Customer Reviews

So Tough

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

With St. Etienne's recent release of thier latest album, Sound of Water, I find myself looking back over their past works, and as I do, I find that this is really their best album.

So Tough really builds well on what St. Etienne started on Foxbase Alpha - it has a similar but much more mature feel while sounding a lot more polished. After this, I feel that they wandered off course a bit with Tiger Bay, and then really lost it on Good Humor. With thier "Misadventures of St. Etienne" sound track, they really righted the ship, and Sound of Water prooves that they are firmly back on track, but they've never equaled what they achieved on So Tough.

So, if your a fan of the group, but somehow missed this one, go out and buy it, I promise that you won't regret it.

The album starts out with quintessential Etienne, a song called Mario's cafe with quirkly lyrics but with a chorus that only Sarah Cracknell could pull off - such vocal majestry that you find yourself repeatedly listening to the song just to get to the chorus. Then we continue to a song named for tennis player Conchita Martinez (what other band would do such a thing?) and then onto what I believe is Etienne's most innovative masterpeice, Avenue, a song that contains beutifuly layered backing and foreground vocals that is just one of these achingly pretty songs that are really hard to pass. Then we continue into more traditional pop fare with You're In a Bad Way - sort of a straight forward pop tune that was reasonably successful in England as a single. Next up is Hobart Paving, a beutiful ballad where we hear lyrics like "Rain falls, like Elvis tears", but the highlight of the song is when Sarah sings "and baby, don't forget to catch me" over and over - perfection. Following this is Leafhound - this very etheral sounding popish piece where past acquaintences of the singer seem to come to life around her. Then there is Junk the Morgue, an even more etheral sounding piece that is even more instrumental - its my all time favorite song to just sit back and listen to with the light's turned off - it has just an amazing feeling. Last, Join Our Club - another straight up pop song where Sarah implores "We all want to / kiss the sky / join our club / we're going to try" and with her voice, you just can't resist.

five stars? i wish i could have given this one more! this was my first introduction to the saints and i've been hooked ever since. there are no weak songs on this album and the production is almost flawless. the samples are amazing and if you give this one a listen to, you'll undoubtedly find your self repeating the clips, from old tv shows and movies, that are littered throughout. the saints really created a masterpiece with this one. if you're a newbie to the saints, and you're intrigued in their sound, this is the perfect album to get as it is a great example as to how diverse their sound is. if your an existing fan of the saints, no doubt you already own this one, or your trying to replace your copy that's been played one to many times.

(as for the question below from two years ago i'm guessing it's birdie (Deborah Wykes & Paul Kelly), hope you found it already though...)

...you could do much worse than 'so tough,' the et's second proper l.p. 'so tough' built on 'foxbase alpha's' blend of sophisticated pop and clever experimentalism ('calico,' 'here come clown feet' etc). consequently, 'so tough' is a difficult record to digest upon initial listens. it's hard to tell whether the saints are simply too clever for their own good, sampling everything from rush's 'spirit of radio' to marc almond saying 'non-stop erotic cabaret' and writing a song about spanish tennis star conchita martinez. and that virtually every song on 'so tough' has some sort of spoken word intro, it's all the more wonderfully puzzling.

experiments aside, however, at it's core, 'so tough' is an exceptional pop album. some of saint etienne's finest songs, 'you're in a bad way,' 'avenue,' 'mario's cafe,' 'leafhound' and 'hobart paving' come from 'so tough.' it's an album steeped in swinging london nostalgia, hitting all the right notes in terms of style and substance. saint etienne embrace a sophisticated, glamorous, stylish brand of pop, incorporating keyboards, flutes, harmonicas, mellotrons, flamenco guitars. their sound ranges from heavy post-madchester beats, to lilting piano ballads, all despite all the samples and references, saint etienne remain an utterly original band. no one else around can hold a candle to the band in terms of sheer originality.

and considering the band released 'so tough' in the wake of the post-nirvana grunge climate of 1992, it's all the more impressive and important. kurt and co. could have their nihistic, existentialist brand of rock. such doom and gloom could never fit into saint etienne's brand of blissed out pop, and thank heavens for that.

'so tough,' in all its technological weirdness and pastoral beauty, is perhaps the defining record of the pre-britpop explosion of 1993. five stars.

This album is not quite as good as Saint Etienne's debut-there is only one truly groundbreaking song (Avenue)yet, the album is littered with gorgeous tunes, and worthwhile moments, and is only marred by pointless snippets of dialogue, and an awful song called Conchita Martinez-whose guitar sample tears apart a song that could have had some merit.

