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.']
things i love: good friends
SONG OF THE DAY [#274]
'rockferry' | duffy
in a word: wow. duffy is like a spunkier candie payne, a more emotionally stable amy winehouse, and maybe, just maybe the heir apparent to dusty springfield [am i the only one who detects a slight bee gees influence??].
i've really flipped for duffy's debut, 'rockferry.' i liked it all the more when i found out that my guitar hero, bernard butler, helmed the thing. but in listening to the tracks, it's really easy to hear his influence. in fact, a lot of the tracks on 'rockferry' are near cousins to the butler's work in mcalmont and butler. it's hard to believe that this is the same man whose buzzsaw guitar whipped an entire nation into a frenzy in 1993. here's another notch is his belt, for sure.
but enough about bernie. the real star of the show, as well it should be, is duffy. we're looking at and listening to a considerable talent here, kids. i mean serious talent. serious pipes. she's got the #1 on the u.k. singles chart two weeks running and well done by her. she's like a very nice person. well, as nice as you can expect someone to be without actually having met them. and yes, i admit to a bit of a crush.
she's selling out shows left and right and just like bernie before her, taking the kingdom by storm. 'rockferry' [the album] drops march 3 in the uk. 'mercy,' the next single, 'drops next week as well. this is one ride you're definitely gonna want strap into. trust me when i saw it's incredible!
→ duffy: rockferry | video | studio footage
→ duffy: serious
→ duffy: mercy video
SONG OF THE DAY [#273]
'aguas de março'| antonio carlos jobim
sometimes i just need me some tom jobim. bossa nova was essentially unknown to me before the year 2000, but in the years since, i've become a HUGE fan of the genre. it's a sound that speaks to me on so many levels. i'm still a novice when it comes to bossa nova, so i'm hardly qualified to discuss it technicalities and intricacies, so i won't even try. i do know that i love minor 7th chords, and bossa nova certainly has its share. i still see chords in bossa nova music i never even knew existed--suspendeds, diminisheds, 5ths, 6ths, all all matter of nuttiness. you have to be some sort of guitar witch/wizard to play bossa nova, i think, because the chords call for require a tremendous amount of dexterity--trust me, i've tried. [and check this out -- amazing!]
but getting back to bossa nova, antonio carlos jobim, or 'tom jobim,' as he is often called, was one of the true innovators in the world of music. i don't like to fling around terms like 'visionary,' but the guy was something else. he took american jazz, married to to latin rhythms [like the samba, for example], threw in some loungy strings and took the world by storm. his signature track, though not one of my favorites, was his collaboration with joao gilberto on 'the girl from ipanema.' the movement lasted less than a decade, but it's influence remains potent. the most obvious reason, to me at least, is that the bossa nova sound is undeniably sexy and it's cool quotient is off the charts. there's hardly a week were i don't pop in some tom jobim or stan getz [a.k.a. The Sound] and lose myself in the sound. you can read more about tom jobim here and here. if just want to try an entire album, you can download a 'greatest hits' here. i genuinely hope you love it as much as i do.
there are plenty of tom jobim and stan getz around and i highly recommend you pick one up. take it from me, you'll be smitten instantly. then you'll want to buy a record player and host swanky parties and serve fruity drinks. here are just a few of so man favorites.... enjoy!
→ antonio carlos jobim: aguas de março
→ antonio carlos jobim: corcovando
→ antonio carlos jobim: só danço samba
→ antonio carlos jobim: the girl from ipanema
i definitely have a type...
...and that type is toni halliday. particularly toni halliday @ the 3:21 mark. magic.
i love curve. i love toni halliday. a lot. i really don't know how many times i've watched this video. dozens? hundreds? thousands? probably. this was another one of those many videos i saw on 120 minutes back in the early 1990s and it was instantly one of my favorites. why? well, sure, the songs is awesome, yes; in fact, it's really awesome. dean garcia's elastic bass is a high point for me. and flood did a great job with the production. but great googley moogly, toni halliday is smoking hot. i know this will probably sounds lame, but i have such a thing for dark eye shadow and black, black hair. the blacker the better. it's exotic, mysterious, and super duper sexy. is it getting hot in here all of a sudden? oh, toni, why must you smite me so?
anyway, at some point i lost the vhs tape with 'horror head' and i was so bummed. i was so certain i'd never see it again. this was about 1995 or so and the internet was still in its infancy, so i had no idea it'd be so readily available ten years later. so thank heavens for youtube. i love it.
it still amazes me how many people aren't familiar with curve. without curve there would have been no garbage. without toni halliday there'd have been no shirley manson. why eMpTV and radio got behind garbage and didn't get behind curve remains a mystery. well, actually, now that i think about it, garbage drummer butch vig produced nirvana's 'nevermind.' so, you know, he had 'cred.' whatever. i'll take curve over garbage any day of the week.
now i could just find me a slighty gothy, yet emotionally stable [i realize that's a bit of an oxymoronic statment], mormon girl...
→ curve: horror head
→ curve: frozen
→ curve: perish
→ curve: already yours
SONG OF THE DAY [#272]
'you only live twice' | the postmarks
i haven't thrown up any covers for a couple of weeks, so i figure i'm passed due. the first is the the postmarks' version of the classic nancy sinatra song from the james bond film of the same name. i've always dug this song, so i was glad to see the postmarks tackle it. tim yehezkely's [yes, that's her name] vocals seem tailor-made for track--shaken, but not stirred [where's a gong when you need one? man, that was one bad joke!]. ok, there aren't really shaken so much as sitting on ice. but you know what i mean.
here's something for your gee whiz collection: former take that heart throb turned naughty boy robbie williams nicked the riff for his 1999 hit, 'millennium.' man, robbie williams is so awesome. i love that dood. he's totally off his head. but getting back to the postmarks, yeah, nice job on john barry's seminal bond theme. ah shoot, why not throw the trash can sinatras version in too.
→ the postmarks: you only live twice
→ nancy sinatra: you only live twice | trailer
→ the trash can sinatras: you only live twice
→ robbie williams: millennium | video [be sure to check it!]
'i don't want to get over you' | alison eales
the second is a cover of the magnetic fields 'i don't want to get over you' be alison eales. i'm kind of torn on this one because this is far and away my favorite magnetic fields song. i think it's one of stephin merrit's best overall melodies and definitely in his top three lyrics. i'm protective of it in a psychotic kind of way, so i don't quite know what to make of it. and again, it makes me question the wisdom of introducing yourself to the world via someone else's song. it seems like a cheat, but hey, what do i know? anyway, i've beat that horse to death, resurrected it and killed it again, so i'll refrain from continuing the cycle. so give it a listen and you can decide its merits. [merits/merrits. get it? haha.]
→ alison eales: i don't want to get over you
→ the magnetic fields: i don't want to get over you
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