Amazing debut
I bought this album when it was released in 1991 on the advice of a friend who worked in a record shop. 11 years later, I still don't regret the purchase. Some of the interludes and sampling on the album border on the bizarre (Wilson, Etienne Gonna Die) but most of it is terrific, 60s-inspired pop. Spring and Nothing Can Stop Us are absolute classics....I still love those songs 11 years later and they always pop up on any CD compilation I burn, and their cover of Only Love Can Break Your Heart is fantastic. Incidentally, though many people compliment Sarah's vocals on that track, it is not Sarah singing, but the singer she replaced.
The British Group America Slept On
Let me be real: America has truly slept on some really good British artists. Saint Etienne is one of them. This trio, led by vocalist Sarah Cracknell, couldn't have picked a worse time to release their debut, "Foxbase Alpha." This album came out in the early 1990s, when America was obsessed with grunge and turned a contemptuous nose to anything electronic. That's sad, because this album is a rich mix of retro-60's electropop with laid back beats. They do an impressive cover of Neil Young's "Only Love Can Break Your Heart," which is coupled with a hip hop-flavored drum loop. "Spring" is so fresh and vibrant, so light and perky, it sounds like it's walking on air. "Nothing Can Stop Us," another single, is a catchy dance number that definitely recalls the 1960s with its horn section. And, in a display of range, they give us a little reggae flavor in "Can't Sleep." This record was released to rave reviews on both sides on the Atlantic, but the American audience, already hooked on fellow Brits Jesus Jones and EMF, virtually ignored it. But it's not too late, my friends! Give this album a try and let the grooves of Saint Etienne draw you in.
Evocative
Saint Etienne's debut is brilliant. The music, is mainly a blend of house, hop-hop and classic 60's pop, but many other styles are added to the mix. The vocals (in almost all of the songs, by Sarah Cracknell) are breezy and sensual. Songs like "Spring", "Nothing Can Stop Us" or "She's the One" are catchy, beautifully constructed pop gems. But this album's strongest point is definitely its power to congure up images of places and times, lost sceneries we'd wish (or dream) to be part of. Some tracks, like Wilson or Etienne Gonna die (as well as other non-proper songs consisting mostly of spoken samples) may become a little tedious and feel too long, but serve to the purpose of leaving the listener in a confused, unattentive state to be pleasantly broken by another lovely song. I definitely recommend this album and rate it among the top five of the 90's.
Debut by Saint Etienne--unique mellow alternapop
The first album by Britain's alternapop group Saint Etienne helps in establishing the band's early sound."This is Radio Etienne" is one of two non-song interludes that are in the album. This one takes a French football radio program's theme music and French commentator Jacques Bordeux's words before launching into a cover of Neil Young's "Only Love Can Break Your Heart." I haven't heard the original but I'll say that this version is tempered but upbeat, with piano accompanying the synthesizer beat. Sarah Cracknell's waifish vocals is a softer and lightly sugared variation of Susanna Hoffs or Belinda Carlisle's vocals. The sound is something that Ace of Base would later use in "All That She Wants."
That is followed by the drug-looped psychedelia of "Wilson," a collage of British phrases repeated against a backdrop of slowed down techno-beats. Phrases such as "Would you like some sweets, Willie?" from an elderly aunt-like figure gets mixed up with "LSD" to evolve into "Would you like some LSD?" The aunt figure asks Willie "What would you like then?" Willie, a young boy, answers "Can I have one of these and one of these and two of those please?" and also "Come on auntie, we'll miss the bus!" A male announcer calls for "Mr. and Mrs. J. Summers" and all these phrases gets repeated over and over. The effects of Willie's LSD trip, maybe?
"Carnt Sleep" has a bass backbeat and is a bit more relaxed, like a poppy version of bossa nova. Sarah's dreamy vocals is different from her opening number and this is the essence of her voice.
"Girl VII" has a quick-paced beat and some lyrics before Sarah launches into a spoken-word speech on 4 June 1989, which was the date of the Tiannamen Square Massacre, and mentions random places like: "Primrose Hill, Staten Island, Chalk Farm, Massif Central, Gospel Oak, Sao Paolo, Boston Manor, Costa Rica, Arnos Grove, San Clemente, Tufnell Park, Gracetown, York Way, Videoton, Clerkenwell, Portobello, Maida Vale, Old Ford, Valencia, Kennington, Galveston, Holland Park, Studamer, Dollis Hill, Fougeres, London Fields, Bratislava, Haggerston, Lavinia, Canonbury, Alice Springs, Tooting Graveney, Baffin Island, Pollard's Hill, Winnepeg, Plumstead Common, Hyderabad, Silvertown, Buffalo." The repeated refrain sounds like "has been away from" but is actually "Carrie has a boyfriend"
"She's The One" is about a girl "who thinks nothing of breaking up two people in love." And "in this world of ups and downs" to boot.
"Spring" exalts the time of youth and love, where Sarah tells her young man that he's too young to be through with love after a bad time and that she'll be different. With the xylophone and string-like "Theme From A Summer Place" sound, it's another mellow fresh breeze of a tune.
The bass and string-backed "People Get Real" features Sarah's vocals done in a haunting echoing effect that's later repeated in other songs here "Dilworth's Theme."
There's the instrumental "Stoned To Say The Least" which isn't as trippy as "Wilson" which has a pounding bass, soon joined by a high-hat, claps, the usual light-techno beats, and an effect reminding me of the sun slowly rising.
"Nothing Can Stop Us Now" is the other singleworthy song here. It's upbeat, with some chirpy woodwind-like keyboards here. However, Sarah has a monologue separate from her haunting vocals, which sing the verse, while her pop voice sings the chorus.
"London Belongs To Me" is a mellow dreamy song done in Sarah's echoing voice. The tempo picks up in "Kiss And Make Up", which has Sarah doing a mea culpa on saying hasty things she didn't mean and to well, "let's kiss and make up." Another good dance club number. And "Like The Swallow" begins with a wall-of-sound instrumental before the song starts about a girl who is "like the swallow that flies so high. She's like the river that never runs dry." The slow closing ditty of "Dilworth's Theme" mirrors what listeners who enjoyed this album might say to Sarah: "Oh babe, I know you've gone./I won't be sad alone /'cause the song that you left me/has the sweetest refrain."
90's alternapop is the way I'd categorize Saint Etienne's early oeuvre, and coming as it did in 1991, they were ahead of their time. Foxbase Alpha is also the first of three "conventional" albums before SE launched into their hybrid ambient-pop beginning with Good Humour in the late 1990's and continuing today. It pales in comparison to So Tough or Tiger Bay, but a good starting effort that established what SE was about.
not oasis
not necessary to gush about this ingenous little band. At times I think that I listening to the Supremes....excellent choice for those that are looking relive the otherwise, musically bleak, early ninties.
