One For The Weekend: Saint Etienne

Clocking in at just under 2 minutes, "Half Light" is the first taste of Saint Etienne's forthcoming album The Night due December 13th.

Here's the scoop...

Half Light offers a first chance to hear anything from the forthcoming Saint Etienne album "The Night" which is due for release on December 13th.

Pete Wiggs from the band says: "Half Light is about the edge of night, the last rays of the sun flickering through the branches of trees, communing with nature and seeing things that might not be there."

Starting Nov. 20th, you can pre-order The Night album from Saint Etienne's site right here. Every order placed via this shop will receive a free copy of an exclusive 6-Track bonus CD “Deep Into The Night”. 

Have a listen to "Half Light" below. 

Saint Etienne – The Night 

Side One 

1. Settle In 

2. Half Light 

3. Through The Glass 

4. Nightingale 

5. Northern Counties East 

6. Ellar Carr 

7. When You Were Young 

Side Two

1. No Rush

2. Gold

3. Celestial 

4. Preflyte 

5. Wonderlight 

6. Hear My Heart

7. Alone Together 

Saint Etienne's The Night features 14 new tracks recorded in Saltaire and Hove between January and August 2024 with co-producer Augustin Bousfield, “The Night” saw Bob, Pete and Sarah together in the studio for the first time since 2019. 

Says Pete Wiggs: “It was great to all be in the same studio together again and we realised that it had been several years since we’d actually done that, sprawling out on the carpet, mugs of coffee in hand, sheets of lyrics and half ideas for titles lying around us.” 

Adds Bob Stanley, “I think The Night sounds really three-dimensional. A lot of that is down to Gus Bousfield who played the guitars and did a wonderful production job recording much of it in his studio, with so much light and space, has helped to shape it too. The three of us brought in our own songs, but lyrically we were all in tune with each other without having to swap notes first. We wanted "The Night" to be a calming album, warm and serene, but at the same time we wanted to create something gorgeous and dense.” 

Chimes in Sarah Cracknell, "“It was so good to be back in the studio together after recording the last album remotely. One of my favourite songs on the record is Preflyte, it made me cry when I sang it for the first time.” 

Tomorrow's Fashions comp spotlights 70-80s UK sound library synth recordings

Bob Stanley has collected a number of futuristic gems from the vaults of De Wolfe, Bruton, Parry and Chappell. 

Here's the scoop...

Nothing said new or modern or futuristic quite like a synthesiser in the 70s and 80s. If you were shooting an advert and you wanted your product or your company to appear forward-thinking and ahead of the game, then you would want something electronic, something out of the ordinary. When TV producers and advertising directors started searching for music that sounded like “Tubular Bells” – and then Tomita, and later Jean Michel Jarre – music libraries such De Wolfe, Bruton, Parry and Chappell had to have the tracks readily available.

Compiled by Bob Stanley, “Tomorrow’s Fashions” varies from advertising jingles and TV themes to space exploration and gorgeous, beatless ambience. Though it’s 40-to-50 years old there’s a real freshness to this music. Older jazz players Brian Bennett, John Cameron, Alan Hawkshaw and others seized the chance to operate a synth; younger pups including John Saunders and Monica Beale were simply intrigued by the new technology being wheeled into the studios. There’s a tangible sense of adventure.

“Tomorrow’s Fashions’” brand of electronica anticipated new age and ambient music. It also had both a direct and indirect influence on pop – the early Human League and the future sounds of Warp Records are all over this collection. Electronic library tracks have been sampled by everyone from MF Doom to Kendrick Lamar.

One person’s primitive and experimental is another person’s space-age lullaby. This was music made in the shadows – in Soho’s secretive music library studios – that has now become desirable and influential. The chances are chunks of it will be sampled and used on hit records that have yet to be written. If the musicians’ aim was to soundtrack tomorrow’s fashions, they couldn’t have got it more right.

Get a double LP copy of Tomorrow's Fashions: Library Electronica 1972-1987 directly from Ace Records right here. Check the tracklisting along with a few audio clips below.  Listen to an Ace Records podcast chat with Bob Stanley discussing Tomorrow's Fashions right here. 

Didn't I Blow Your Mind? comp offers more Philly soul gems cut by Thom Bell

Along with classics by The Delfonics, Spinners and Stylistics, Thom Bell also produced corkers by Elton John and Lou Rawls. 

