This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Album Reviews
Album Review: Saint Etienne – So Tough/Sound Of Water (Universal/Heavenly)
By Marc Samuels | Published on Monday 31 August 2009
Following ‘Foxbase Alpha’ and ‘Continental’, this is phase two of the Great Saint Etienne Reissue programme, with both albums accompanied by the obligatory treasure trove bonus CD. 1993’s ‘So Tough’ remains the group’s highest charting album but it was also a frustratingly unfulfilling listen at times, especially given the high standard set by the album’s singles (the epic poignancy of ‘Avenue’, tear-stained ‘melodrama’ on ‘Hobart Paving and the kitsch ‘You’re In A Bad Way’). ‘Mario’s Cafe’ and ‘Calico’ show the trio at their best (sonic adventurers with a pure pop heart) but too much of the rest is simply filler. The bonus disc is a real treat though, comprising non-album singles (‘Join Our Club’ and ‘Who Do You Think You Are’ are worth the entrance fee alone) alongside wondrous b sides (Saint Etienne, like Pet Shop Boys, Suede and The Smiths, have always been a group whose b-sides offer an essential secret history) and improbably glorious covers of everyone from Teenage Fanclub to Right Said Fred. Whilst the trio had flirted with electronica before, 2000’s ‘Sound Of Water’ marked the first time the group embraced their more experimental side on a whole album, working with German post rock group To Rococo Rot on an album that remains their least overtly poppy. It’s a strangely anodyne affair at times, but still offers up some compelling music in places, with one classic slice of St Et social commentary married to precision-tooled electro-pop in ‘Heart Failed’. The eclectic bonus disc is arguably even more interesting than the parent album, with the melancholy ambience of ‘Roseneck’ and ‘Shoot Out The Lights’ sitting alongside further diversions and experiments, including the whole of the ‘Places To Visit’ EP (whose ‘We’re In The City’ is the closest thing to the trio’s perfect pop from this era). Two quite different albums then; each worth exploring if you’re a fan, but if you’re new to the group ‘So Tough’ should be your first port of call out of these two. Roll on the next batch, then. MS
Buy from iTunes
Buy from Amazon
