things i love: good friends

the other day i opened my mailbox to find a package from my friend stuart from london. the contents? a recently released saint etienne box set of remastered, fan-club-only albums! ok, i knew it was coming as he told me as much, but still, actually having it my hands was a real treat. it was, according to him, a christmas/birthday present. thanks, stuart! it's definitely one of the best christmas/birthday presents i've ever received.

saint etienne is one of those rare bands that reciprocates the love and loyalty shown them by their fans. though they've long since stopped charting singles in their native UK, they've not let that dissuade them from continuing to make some of the best, if not the best, pop music out there. bands simply shouldn't be making their best music 15 years into their career. but saint etienne is doing just that. they know how rabid their fans are and they've never disappointed us. i think other bands would be well advised to reward their fans the way saint etienne does.

those rewards, however, can be a bit problematic. i think their non-album tracks easily outnumber their album tracks. they've released, to the best of knowledge, some four or five fan club albums, assorted soundtracks, random compilations, singles, christmas e.p.'s, valentines day singles, remix albums, and all manner of oddness [including a terrific, dancey cover of right said fred's 'i'm to sexy']. since i'm mildly OCD [ok, that's being generous, i'm way OCD], i of course have track down every last thing. i've been collecting saint etienne stuff for 15 years and there are still a few elusive tracks i have yet to track down, but that's part of the fun of being a fan and a collector.

the first of fan-club-only releases, 'i love to paint,' was a hot commodity in the early days of ebay. it wasn't unusual to find original copies fetching as much as a couple hundred clams. but thanks to the saint etienne email list, i was able to secure a burned copy. it remains one of my favorite saint etienne releases and 'sushi rider' is still one of my favorite saint etienne songs. i really think i'll record my own version of it someday. i just love it. 'are we gonna be alright' is actually a matthew sweet cover. saint etienne started playing it during their live shows and it got such a favorable response that they decided to record it and release as part of their second fan club album, 'built on sand,' which also includes their entry into the james bond theme song sweepstakes, 'tomorrow never dies.' that the producers eventually went with sheryl crow's entry is, well, disappointing. saint etienne's version, in my estimation, is tons better. and that's not the bias speaking.

anyway, here are a couple of tracks from the recently released 'boxette' + their cover of 'i'm too sexy.' i hope you enjoy them!

→ saint etienne: sushi rider [from 'i love to paint']
→ saint etienne: are we gonna be alright [from 'built on sand: rarities 1994-1999']
→ saint etienne: i'm too sexy [from 'the fred e.p.']