fan club right now. great 'folk' version of Like A Motorway.

richard x is working with sound of arrows too.

so foxbase beta is going on sale tomorrow, but in the e-mail i received it doesn't say what time it's going on sale, just "tomorrow morning"...

Anyone else going to the Shepherd's Bush Empire show? Annie is supporting, just like she did the last time I saw StEt live in London.

http://www.ekmpowershop8.com/ekmps/shops/saintetienneltd/tracklisting--audio-samples-4-w.asp

It's up now - surprisingly, the site is not dying under the load unlike the last few times they've tried this...

omg the new mix of Only Love Will Break Your Heart that just came out on 12" is KILLING ME - total 105 bpm balearic hotness!

choice

Received Foxbase Beta today ... still making my mind up ... looking forward to So Tougher nevertheless.

are you in the US? i'm yet to receive mine.

I've racked up eighteen plays of that new 12" so far - considering it's eight minutes long, that's a pretty high percentage of my non-sleeping non-working life.

...looking forward to So Tougher nevertheless.

― djh, Thursday, October 15, 2009 9:24 PM (12 minutes ago) Bookmark

You just made that up, right?

so tough with a vengeance

the 12" is the Richard X "extended Beta" version?

yes

wish they had spread the release dates of deluxe reissues out a little more, i still need the so tough + sound of water dlxes but i'm not in a position to drop $60 on cds right now

Well, they won't run out of them...

this is freaking great! the biggest improvement is that the bottom end is gigantic through the whole thing. "Nothing Can Stop Us" is great, as is "She's the One" and "Spring". "Only Love" is my favorite I think. really pleased with this!

I can't believe what he's done with 'Girl VII' it's just fantastic. Properly amazing warm pop music. The 'commentary' track is priceless! It seems that list of London places on 'Girl VII' had the exact effect on Richard X sitting bored in Blackburn as it had on me, sitting bored in Warrington around the same time.

It's mostly great, though I'd only point to Only Love and She's the One as being actual improvements on the originals. Don't care too much for the reworkings of Nothing Can Stop Us or Like the Swallow (ie the children's mini choir thing).

Despite Sarah's voice breaking with a cold, I really enjoyed the FBA gig in Shepherd's Bush last Fri night.

the Air France mix of 'Spring' is a bit too over-excited and kinda sloppy

Like The Swallow is my favorite update. Listening to the commentary track is really fun too.

only love KILLS it

word, can't get enough. for me wilson>carn't sleep>girl vii is slaying today! ab so lutely loving this...

was kinda wary of hearing this beta stuff cause FA is like my favorite album ever; thoughts of fantasia 3d, etc.. i am encouraged to check it out, though, due to the endorsements on this thread

must admit i'm not loving it. the sampled dialogue doesn't work for me and the conceptual cab journey seems a bit lame. shame as i love both st et and x.

that said, i do walk to work listening to foxbase alpha everyday.

you are awesome

On first listen, his mix kinda defines OTM.

b-b-but I thought they carved out a tariff exemption for sample-heavy indie pop?

We live in troubled times.

It feels a curious model for selling CDs, even if it might circumvent the issues around the recent album's bonus disc.

Basically, you have to order it *unheard* unless you happen to be around to listen to the Lauren Lavern show?

I would assume at this point that the vast majority of their fanbase is more than happy to buy their stuff even if they haven't heard it. Especially if they haven't heard it.

"To actually play a copy would remove the mystery."

Goddamn! They’re calling it a day!

https://www.thelineofbestfit.com/news/saint-etienne-announce-final-album-international-out-5-september

Leave 'em wanting more, etc. I bet they reunite on a yearly basis to record an Xmas single for their Fan Club.

got kinda teary eyed seeing the album cover

Tried to sum them up for fellow Americans on my Patreon.

they say they're not breaking up just not recording new albums so i figure they'll keep touring occasionally as they feel like it?

the single's fine

Similarly moved. By rhombuses. Strange

Would probably have bought the CD single but was in a bad mood last week (and had spent loads). Ah, well.

the single's fine

very fine indeed

There may be other versions but Rough Trade is selling pre-orders with a bonus disc.

Oh nice, ordered one.

Appreciate the heads up! Ordered one as well.

Here's the official store version:

https://saintetienne.ochre.store/format/1733577-international

Just realized I never received my copy of the Night in the mail! Assume they've been shipped out by now.

‘We want to stop in our prime’: Saint Etienne on their final album, turning down Cher’s 'Believe', and why pop is a dying art

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/may/30/saint-etienne-interview-final-album-international

hadn't the story about higgins originally offering them "believe" before, they'd do a good version of it

This bit:

More recently, 2021’s I’ve Been Trying to Tell You used the melancholic vaporwave genre to examine late-90s nostalgia (they were disappointed that no one worked out that its track names were all horses that won on the day of Labour’s 1997 landslide).

<3 terrific

https://www.racingpost.com/results/513/wolverhampton-aw/1997-05-01/236860

B-but... Penlop came 3rd in the 2:45 at Wolverhampton... "slowly into stride, soon well outpaced, headway 2f out, ran on well inside final furlong".

Ha xp!

‘I’ve been trying to tell you ‘ is such a fantastic summer evening album. One of my favorite things they’ve done

pond house is easily in my top 20 of everything theyve ever done which is p high praise

where is the new LP thread. The new (last?) is confusing me. I'm not sure I really think it's great. Please tell me I'm wrong.

* song/ single ahem

Here ya go

Saint Etienne -- International