Saint Etienne 2-CD Comp En Route

Lovers unite to hear the band’s “London Conversations” as well as Eclipse deep-vault reissues.

By Fred Mills

BLURT has learned that in September, Universal will be issuing a new career-spanning compilation from pop auteurs Saint Etienne. Entitled London Conversations, it will come in 2 editions: one the band describes as “a condensed greatest hits” — they advise fans that “you may not need this” since said fans already have all the tunes most likely — and the other a two-disc set that will include the impossible-to-find “Lover Plays The Bass” along with a pair of new singles (the first of which will be out in August).

This comes on the heels of the 4-CD rarities box set titled, sensibly, Boxette, that St. E released as a fanclub exclusive earlier this year. (You can read a full review of Boxette in the June BLURT digital magazine – just page through until you get to the reissues section.)

Meanwhile, the group has a couple of gigs lined up for the summer, but otherwise is laying low:

July 27 -- The Secret Garden Party in Cambridgeshire, England
Aug. 15 --  the Ola festival in Almeria, Spain

 

And in still other St.E related news, Eclipse Records, the reissue label recently launched by band members Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs (and not to be confused with the very cool U.S. Eclipse label), has announced its next round of releases. They are:

The Impressions - Complete A and B sides 1961-68
Paradise Island: the lost Burt Bacharach
The Girls are at it Again
Gary Walker & The Rain
Let's Slip Away: Johnny Dankworth On Stage And Screen

According to Wiggs and Stanley, following the success of their crate-digging compilation The Trip last year, convinced Universal to let them revive a dormant imprint, Eclipse, and duly “raid the far corners of the company’s archives.” If the label names Phillips, Decca, A&M, Island, Polydor, Mercury, ABC, Dunhill and MCA ring any bells — and if you’re even marginally aware of the W&S musical braintrust’s finesse in unearthing cool sounds both for St. E and their own deejay work — then you should be nodding your head very happily round about now.