It opens with Mario's cafe, which moves effortlesssly and brings bucolic images redolent of some bygone era of love, dreams, strolls along green rolling hills, and gorgeous gardens-its a song about the joy of the moment, and it captures it perfectly. Railway Jam starts slow but picks up pace, and fills it self out well. Calico is nice, mixing the rappers (forgot her name)vocals with Cracknell's gorgeous chorus perfectly. Avenue (Young Hearts) is a masterpiece, it almost seems like a 90's twist on New Order's Perfect Kiss-both are epic pieces of complex music, with equally compelling lyrics, and both are strongs that stood completely outside of their time on their own. Cracknell's voice alternately coo's, explains, whispers, and plainatively cries out the lyrics with passion, while Bob and Pete get the music flowing effortlessly-the songs origins can be seen in Like the Swallow and London Belongs to Me from the previous album, but this song doesnt falter as those did, it just rises with power, until it climaxes into a spasm of keyboard notes, and final whispers, and a few soft notes from birds whispering in the early morning spring leaves. Perfect.

Your in a bad way, is simply "hit" materially, lightweight, and deliberately so-the song pulls out all the cliche's but it does it so well that you dont mind, and the smart, sassy way in which Sarah approaches the teasing vocal pulls the songs pulsing synth rhythms to their full potential. LeafHound is nice, but not spectacular, while Hobart Paving is powerful, and beautiful on the album, but less inspiring in its import single form. Forget Conchita, yet immediately following that poor effort, is the gorgeous, understated, immeasurably beautiful, No Rainbows for Me, with a soft sampled drum line, and simple, understated, yet extraordinaly emotive keyboard lines, stretch to match, and them embrace, and rise with the pained, heartached vocals of Sarah-if you want a lesson in how to approach singing a tragic love song, listen to this-the music fits the pain of love abused like a trusted hat, and the lyrics, and music work with a subtle beauty that is truly rare in this days music scene.

Junk the Morgue, plods along, competantly, until it rises with a creschendo finale of impressive synth skill-Bob and Pete pull a clunker out of the firee and manage to buff it to competant status, while Sarah does her best with limited lyrics, and a meandering narrator role-she can even make the tedious sound vaguely interesting. Cheers to her. Perhaps the most frustrating track is the finale-Join Our Club-S.E. took a lot of hits for its supposed exclusiveness, elitism and pompousity, but as usual the critics and media didnt get the joke-the irony was lost on them, the song has a brilliant chorus, and a lovely tongue and cheek lyrics, the music has its moments, but poor production, and a disruptive, hammmering, and muddled drum sample/or drum machine bludgeons the beauty of the music, and leaves the vocals in a vague haze. What could have been exquisite, instead is merely decent.

Interesting in their exclusion were b-sides like California Christmas Story, Archway People, Who Do You think You Are (actually a single), and Some Place Else-lovely B-Sides, and one Single that might have sparked up some of the weaker points in the album. Archway doesnt fit the tone, but Who Do You think you are would for a nice bridge after Your in a Bad Way, and California Christmas story might have been perfect after No Rainbows For Me.

The album has its highs and lows as most albums do, but for every clunker like Conchita, or the first several minutes of Junk the Morgue there are masterpieces like Avenue, No Rainbows for Me, or Mario's Cafe. Cracks are begining to appear in Saint Etienne's repertoire, but it would have to wait a while yet to be exposed with the wildly erratic follow up Folk/Synth themed Tiger Bay.

This is a wonderful record-- deceptive in its ability to get under your skin. It sounds like something you remember from some glorious summer of your childhood, but at the same time like something you never heard before. It's a record I've never gotten sick of. Melodic, emotive, with a European dance-club rhythmic fire, it's like the background music in the coolest bar you've ever been to. It might be a little dull if you're 16, but I haven't been for a while, and I love this record.

Saint Etienne's 'So Tough' is one of the most unfairly overlooked pop albums of not just the '90's, but any decade. First off, so many singers fail to convey thier real personality on record. Sarah Cracknell's voice, though, has you believing that she is iconoclastic at heart, yet so sweet that you wish you knew a girl like her. Bob Staley and Pete Wiggs set out with SE to prove what dance music should sound like: ready for club play, yet intimate enough that you want to be alone with it and your headphones, and this record does just that. One listen to 'Join Our Club' may spoil you for all other house music. There are many bands that I have thought that it is criminal that they are not more popular. Saint Etienne tops that list. A little more reception on the part of Americans, and this band would probably have several #1's by now. So do yourself a favor and acquaint yourself with a near-perfect pop/dance band with probably the best of all British female vocalists. And start with 'So Tough'.

