Audio CD review:
Saint Etienne - Casino Classics

Saint Etienne - Casino Classics

Band: Saint Etienne Title: Casino Classics Rating: Release Date: 21 March, 2002 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: Like A Motorway - Chemical Brothers 2: Join Our Club - Billy Nasty 3: Pale Movie - Secret Knowledge 4: Speedwell - The Aloof 5: Only Love Can Break Your Heart - Andrew Weatherall 6: Who Do You Think You Are - Aphex Twin 7: Avenue - Gordon King 8: Hug My Soul - Sure Is Pure 9: Like A Motorway - David Holmes 10: Angel - Way Out West 11: Filthy - Monkey Mafia 12: People Get Real - Death In Vegas 13: Nothing Can Stop Us - Lionrock 14: Sometimes In Winter - Psychonauts 15: The Sea - PFM 16: Burnt Out Car - Balearico 17: He's On The Phone - Primax 18: Cool Kids Of Death - Underworld 19: Angel - Broadcast

Customer Reviews Reasons To Be Cheerful, Part 4 They could effortlessly draw from the music of previous decades, yet were not afraid to be avant-garde, and at the same time had one foot firmly in the dance camp. We Brits should be proud of having produced St Etienne, an utterly contemporary sounding group who regularly flitted up the charts in the nineties with their sure footed pop sensibilities and Sarah Cracknell's languid vocals. This is evidenced here by the cutting edge remixers they commissioned for the numerous white labels and B-sides they released and some they didn't. Some of the best are gathered within these covers: The Chemical Brothers, Secret Knowledge (Kris Needs), The Aloof (Jagz Kooner), Andrew Weatherall, The Aphex Twin, David Holmes, Death In Vegas, Lionrock, Underworld and Broadcast, many of them still unknown names at the time. The highly anthologised Weatherall "mix in two halves" of Neil Young's Only Love Can Break Your Heart is present and correct as is the mighty 14 minute version of Cool Kids Of Death remixed by Underworld and the famous Trouser Assassin mix of Pale Movie. Disc 1 begins and ends with versions of Like A Motorway, while Disc 2 bookends versions of a new song called Angel and features several other new songs and mixes, including the best track of all, a Monkey Mafia reworking of a 1991 B-side called Filthy, featuring the vocals of Q-Tee and a sample of Tone-Loc's Wild Thing. Classics......yeah right..... The first disc is the bonus disc that came with the singles collection. This is only worth the money if you don't already have the 2-disc version of "too young to die" singles collection. Some of the remixes were ok, but there were just too many instrumentals. Most of side two is the same. Most of the remixes bear no resemblance to the original tracks, and seeing as how most of the vocals are also gone, it's really hard to enjoy. If you like extended versions or radically remixed VOCAL remixes, then this is not for you. You'd be better off searching for the individual singles and finding the one vocal remix on them. St. Etienne is merely a platform for some of these artists. Etienne disc. This is NOT a typical St. This is a electronic complilation, and a fine one at that. Very rarely do we see the original tracks true colors as most of these artists have opted for a more obsure version of the song they "covered". I will say for me disc 2 is much better. Starting with "Angel" and ending with "Angel", disc 2 contains many diiferent feels and many different styles. Whether is the god-like trance of Underworld's "Cool Kids Of Death", or Lionrock's "Nothing Can Stop Us", it showcases some great tunes! Other highlights includes tracks by Death In Vegas, Monkey Mafia and Primax. Disc one has some treasure as well. Chemical Brothers do their fine version of "Motorway", and Aphex Twin does his own thing to "Who Do You Think You Are". If you are a fan of Underworld I highly recommend this based on their track alone. I doubt this will ever see the light of day here in the states, so if can spare a few extra dollars, you'll come away with a nice complitaion for electronic music collection. . You can see a complete list of all Saint Etienne discography, or go back to the Saint Etienne tabs