Product Description

St. Etienne's fourth album, GOOD HUMOR, abandons the dance elements of earlier releases to focus on the ultra-melodic Bacharach/Wilson/Beatles pop that has always been at the rootof the band's music. The record sounds swoon-inducingly gorgeous. Leslied keyboards, vibes, and real strings and horns colour Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs' arrangements. Sarah Cracknell's underrated voice, always the band's strongest feature, has matured into a fine instrument pitched somewhere between Dusty Springfield's soulful English Rose and Petula Clark's young sophisticate.
The achingly lovely "Erica America" is the immediate highlight, though the near-conversational"Mr. Donut" comes very close. The groovier "Sylvie" and "The Bad Postman" recall earlier club hits but with a lighter touch. All 11 songs, from "Woodcabin" to "Dutch TV", are frothy, melodic, and magnificent pop. GOOD HUMOR is one of the best albums of 1998. Original US copies included a bonus discof singles and remixes.

Track Listing

1. Woodcabin
2. Sylvie
3. Split Screen
4. Mr Donut
5. Goodnight Jack
6. Lose That Girl
7. Bad Photographer
8. Been So Long
9. Postman
10. Erica America
11. Dutch TV

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #103978 in Music
• Released on: 2001-01-15
• Number of discs: 1

Customer Reviews

Their Best
A band that often divide opinion, Saint Etienne create the perfect mix of indie cool and glorious pop sensibilty on this, their fourth LP. Abandoning somewhat, the dance music focus of their previous LP's, this record draws on the Bacharach 60's pop that they clearly hold dear. 'Split Screen' is possibly the greatest pop tune of any group in the 90's, 'Lose that Girl' oozes effortless pop class. A band whose back catlouge is long and varied, this is probably the best place to start. A sound distilled into 44 magnificant minutes.

Gorgeous
Saint Etienne are a salutary reminder of the exalted pleasures that pop music can afford. This is attested to by the flowery, pretentious sleeve notes which sometimes accompany their albums (like Julie Burchill's OTT blurb on Too Young To Die). But their music is so fantastic it seems to demand that it gets written about in such inflated terms. Listening to Saint Etienne is the sound of summer, of candy floss, of nostalgic retro-chic. But their music is far more than just clever pastiche. Their songs are melodic, moving and always well-crafted. Good Humor may well be their best album of all.

The album goes for a straight-ahead pop sound- there are little in the way of the clubby rhythms which characterised Foxbase Alpha or Tiger bay, although the opener Woodcabin's slinky bassline, and the breakbeat in the middle of Goodnight Jack both tip a nod to the dance-crazy period of the mid-90s. Otherwise it's just classic pop all the way. Sarah coos away gorgeously (what red-blooded man wouldn't want her whispering in his ear at night?), and the arrangements are lush but never overly complicated. There isn't a single weak track, although my favourites are the breezy Split-Screen (with its parping Bacharach-style horns), the sumptuous, filmic melancholy of Postman, and the unashamed kitsch-pop of The Bad Photographer, whose ridiculously catchy chorus (##"All for yo-ou-ouuuu"##) will have you singing along with glee.

I can't really recommend this album highly enough- Saint Etienne are up there in the pantheon of Pop with Abba, The Beach Boys and others, and Good Humor is about as good as they've ever done.

Gorgeous sophisticated pop
Saint Etienne have weaved an evocative pop spell on this album, which shuns sampling and excessive electronica in favour of earthy instrumentation and the odd bit of trip hop.
It is a truly gorgeous listen, with Sarah Cracknell's elegant vocals being complemented beautifully by lush flutes, guitars, drums and piano.
The piano opening on Sylvie would have Abba wincing with jealousy, it really is that brilliant. It then kicks in with powerful drums and lyrics that tell a story of grown-up sibling rivalry.
There is a bit of a Cardigans vibe at times and a real sense of nostalgic magic shimmering over the songs, most of which could easily be singles.
Your record collection is empty without this little gem.