Here's the scoop...

Thom Bell, along with Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, was part of the holy trinity of Philly soul. Reaching an apogee in the early to mid-70s with records for the Delfonics (‘Didn’t I Blow Your Mind This Time’), Stylistics (‘Betcha By Golly, Wow’), the Spinners (‘The Rubberband Man’), and Dionne Warwick (‘Then Came You’), Bell was the classically trained arranger who introduced the celeste, the French horn and the harpsichord to soul music.

Thom Bell: Didn't I Blow Your Mind? The Sound of Philadelphia Soul 1969-1983 (out May 31st via Kent/Ace) is the sequel to “Ready Or Not”, Ace’s first acclaimed compilation of the late Thom Bell’s productions and arrangements. Put together by Saint Etienne’s Bob Stanley, “Didn’t I Blow Your Mind?” combines some of Bell’s biggest and best loved 70s hits with rarities and 80s quiet storm classics such as Deniece Williams’ ‘Silly’ and Phyllis Hyman’s seductive ‘Let Somebody Love You’. Elton John lines up alongside soul legends like Lou Rawls and Eloise Laws.

This collection will appeal to Northern Soul collectors as well as pulling in lovers of smooth 70s and 80s soul. Bob Stanley’s sleeve-notes – with a rare interview with Bell himself - and a wealth of rare photos are icing on the cake.

Bell’s unique and instantly identifiable Philly sound has proved timeless. 

You can pre-order a copy of Thom Bell: Didn't I Blow Your Mind? The Sound of Philadelphia Soul 1969-1983 right here. Check the track listing below followed by The Delfonics' timeless title track, The Spinners' "Rubberband Man" and some grainy 1977 archival footage of Thom Bell's studio playback for Elton John's "Nice and Slow" along with an audio clip of the issued version. 

Thom Bell: Didn't I Blow Your Mind? The Sound of Philadelphia Soul 1969-1983

01  Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This Time) - The Delfonics

02  You Gotta Be A Lady - The Chargers

03  The Rubberband Man - Spinners

04  Got You Into My Life - Eloise Laws

05  You Are Everything - The Stylistics

06  Give In To Love - Ronnie Dyson

07  Nice And Slow - Elton John

08  Take My Hand - New York City

09  Silly - Deniece Williams

10  Then Came You - Dionne Warwick & Spinners

11  Will You Kiss Me One More Time - Lou Rawls

12  Lazy Susan - Little Anthony & The Imperials

13  Betcha By Golly, Wow - The Stylistics

14  Joe - Nancy Wilson

15  Loving You - Losing You - Johnny Mathis

16  Walking Around In Teardrops - Jerry Butler

17  Nobody Knows It - Bell & James

18  Let Somebody Love Me - Phyllis Hyman

19  One In a Million (Guy) - Dee Dee Bridgewater

20  Brandy - The O'Jays

Sound Library Gems: Basil Kirchen b/w Alan Parker

Bob Stanley recently recirculated Basil Kirchin's "Viva Tamla Motown" b/w Alan Parker's "Main Chance" via Measured Mile.

Bob Stanley revisits late 60s country on Choctaw Ridge comp

Here's the scoop...

Choctaw Ridge – New Fables of The American South explores a new country sound, one that emerged at the end of the 60s in the wake of Bobbie Gentry's 'Ode To Billie Joe', a shock number one hit in 1967. When singers like Gentry, Jimmy Webb, Michael Nesmith and Lee Hazlewood moved from the south to Los Angeles to make it in the music business, they were not part of the Nashville in-crowd and they forged a new direction. 

'Ode To Billie Joe' was the tip of the iceberg, and it's success helped a bunch of singers and storytellers to emerge over the next three or four years. Some of the tracks on this collection bear that song's stamp more clearly than others: Sammi Smith's moody 'Saunders' Ferry Lane' had a similar mystery lyric, and Henson Cargill's 'Four Shades Of Love' is a portmanteau, with one (or possibly two) of the theoretically romantic situations ending in death. 

