It seems fitting that as the birds sing in the trees once more and the first signs of spring are on the way, another Saint Etienne album should be with us, as to these ears, the sunny shiny pop produced by this threesome suits that season best. No, I know this collection is not totally new, and just (another) ‘Best of’, but it’s the one that’s worth waiting for. And wait for it we have. Scheduled for a release in October, but put back until 16 February due to a fault at the pressing plant in Germany, my copy has been order for over four months.
As the group’s fourth greatest hits collection (though only two were ‘official’ releases), London Conversations is definitively not a singles package, more of a ‘Favourite of’, hand-picked by the group. All the important singles are there of course, but along with B-sides and obscure foreign releases, the 36-track issue spans two discs, or three if you order the release with the videos DVD thrown in (often described as a London-based band, the ‘London’ part of the collection’s title is more than evident in the the visual third disc).
The music more than speaks for itself. From the instantly recognisable Only Love Can Break Your Heart, to the infamous and dance-tinged He’s On The Phone (which gave the band their biggest hit, peaking at No 11), London Conversations is mostly made up of the Et’s finest work. The haunting ballad that is Hobart Paving cries on the shoulders of the trip-hop Avenue and Heart Failed (In The Back Of A Taxi), while the disco-lite Sylvie shimmies up to all out pop numbers such as You’re In A Bad Way and Who Do You Think You Are. The skiffle-esque Side Streets also gets a look in.
Of course, the electronic sound which has characterised the band’s later material is here, too. How We Used To Live and Action are perfect slices of modern electronica, while the latest Richard X-penned single, Method Of Modern Love, is surely one of the band’s career-defining and shiniest pop moments. Film theme This Is Tomorrow is a different version to the recently released cut, while Lover Plays The Bass is a French-only single A-side, found here in digital quality for the first time.
As with previous releases, the group pays as much attention to their artwork as they do their music, and London Conversations is one of their best efforts yet. The 3-disc set comes in a hardback book format, with lovingly made cardboard pages holding the audio CDs and DVD. With thoughtfully written sleeve notes, and wonderful contemporary magazine covers and images from their past, Bob, Pete, and Sarah’s history is laid out for all to see. Beautifully crafted, natch, just like the songs themselves.
Never being accepted into the mainstream and sitting on the indie fringes is perhaps Saint Etienne’s biggest virtue. The die-hard fans are almost a secret society, and this collection won’t necessarily appeal to them due to the lack of unreleased or new material, although I more than enjoyed revisiting the group’s back catalogue once more. What London Conversations most definitely is though, is a wonderfully talkative introduction to the band, and says a great deal about their 18-year musical journey.
