Audio CD review:
Saint Etienne - Travel Edition 1990-2005

Saint Etienne - Travel Edition 1990-2005

Band: Saint Etienne Title: Travel Edition 1990-2005 Rating: Release Date: 09 November, 2004 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: Primrose Hill - (previously unreleased) 2: Only Love Can Break Your Heart 3: Nothing Can Stop Us 4: Avenue 5: Mario's Cafe 6: Hobart Paving 7: Hug My Soul 8: Like The Motorway 9: He's On The Phone 10: Burnt Out Car 11: Sylvie 12: Lose That Girl 13: Good Night Jack 14: How We Used To Live 15: Heart Failed (In The Back Of A Taxi) 16: Action 17: Fascination - (previously unreleased) 18: Finisterre

Customer Reviews Great... You won't be disappointed. OK, so if you're feely like a little silly dancepop, get this CD. My fav tunes: 1)Avenue(Edit) 2)Sylvie 3)He's On the Phone 4)Mario's Cafe. Yawn... I've always been excited to see new Saint Etienne discs, but this was bad. I never thought I'd say this, but this it the worst that Saint Etienne has put out. . . I felt I had been taken. Before I'm bashed, let me explain. . . this CD is a repeat of a lot that has been produced already. The only new stuff was the instrumentals and they sounded a lot like existing stuff too. For any new Saint Etienne fans, I think your money would be better spent on "Tiger Bay", "Good Humor" or a compilation disc. Even Sarah Cracknell by herself is good stuff. Try to steer clear of this CD. pop perfection ' and i admit i count myself as one of them. saint etienne fans are apt to throw around superlatives like 'pop,' 'nostalgic,' 'glittery,' and my favorite: 'sophisticated. fortuntely, all those superlatives are true. saint etienne, quite simply, is the *best* pop band of the last twenty years. subpop's 'best of' release (which was hardly necessary given the number of saint etienne 'best of's' out there: 'too you to die, smash the system, etc) is a nice introduction to the band, despite some glaring omissions (how can any 'best of' not include 'you're in a bad way?' criminal!). however, given the breatdth of the saint etienne catalogue (upwards of 300 songs not including remixes -- that'd add another 150 or so), any 'best of' will fall miserably short of truly representing the band's stylistic wanderings and deviations. what's most striking about this collection is how dance-oriented it is. an overwhelming majority of the tracks selected are more suited for dance floor. 'he's on the phone,' 'like a motorway' and 'action,' for example, are prime examples of saint etienne hitting all the right groove-buttons; but saint etienne never rested on their laurels. it would have been easy for st etienne to stand back and keep churning out catchy pop songs (and really, who did it better?). sadly, some of the et's finest moments ('the process,' 'i buy american records,' 'clark county record fair,' 'california snow story,' 'spring,' 'leafhound,' 'marble lions,' 'former lover,' etc ad naseum) will never reach the casual fan's ears. it's a shame, but i can rest assured that any saint etienne is better than no saint etienne. in the end, this is a nice intro to those who've never had the experience of hearing the band before; but saint etienne fans, rabid and completist as we are, will most likely buy this for 'fascination' and 'primrose hill' (an acoustic intrumental version of 'soft like me) simply because we have to have it, and doesn't subpop know it. damn them. =). . You can see a complete list of all Saint Etienne discography, or go back to the Saint Etienne tabs