Suddenly, character sketches of southerners became a lot more rounded - women didn't have to stay home, or take abuse at the office, and darkness wasn't only found at the bottom of a bottle. Storytelling is the link between all of the songs on this collection. We have cautionary tales about what could happen to someone who heads for the bright lights and doesn't make it, ending up in the grasping hands of 'Mr Walker' (Billie Joe Spears), or on the 'Back Side Of Dallas' (Jeannie C Reilly), or on a mortuary slab in the case of the songwriter with the 'Fabulous Body And Smile' (Robert Charles Griggs). And there are stories about wanting to go home - Nat Stuckey's 'What Am I Doing In LA?' and Charlie Rich's 'Feel Like Going Home' - and others from Ed Bruce and Lee Hazlewood, who know that their home isn't home anymore. 

The tracklist and fulsome sleeve notes have been put together by Bob Stanley (Saint Etienne) and Martin Green (Smashing, The Sound Gallery), who have been collecting these records for decades. The voices are resonant and relatable, and the productions take in the best of what pop had to offer in the late 60s and early 70s. Before the factionalism between smooth pop-conscious Nashville and the hedonistic 'outlaws' made it look inward again, this was a golden era for an atmospheric, inclusive and progressive country music. It began on the third of June, another sleepy, dusty Delta day.

Choctaw Ridge – New Fables of The American South, 1968-1973 is out July 30. Pre-order a copy directly from ACE Records right here. Watch Jeannie C. Riley perform "Back Side of Dallas" and listen to Sammi Smith's delightfully dark "Saunders' Ferry Lane" and Jim Ford's epic "Harlan County" – which is among the best of the bunch – following the track listing below.

Choctaw Ridge – New Fables of The American South, 1968-1973

01  The House Song - Lee Hazlewood

02  If Only She Had Stayed - Chris Gantry

03  Endless Miles Of Highway - Jerry Reed

04  The Back Side Of Dallas - Jeannie C Riley

05  Way Before The Time Of Towns - Hoyt Axton

06  Strawberry Farms - Tom T Hall

07  Down From Dover - Dolly Parton

08  July 12, 1939 - Charlie Rich

09  What Am I Doing In LA? - Nat Stuckey

10  Mr Stanton Don't Believe It - Rob Galbraith

11  Saunders' Ferry Lane - Sammi Smith

12  Four Shades Of Love - Henson Cargill

13  Drivin' Nails In The Wall - Waylon Jennings & The Kimberlys

14  Ruby, Don't Take Your Love To Town - Kenny Rogers & The First Edition

15  Why Can't I Come Home - Ed Bruce

16  Mr Walker, It's All Over - Billie Jo Spears

17  Harlan County - Jim Ford

18  Widow Wimberly - Tony Joe White

19  Belinda (Alt take) - Bobbie Gentry

20  Joanne - Michael Nesmith & The First National Band

21  Mr Jackson's Got Nothing To Do - John Hartford

22  Alone - Lee Hazlewood & Suzi Jane Hokom

23  Fabulous Body And Smile - Sir Robert Charles Griggs

24  I Feel Like Going Home - Charlie Rich

Another day, another pleasant Bob Stanley collection

A follow up to English Weather, Bob Stanley & Pete Wiggs present Occasional Rain, yet another 70s set ranging from British proggy folk to folky prog. 

Various Artists - Bob Stanley & Pete Wiggs present Occasional Rain
1. HIDDEN TREASURE - Traffic
2. RAGGED RAIN LIFE - Duncan Browne
3. HOME AND WHERE I LONG TO BE - Cressida
4. LEIT MOTIF - Keith West
5. NIGHT TIME - Skin Alley
6. ONCE UPON A TIME - Clouds
7. COME WITH ME TO JESUS - Mandy More
8. OUT AND IN (SINGLE VERSION) - Moody Blues
9. WASTING MY TIME - Shape Of The Rain
10. NUTMEG, BITTER SUITE - Granny's Intentions
11. SWEETNESS - Yes
12. STATION SONG PLATFORM TWO –
Pete Brown and Piblokto!
13. FREEFALL - Argent
14. I KNOW THAT I'M DREAMING - Exchange & Mart
15. POSTCARDS OF SCARBOROUGH –
Michael Chapman
16. QUESTION OF TIME - Christine Harwood
17. THE CASTLE - 'Igginbottom
18. WINDY BAKER STREET - Andrew Leigh
19. FLYING SOUTH IN WINTER - Tonton Macoute
20. INNOCENCE OF A CHILD - Catherine Howe
21. WATERLOW - Mott The Hoople