David Nadelle reports:

"Tha showld be erect-in' statuus to that ban, man!" This emphatic statement was shouted at yours truly by a heavily inebriated friend a few years ago during what would turn out to be "a rough night." This night ended with a Pogo corn dog swordfight and said friend passing out under a tarp in my parents' backyard. In November. In Canada. The "ban" in question was British pop institution Saint Etienne.

On January 24, the reliably high-class group's latest, Tales From Turnpike House, will get its U.S. release courtesy of veteran jazz imprint Savoy Jazz. Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Sarah Cracknell...yeah, it doesn't make sense to us either. But hey, Saint Etienne have always been classy.

The label known for brazen bebop has played around with the original Tales tracklist. Gone are the David Essex-assisted "Relocate" and "Bird Man of EC1", and added are three new tracks: "Dream Lover", "Oh My", and the "A Good Thing" single flip "I'm Falling". In the off chance you don't already have the album memorized, here are the songs in convenient numbered list form:

01 Side Streets
02 A Good Thing
03 Sun in My Morning
04 Milk Bottle Symphony
05 Dream Lover
06 Lightning Strikes Twice
07 Slow Down at the Castle
08 Oh My
09 Last Orders for Gary Stead
10 I'm Falling
11 Stars Above Us
12 Teenage Winter
13 Goodnight

First single "Side Streets" is due in December, and a U.S. tour in support of the album is in the works for 2006. Towns penciled in for a visit include Boston, D.C., Chicago, Miami, Seattle, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. So far, only a February 13 date at New York City's Irving Plaza has been confirmed.

Saint Etienne have been keeping busy with several other projects as well. The band premiered its new film, What Have You Done Today, Mervyn Day?, at the Barbican in London on October 27. The film is a fictional account of a paperboy who rides his bike through the industrial landscapes of East London's Lea Valley and is yet another chapter in the group's ongoing homage to England's capital city (following 2003's Finisterre). According to their website, the band will continue to get their cinema on in February, when they will curate a season of films about made-up pop stars called "Pop Fiction" at the Barbican. There are also plans to start filming a full-length feature in the spring of 2006 that will include a full vocal and instrumental soundtrack.

Since these people never seem to sleep, Saint Etienne will also issue a fan club compilation entitled Nice Price within the next few weeks that will cover the band's history through alternate takes and demo versions. Details on how to get your hands on this hot little treasure are said to be forthcoming on the band's website.

Join our club:

01 Nothing Can Stop Us (alternative vocal)
02 7 Ways 2 Love (Sarah vocal, original white label)
03 Who Do You Think You Are (original mix, Debsey vocal)
04 Hobart Paving (alternative single mix)
05 Like a Motorway (demo)
06 Former Lover (single mix)
07 Western Wind (demo)
08 Angel (original mix)
09 Burnt Out Car (original mix)
10 Sylvie (alternative single mix)
11 Madeleine (alternative mix)
12 Lose That Girl (demo)
13 Heart Failed (In the Back of a Taxi)(demo)
14 How We Used to Live (Berlin rough mix)
15 Milk Bottle Symphony (alternative mix)
16 Goodnight (demo)

February 13th at Irving Plaza? I'm so there! It will be my first St. Etienne show.

No children's songs for the U.S.?

sextonseven said:

when they come to chicago, it'll be my third!

Anxiety said:

I think I have enough of their albums now that I feel entitled to go to a show. I wasn't going to take a ticket away from another fan when the only album I had was the greatest hits.

I won't even try looking for those fan club releases though.

sextonseven said:

if you go to their official site and sign up for their free fan club, chances are they will either mail you a free copy for the holidays (seriously) or they'll e-mail you with an exclusive offer or maybe a URL for free downloads. they do something special for their fans every christmas.

It's just that I see the long list of what I've already missed and it makes my head spin.

I discovered them so late all because I didn't like their Neil Young cover 15 years ago.

sextonseven said:

'only love can break your heart' is considered StEt's claim to fame (to this day, unfortunately), but it's hardly representative of their best work...not to mention they've evolved like crazy since the days of 'foxbase alpha'.

they're a lot like prince - they're prolific and they release tons of stuff by way of lots of different methods...it would be difficult to collect everything by them unless you've followed them from the beginning. there's a lot of stuff *I* still don't have, and i've been into them since...well...the beginning!

my best advice to you or anyone else just getting into their music is: pick up a best-of comp first...don't bother with the pricey import compilations, sub pop released a cheap best-of a couple years back with lots of good stuff on it. that'll give you an overview of their albums and what the sounds on each release were like. each album is pretty different. then just go from there.

my faves by them are 'tiger bay' and 'good humor', though 'finisterre' is growing on me and the latest album is really nice.

Anxiety said:

'Finisterre' is the album that finally made me go out and get everything else by them that I could find. Because I'm so hooked on that CD, the early sound of 'Foxbase Alpha' sounds like demo tracks to me that aren't quite finished. I'm slowly working my way through their catalog chronologically, but I anticipate liking the later material more.

sextonseven said:

they get more experimental with the more recent stuff. "places to visit" is almost obtuse...it's interesting, but a little TOO experimental for my tastes. "sound of water" is a good balance - nice, melodic stuff mixed with a fair amount of adventurous knob-twiddling.

they get more experimental with the more recent stuff. "places to visit" is almost obtuse...it's interesting, but a little TOO experimental for my tastes. "sound of water" is a good balance - nice, melodic stuff mixed with a fair amount of adventurous knob-twiddling.

Anxiety said:

You're mixing an official release with an American B-side compilation

All I have is a mix tape from Violett.

All I have is a mix tape from Violett.

old school!