Saint Etienne - Tales From Turnpike HouseOk, fourth time through the new Saint Etienne album and I have to say, it's a bit of a head scratcher. Here are just a few thoughts on it before I head off to bed. There seem to be two different types of songs represented here, the highbrow old style pop retrospectives and the kinda MOR 80's inspired dance tunes. Of the former group, the opening and closing vocal harmony tracks (especially "Sun In My Morning") are just pretty beyond words and are easily among my favorites from
Turnpike. The single, "Side Streets" is pleasant enough, but honestly, I think I prefer Emma Bunton's recent refined girl pop revival attempts. The David Essex collaboration is definitely an odd one, like something out of a hallucinatory 60's film musical. And here I thought "Soft Like Me" was going to go down as the most unlikely Saint Etienne duet ever. Moving on, I think the dance tracks are the ones I'm most unsure about. Xenomania fingerprints are pretty evident on all of these, which I find to be a bit maddening for sure. Favorite Band plus Favorite Producer should equal sheer unrivaled pop bliss, but it's yet to turn out that way. Though I happen to like everything they've worked together on, nothing, aside from maybe "Shower Scene", has really knocked my socks off. "Lightning Strikes Twice" is probably the best of the ones on
Turnpike, at least if like me, you fully embrace 80's synth and yearn to hear Kylie Minogue do "The Neverending Story". Haha...ok, so it's not exactly like that, but you might be surprised. Possibly not quite as good are "A Good Thing", a light-hearted
thump thwick thump thwick affair, and "Stars Above Us", a coy little disco number that wouldn't sound all that out of place on one of Sarah Cracknell's solo records. "Slow Down At The Castle", which doesn't fit into either of my above classifications, is a real gem, melding "Duke Duvet"'s Spanish guitars with Tiger Bay's "European folk music in a modern style" precept. Most surprising is the sheer level of melodrama, what with the high-pitched howls and harmonizing at the end. I've never heard anything remotely like this from Saint Etienne before, and I suppose I found it, well...noteworthy. Lastly, I feel I should at least make brief mention of "Milk Bottle Symphony", perhaps the most representative track on the album. It's the only song to fully combine the two main disparate styles of
Turnpike, though to focus on that would be entirely beside the point. For all their Beach Boys admiration, Bob and Pete have never directly channeled that influence, at least until now. The episodic "Milk Bottle Symphony", most notably toward the end, IS Brian Wilson, only more rhythmic, more British, more quaint...you know, Saint Etienne-ized. It's wonderful.
So what do I make of the album as a whole? Well, I don't know! It certainly has its moments, but I think I need more time. It took me about a year before I really loved
Sound Of Water, so I'm going to be careful with this one as well. Sorry. When it comes to Saint Etienne, I do funny things. Good night.
