saint etienne

sarah cracknell: “I’m so looking forwarded to touring Good Humor this autumn with our fabulous live band! I think it’s the best live line up we’ve ever had. Drummer Mike, the amazing Bennett brothers, Gerard Johnson and of course Debsey will really bring the album to life and add a certain je ne sais quoi!”

a weekend in SF to see them at the Chapel would be pretty good... hmm

new 5-track EP entitled 'Surrey' incoming.

https://bit.ly/2Lmzqg4

EP cover typeface is in the 'Home Counties' style, which makes me a lil nervous bc I'm sorta over this 'era' lol

Anyone been to the American shows so far? Wondering if I'll be able to pick up more than two copies of the American-only CDs...

Speaking of, here's the tracklisting for Mondo Casino:

Disc One

01. Only Love Can Break Your Heart - Kenny Dope and Louie Vega
02. Sylvie - Bronx Dogs
03. Nothing Can Stop us - Masters At Work
04. Magpie Eyes - Kane West
05. Like A Motorway - David Holmes (full length 13.00 version)
06. Soft Like Me - Mr Joshua
07. Like A Motorway - Chemical Brothers (vocal version)
08. Lose That Girl - Trouser Enthusiast
09. He’s On The Phone - Motiv 8
10. Action - DJ Tiesto (instrumental version)

Disc Two
01. Spring - Air France
02. Mr Donut - Kid Loco
03. Heart Failed - Two Lone Swordsmen (Dub)
04. Magpie Eyes - Confidence Man
05. Cool Kids Of Death - Underworld (full length 14.18 version)
06. How We Used To Live - Dot Allison
07. Avenue - A.R. Kane (Martial Mix)
08. Sylvie - Faze Action (Bonus Tickle mix)
09. I’ve Got Your Music - Leo Zero
10. Saturday - Fugu

Among other things that means a formal release of some of these tracks:

https://www.discogs.com/St-Etienne-Casino-Classics-Bonus-Downloads/release/7634591

Though not all. Still, won't say no!

I went to the NY show and it was great

I'm guessing they'll be on the webshop eventually

Mondo Casino isn't being sold at the US shows, it apparently didn't get pressed in time. Instead, you can pick up a certificate that you can use to purchase through the mail.

huh, dot allison, there's a name I haven't heard in ages

that's the one track on there I really wanna hear!

dot allison never really took off as a top level domain.

.allison

akm, you going to be at the show Saturday?

my first post on ILX was on Dot Allison - sigh, those were the days

dot comedy

once dot Allison dropped the beats and went acoustic on '7 1/2' album I lost interest, I played the album a couple of times, but it was not for me.

ah, it was just a matter of time..

Morning Dove White was such a great album though, and Afterglow and We Are Science I listened to a lot, those years ago. The Arab Strap remix of Message Personnel still sounds fantastic!

yes I'll be at the show Saturday

Cool, will drop a line.

Morning Dove White was such a great album though, and Afterglow and We Are Science I listened to a lot, those years ago

I still listen to these album, they are all absolutely fantastic.

now back to the thread ..

I couldn't get into Home Counties really

I thought that. But then I put the album on a playlist I listen to when I'm cooking and every time one of those tunes comes on I'm surprised how good they are. There's a lot there.

It's no Words & Music but I'm enjoying it more now.

The Ewan Pearson remix of "Visions" by Slam feat. Dot Allison is one of my favorite tracks ever

i am finally getting into this band after so long (had a weird amount of trouble tracking down their albums last time i tried) and those first three albums are so so good and feel like they sorta anticipated things like Since I Left You. really adore Hug My Soul. looking forward to exploring the following albums

also really enjoying Words And Music which is a perfect Kylie album about growing up being a fan of pop. sort of weird that they made their most Pop album at that point in their career but i love it

a few things i'm curious about though are that they seem to have a lot of essential non-album material especially around those first three albums, are there any compilations that collect all or most of this? and those first three albums also come in so many different tracklists with reissues and US releases etc., i've just stuck to the original UK tracklists so far but are any of the alternate ones worth checking out? the european edition of Tiger Bay seems the most promising and I'll probably check it out soon

Oh lord where to begin with extra tracks. The reissue series alone from a few years back added a bonus disc to each album, then there’s fan club comps, the remix collections...

Get You Need A Mess of Help to Stand Alone and the bonus tracks from the Foxbase Alpha box set to start with. Then when you are ready for more, buy Boxsette

Boxette is expensive, I'd stick to the deluxe cd sets - So Tough was always my fav, mainly because it was the first one I bought.

so anyone know what happened to bob stanley? he wasn't at the SF show and I assume wasn't at the others on this tour.

SF show was excellent btw regardless.

Yes, very great. First half was all of Good Humor, then a break and a second half with all sorts of good things, including some Home Counties cuts and “Camel Coat” from the new EP, but the concluding four song run of “Like a Motorway,” “Tonight,” “Only Love Can Break Your Heart” and “Nothing Can Stop Us” saved souls. And then they came back for an encore starting with “Hobart Paving,” with live violin and flute both, then “You’re In a Bad Wayl and “He’s on the Phone” to see it out. Fun bonus; Sarah tells us before “Tonight” that she wrote the song about remembering when she would get herself ready to go out and see a slew of shows by a band she liked when younger. She said the band was Felt; the crowd cheered very loudly. Sarah: “So Lawrence has a fan base here. I’ll have to tell him!”

