Saint Etienne Boxette (artwork copyright Saint Etienne/Lora Findlay)
Saint Etienne fan club albums are the stuff of legend. The cult London-based musical outfit have always enjoyed an underground following, but at the same time, have, at times, been well-known to mainstream pop music lovers, too.
Breaking onto the pop scene in 1990, 8 original albums have followed in the 18 years since, and the Lovers Unite fan club has long been the official source for news, views, and musical rarities. Run by the band themselves, Bob, Pete and Sarah certainly know how to look after their fans.
So, it was with excitement that details of Boxette, the group’s collection of four hard-to-get fan club releases was greeted in early December. Made up of three full-length original fan club albums - I Love to Paint (1994), Built on Sand (1999), Asleep at the Wheels of Steel (2001) - and one new disc, Eric Random, made up of previously unreleased tracks and other odd rarities, the pressing was limited to 3,000 (numbered) copies.
Only fan club members could buy the new collection, and it was only sold online, a special new shop being set up for the purpose. New ‘members’ could register beforehand, but us old stagers could go straight to a different link, as long as we quoted our fan club membership when ordering. Two copies could be bought per member, too, so that instantly narrowed down the amount of sets available.
Demand was sure to be high, especially as the original releases are sold for wondrous amounts of money on auction sites. And so it proved. On a Friday night in mid-December, it took over an hour to secure a copy, even armed with a two-Internet browser arsenal. But, secure a copy I did (I was one of the first lucky 250 to also get a two-track Christmas CD thrown in), and now it’s arrived, I’m not disappointed.
The sets are numbered, and exclusive artwork differentiates these limited copies from the originals which eBay Eddie attracts such outrageous amounts of cash for. As expected, it’s an expansive 48-track collection, and I hadn’t heard any of the songs before.
Taking the sound from their major release studio albums, Boxette is a mix of the group’s trademark Sixties-sounding breezy pop (echoing the ‘Et’s’ first long-players) along with ambient and instrumental-led tracks, on which the band have also built their sound.
Known for obscure-sounding titles, I thought the Et’s track title Stormtrooper in Drag from the 1997 Japanese-only Continental album couldn’t be bettered, but here we have such gems as Sushi Rider, Suburban Autumn Lieutenant, Blofeld Buildings, and probably the longest title in pop, The Slavic Beauty with a Rose Between Her Teeth.
Boxette is a no doubt a fitting, long-awaited, and welcomed reissue. But, the band could be about to treat their fans again.
In a recent interview with the Smash Hits of the Internet, Popjustice, vocalist Sarah Cracknell revealed that the group’s original studio albums may be repackaged and reissued, with bonus discs, tracks, and remixes. And, as with Boxette (and the track on Eric Random), they’ll be The Same but Different.
Lovers Uniters Rejoice!
(In other Saint Etienne-related news, Sarah Cracknell’s latest solo project, The Journey Continues, is released on Monday.)
Saint Etienne are the perfect pop combo.
I still get excited with each release, just as I did when I was a whippersnapper. They’re just dreamy and Boxette is a real treat.
Yay.