Pros: Sarah Cracknell's voice, the melodies, the lovely and sad point of view in the lyrics.
Cons: The U.S. release is missing a couple of key tracks, but it's still wonderful.
The Bottom Line: A classic album from a vastly underrated and perhaps even misunderstood band that has about three other classics in their discography.
trigger_gospel's Full Review: Tiger Bay [US] by Saint Etienne
Saint Etienne is perhaps the most underrated band in the United States, which is understandable since they're British and mostly a cult phenomenon in their own country. But still, this is a trio that deserves a far better fate than being overlooked consistently. Six official studio albums into their career and they've fashioned a devastatingly catchy and very lovely body of work, running the gamut from instrumental dance tunes to piano-driven ballads.
Tiger Bay was the third album from Saint Etienne, and the one that is regarded by many as their strongest release to date. Dance tracks awash in synths--with and without vocals--are intertwined with slower cuts, with Sarah Cracknell darting in and out of the proceedings with her comforting, empathetic vocal observations.
Now onto some more specifics about the tracks.
"Urban Clearway" kicks the album off with a driving, repetitive beat and a swooping, darting synth motif. It comes on like the theme to a spectacularly entertaining TV show from the '70s about, I don't know, SPIES or something, if the theme was written in 1994. I think it's the strings in the background that do it...
"Hug My Soul" is an upbeat cut as well, with Sarah Cracknell singing of running through the city to find someone, begging "Won't you hug my soul?". It's infectious, beautifully sung, and delightfully heart-on-sleeve. Plus, as an added bonus, an unexpected vibraphone solo! Lovely.
"Former Lover" is a sad, melancholy tune about a woman realizing she's "married a fool" and deciding to leave as she reminisces about her earlier, happier life.
I take issue with the earlier reviewer's characterization of the lyrics on this album as "terrible"; they're simple, yes, but not terrible. On the album's fourth song and highlight, the relentless "Like A Motorway", Cracknell sings of a friend describing her lover...
He said her skin
smelled just like petals
Said stupid things
he knew she'd like.
She said her life
was like a motorway,.
Dull, grey, and long
'til he came along.
Pure, simple poetry, in this listener's humble opinion. And the third person narrative lends the song a tragic effect, especially when the song's end reveals the woman's lover has not left, but has passed away. In keeping with the lyrical simplicity, I quote Bob Stanley of the band: "Tiger Bay was supposed to be an album of modern folk songs done in twentieth century styles like techno and dub." In other words, the lyrics here are not overly complex, but very direct, very emotional, and exceptionally effective in their delivery. And nowhere is it more effective than on this particular song.
"On the Shore" is another instrumental cut, for the most part, with ethereal vocals provided over the music by sometime Massive Attack vocalist Shara Nelson. It's essentially a dub track in style, though it doesn't sound like one entirely.
"Marble Lions" is a gorgeous lullaby of a song, with a gentle guitar repeated as Cracknell sings, "Stars are calling/goodnight darling/don't say goodbye/stars are calling/take the slow train/don't say goodbye". A remarkably effortless, reassuring song, even by the standards of a band that specializes in that sort of tune.
The upbeat synth-dance returns with the absurdly catchy "Pale Movie", powered by Cracknell's "la-la-la-la-la" backing vocals, a powerful techno beat, and another lonely lyric about a pair of lovers. What's interesting about this song--and the earlier "Like A Motorway"--is that Cracknell sings these cuts in a calm, breathy style that almost belies the speed of the song, as if she's a voice of reason in the swirling action around her. And an unexpected flamenco guitar solo brings the tune home.
"Cool Kids of Death" is another instrumental dance tune, one that plays like the cousin to the Underworld song "Dirty Epic", which is another dance tune punctuated by bursts of harmonica over the cascading rhythm and washes of keyboard. Only five minutes long, which is relatively short for this sort of dance tune, this is a tune that had a fair amount of play on the DJ circuit and was actually later remixed by Underworld, who must have recognized themselves in the song.
"I Was Born On Christmas Day" is a duet between Sarah Cracknell and Tim Burgess, the lead singer of the Charlatans. It's sort of a strange song lyrically, I can't make heads or tails of it, but it's an enjoyable, catchy, and imaginatively orchestrated dance tune, sounding like what one might expect a Christmas techno tune to sound like.
"Boy Scouts of America" is the final proper song on the album, which is a vaguely sinister tune in lyric ("He acts like a saint / but the strain really shows; / The boy scouts of America / taught him all that he knows") and in style. It's also the most directly obvious folk song on the album, only a couple of steps removed from being a completely traditional folk song one might find on a compilation from the British Isles.
The album ends with a pair of alternate versions of "Hug My Soul" and "Like A Motorway", which are terrific, albeit only slightly different from the original versions.
There is a European version of this album which has, I believe, 15 tracks. That might be the version of the album to get, from what I gather. I've not heard it, so I can only judge this particular version. This version as it stands is essential to anyone who likes dance music, pop music, or Brit-pop. It's an assured, confident, emotional album from a band that was just coming into its own.
Since Tiger Bay's 1994 release, Saint Etienne has released three more strong albums, a remix compilation of their own work, two mix compilations of other songs, a soundtrack album, two greatest hits collections, a couple of Japan-only releases, and Sarah Cracknell has given us a pair of poppy solo albums. And with any luck, they're just getting started. A treasure that needs to be unearthed, this band is.
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