SF gig was amazing! Such a good crowd, and Sarah’s voice was so on point.

Hoping the new EP pops up on Spotify at some point...the other ‘limited edition’ Dive EP is streamable, so I’m crossing my fingers.

SE is an expensive band to be into. Did anyone see the $70 t-shirts for sale at the merch booth???!

$70? $20 I thought.

saw them last night in L.A., fantastic show. that band is *great*, and very very tight. I am always amazed at how packed their shows are and how enthusiastic the crowd always is, without fail.

Yeah I was just thinking something similar this morning -- for a band that has never once truly broken through on any meaningful level over here beyond the randomly subcultural, hopping labels like crazy etc, they not only have a dedicated fanbase but almost a kinda crazy one, and the SF area definitely has a vocal and loud 'middle-aged bald/balding gay dudes with beards' contingent out in full force based on last year's show and this year's. The amount of homemade shirts and things at the Saturday show was notable -- one guy came dressed in a formal suit with _Home Counties_-style stickers and patches on him, someone else had "Saint Etienne/Home Counties" in the font stitched up on the back of his denim jacket etc. And the merch line was *insane* -- stretched back into the venue and then curled around again on the floor. Rather glad I got there before most, didn't have to wait long (and I rather assume they sold out fully of the 150 allotted vouchers for that night).

at the LA show i spotted a guy with Home Counties-font patches sewed into his vest bearing the names of other SE songs, like PALE MOVIE

the band was absolutely wonderful and yeah, super-tight. debsey got a huge reaction at this show too, the crowd actually started chanting DEB-SEY! DEB-SEY! after sarah introduced her. ‘good humor’ isn’t really my fave SE but it was still a treat to hear that material live - “been so long” sounded really fabulous, and i was psyched to hear them play “goodnight jack” and “mr. donut” (the latter of which made me tear up a bit). and as ever, i loved that a sizable contingent of the audience was 40-something-ish gays

didn’t get the pre-release voucher, and i guess they must have run out of shirts after the last gig because i didn’t see any at the merch stand, sadly

merch stand was all vouchers and $1 buttons. I had heard from a source that the show was definitely not selling out, but the place was pretty packed in the end. Coincidentally my companion was a middle aged bald bearded gay dude, since my w1fe had to bail on account of a cold.

I told Ned that he and I had too much hair for that show. He said we had both too much and too little, given that we were beardless.

the band was absolutely wonderful and yeah, super-tight. debsey got a huge reaction at this show too, the crowd actually started chanting DEB-SEY! DEB-SEY! after sarah introduced her.

Yeah huge loud cheers for her as well. She really is the not-so-secret weapon and the polite frugs she does are amazing.

I told Ned that he and I had too much hair for that show. He said we had both too much and too little, given that we were beardless.

Yeah I was definitely...atypical.

So, Bob isn't with them? I saw him posting on Twitter about some movie that was on 'Talking Pictures' so..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L04zUYuBuh8

https://wiaiwya.bandcamp.com/album/camel-coat-little-chef

20th anniversary of Good Humor show at the British Library on Sunday was amazing! A few people were slagging off the sound quality afterwards, but seemed fine to me (although was right at front by the speaker stack). Not a space designed to ever have gigs anyway. Genuinely surprised not to see any [at least former] ilxors among the crowd (maybe some went on Saturday).

Great dj set from Lawrence to kick things off - does he only have one set of clothes? Maybe he has lots of those blue & white caps.
Delightfully obscure naturally - the three most recognisable tracks he played were Sheena Easton's Machinery, Argent's Hold Your Head Up and Trainspotters' High Rise.

Current band are awesome. Drummer (whose name I didn't catch) and Gerard Johnson on keys dressed like Austin Powers. Bennett brothers were good, Debsey astounding - provided triangle, shaker, cowbell and melodica as well as backing vox.

Setlist:

Good Humor:
Woodcabin
Sylvie
Split Screen
Mr. Donut
Goodnight Jack
Lose That Girl
The Bad Photographer
Been So Long
Postman
Erica America
Dutch TV

Hit List:

Hill Street Connection
Hug My Soul
Take It All In
Magpie Eyes
Camel Coat
Like a Motorway
Tonight
Only Love Can Break Your Heart
Nothing Can Stop Us

Encore:
Hobart Paving
You're in a Bad Way
He's on the Phone

And my copies of Mondo Casino and Surrey in hand. A fine thing!

How is 'Surrey?'

Asleep At the Wheels of Steel and Foxbase Beta are the next vinyl editions being released.

I have lots of spare St Etienne ltd editions, looking for the Tonight 12" if anyone has one and wants to trade for something else.

Hey that is the one with our (Club Clique’s) remix on the B-side. It’s one of the better things we did I think, if I do say so myself.

Asleep At the Wheels of Steel and Foxbase Beta are the next vinyl editions being released.

― omar little,

That's great news about Foxbase Beta. I was hoping they'd do that one. Any idea when it's supposed to be coming out?

Ok, it looks like the pre-order is going up next Wednesday. Cool!