I got this when it came out. I don't pay much attention to track titles these days, and Saint Etienne's titles don't always relate to the lyrics (how did one come to be called Hobart Paving, for example?) — so it's possible I didn't realise how many of the tracks on this compilation I already had.
Like the Penguin Cafe Orchestra a few days ago, the music sounds light, breezy and throwaway, but — in a different way than with the PCO — they turn out on closer listening to be very carefully and cleverly arranged. You don't regret putting this on, whatever your mood.
Being record collector nerds, they also pay attention to things like the photographs in the booklet and the commissioned sleevenotes — which in this case surpass all others in their knowing reflexivity. Lots of cultural references to things like fashion brands, a cult writer called Brautigan of whom I'd never heard before, and others that I've probably missed completely. It should be terrible, but in the context of a Saint Etienne album, it somehow comes off.
 MusicBrainz entry for Disc 1Disc 2 |
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