The ethereal group manages to create a new style with each CD and empassion or disappoint its fans with each attempt, but one thing remains constant, the music has the ability to mess with your head in very profound ways. You're in a bad way, captures the essence of what it is like to be suffering from depression, and many of the other songs on this album are really based on the ethereal nhilism of watching life go by, the beats only penetrating your concious state of mind temporarily, not able to relieve you from your state of being. This is a truely emazing work of music in that it captures a state of mind, a state of being which is complex (other than the standard mind blank of new age or trance state of techno)in the same way that Jazz does. I really enjoyed this album (I would also recommend Tiger Bay) and I think it to be really emazing specially if you have been in that mind state before.

I really wish pop music today was less like Britney Spears and more like Saint Etienne. I first discovered Saint Etienne when I was in college several years ago through "Tiger Bay" and immediately fell in love with their brand of pop music. After that cd, I quickly started buying as many of their cds I could find. One of the cds that I bought was their second album "So Tough". I recently dug out my copy and threw it into my stereo and found myself enamoured with the British group's fusion of folk, pop, dub, and dance music. The album kicks off with the gentle sounds "Mario's Cafe" which really sets the tone of the mood of the album. The entire album is such a joy to listen to. The band never really sticks to one particular sound. Their lyrics are quirky as are their choices in samples that they use. After all who else would write a song about a tennis player named Conchita Martinze? My favorite songs as to be the gorgeous "Hobart Paving", "the club-friendly "Join Our Club", and the infectious "You're in a Bad Way". There were a few songs on the album that I am not really fond of like the instrumental "Railway Jam" and "Date With Spelman". I felt that those songs lacked a good hook like "You're in a Bad Way" has. Overall "So Tough" is a solid dance/pop album from Saint Etienne. A very good introduction for new listeners who wants to check out their music.

When I first heard Foxbase Alpha, it was a welcome release from the pressures of my junior year in high school, the FIRST President Bush's nonsense, and the darkness of Front 242, Ministry, KMFDM, Thrill Kill Kult, etc. Then I heard something that had been missing in my life: happiness. Not naive bliss, but an informed happiness and willingness to have fun. I was an instant fan.

As much as I loved, and still love, Alpha, So Tough is an order of magnitude BETTER. Much more mature presentation, better recording, it's the definitive Etienne in the way that Paul's Boutique is the definitive Beastie Boys (I hope this parallel makes sense to you, gentle reader). I don't think I'm saying this because I'm waxing nostalgic, although how do you separate yourself from an album you've loved for 10 years? I have all of Saint Etienne's albums released in the US, and this one's still my favorite. If you are a fan and don't have this album, you are missing out.

You don't need my thoughts on each song, so I'll just break down the faves: Mario's Cafe, Avenue (ground-breaking direction for SE), You're in a Bad Way (infectious), Leafhound (sleeper!), Join Our Club (fitting ending to this masterpiece). That being said there's very little weakness on this album, hence the 5 stars. If I had to find fault... nah, I refuse to try. Just buy it and enjoy it 'cause who knows how long it'll be in print. Thanks for reading.

Any honest review of this album is going to mention "Avenue" as head and shoulders above the rest of the songs on it. _So Tough_ isn't their best album (that honor probably goes to their debut, _Fox Base Alpha_, which had *two or three* tunes of the highest pop caliber, not just one), but "Avenue" is arguably Saint Etienne's single best track, which is why one reads so many reviews of _So Tough_ that float around it. In fact, I believe that, without "Avenue," this CD would have incited mostly mixed reviews, now and at the time of its release. Everything that is unique and pleasant to the ear about Saint Etienne is embodied in "Avenue"; anyone familiar with the band's music knows that Wiggs and Stanley have a flair for exploiting 60s musical aesthetics -- incredibly, in an almost reverent and clinical manner that makes one uncomfortable calling their compositions mere pop. Likewise, Cracknell has just the right amount of je ne sais quoi in her voice to make her sound delightfully girlish without going so far in that direction that she comes off as affected or weird (cf. Alison Shaw of Cranes). Some may find it hard to resist believing that the little girl on the album's cover *is* Cracknell in her childhood, and with good reason; it isn't at all difficult to imagine a precocious version of that youngster in a studio, recording all of the tracks on the CD. In any case, all of Saint Etienne's artistic powers are brought fully to bear in "Avenue," which isn't a perfect song, no, but it is a perfect *Saint Etienne* song, and a real joy to hear by any standard.

-- M. Cooper