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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Nine years ago, a legend was born., January 27, 2000
This is what started it all. From album to album, the trio of Saint Etienne change musically like a chameleon changes its colors - and each change can be appreciated in a different way. There's something special about Foxbase Alpha, though. Sure it's a little rough around the edges (not having the help of the mixers from albums like Tiger Bay and Continental), but this album has a warmth all its own - a sort of timelessness, if you will. Some of the songs on the album are achievements that the Etienne have yet to top. 'Nothing Can Stop Us' is an amazing song, and it WILL put you in a good mood, no question. 'London Belongs To Me' washes you away in a dreamy sea of gentle vocals and synths. And of course, there's 'Spring', an utterly charming and innocent number. Those are my favorites, but I haven't even mentioned their outstanding covers - 'Only Love Can Break Your Heart' by Neil Young, 'Kiss And Make Up' by the Field Mice... I could go on and on.I love all of Saint Etienne's albums, and I appreciate each of them for what they are - it takes guts to make a pop record one year and a techno one the next, at the risk of seriously alienating some fans. Foxbase Alpha, though, is on a pedestal in my heart. Bob Stanley, Pete Wiggs, and Sarah Cracknell may have gone on from here to explore newer, stranger, and wilder sonic frontiers, but this, their first foray into music, is simply magical. Thanks.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Eccentric, lovely dance-pop brilliance, December 15, 1999
Now that the 90's have come to a close, this album still stands as one of my Top 25 albums of the decade. This debut album is a brilliant, quirky blend of dance and techno sensibility combined with 60's retro pop melodies with lots of odd noodlings and samplings thrown in between. Saint Etienne still haven't bettered this album to date. Sarah Cracknell's like-honey vocals are sensuous and sincere, harkening back to the such 60's songstresses like Dusty Springfield, Petula Clark and Diana Ross. Instrumentalists Stanley and Wiggs' clever and masterful arrangements prove that they are electronica innovators in their own right. Listen for the odd vignettes "Etienne Gonna Die" (composed entirely of a snippet of dialogue from the film "House of Games" backed by menacing tribal-jungle percussion) and the psychotic "Wilson".Standouts are "Only Love Can Break Your Heart" (a classy club rendition of Neil Young's song), "Spring" , She's the One", "People Get Real" (my all-time favorite Etienne song), "Stoned to Say the Least" (ambient-dance bliss), "Nothing Can Stop Us" and "Kiss and Make Up".
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Evocative, August 28, 2003
Saint Etienne's debut is brilliant. The music, is mainly a blend of house, hop-hop and classic 60's pop, but many other styles are added to the mix. The vocals (in almost all of the songs, by Sarah Cracknell) are breezy and sensual. Songs like "Spring", "Nothing Can Stop Us" or "She's the One" are catchy, beautifully constructed pop gems. But this album's strongest point is definitely its power to congure up images of places and times, lost sceneries we'd wish (or dream) to be part of. Some tracks, like Wilson or Etienne Gonna die (as well as other non-proper songs consisting mostly of spoken samples) may become a little tedious and feel too long, but serve to the purpose of leaving the listener in a confused, unattentive state to be pleasantly broken by another lovely song. I definitely recommend this album and rate it among the top five of the 90's.
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