Just Ducky: New Saint Etienne Mixtape

Fancy heading down to a Soho boozer? Now you can do it in the privacy of your own home... Alex Chilton is buying the drinks!

By Blurt Staff

As if the flood of  Saint Etienne releases this year wasn't enough (most recently, the remix album Foxbase Beta, reviewed here), St. E completists have yet another item to scoop up: Saint Etienne Present Songs for The Dog & Duck, a 25-song mixtape compiled by the group and featuring everything from space-age ‘60s instrumentals and vintage soul to glam and funk. It's out on Britain's Ace label.

Bob Stanley, writing on the group's MySpace blog, explains:

"In the making for some years now has been a sequel to SAINT ETIENNE PRESENT SONGS FOR MARIO'S CAFE. Having soundtracked fabled daytime haunts, we are now ready to plough on into the evening with SAINT ETIENNE PRESENT SONGS FOR THE DOG & DUCK. The Dog & Duck was the fabled Heavenly hang out, an extension of their office after 5pm. It doesn't have a jukebox but if it did we'd like it to sound something like this, a healthy mix of soul, r&r, pop, glam, girl groups, plus Bill Oddie's lost tortured classic. Raucous, melancholy, tearful, the whole panoply."

The label elaborates:

"This compilation is a tribute to the Soho pubs that have proved fertile ground for musicians, publishers and general Pop-obsessed layabouts. The Dog & Duck, specifically, was the pub of choice for the Heavenly label, an annex of the office on Frith Street. [Heavenly was Saint Etienne's early label.] This is a soundtrack for a session in the Dog & Duck (or the Blue Posts, or the Ship), a jukebox selection to reflect the characters and conversations taking place a stones throw from Denmark Street, the 2 I's, and the 100 Club; totemic locations in British Pop history. 25 tracks including cuts from Duffy Power, Les Paul & Mary Ford, Ohio Players, Alex Chilton, Sniff 'N' The Tears and many others. Ace Records.

"Ace have never previously put out any CDs featuring UK glam rock next to rockabilly and sweet soul: I'm sure not many people thought we ever would. But this is the soundtrack to an evening in a Soho boozer - an eclectic selection of great music across the pop oeuvre on an imaginary jukebox stationed in a (real) pub called the Dog And Duck. Bob Stanley and his Saint Etienne team-mates, Dog And Duck habitués, have picked their dream musical moments to accompany a night of serious drinking and pop philosophising."

Full details at the Ace site; tracklisting is below.

1. Hi Flutin' Boogie - John Scott
2. Davy O'brien - Duffy Power
3. Lost - The Darlettes
4. Make Me Yours - Bettye Swann
5. I Was Born To Love You - Herbert Hunter
6. Walkin' Through A Cemetery - Claudine Clark
7. Rock'n'Bones - Elroy Dietzel
8. Jitterbop Baby - Hal Harris
9. Dancing Round The World - Little Richard
10. She Does Everything For Me - The Zombies
11. The Way Of The Crowd - Dan Folger
12. I Can't Get Through - Bill Oddie
13. Lay This Burden Down - Mary Love
14. Sweep It Out In The Shed - Little Ann
15. How Can I Tell You - Barbara Lewis
16. The Emi Song (Smile For Me) - Alex Chilton
17. Driver's Seat - Sniff 'N' The Tears
18. Midnight Flight 2 - Angelo & Eighteen
19. Good Time Comin' - Mustard
20. Hand Clappin' Time - Gino With Johnny Greek
21. Having A Good Time - Huey Smith
22. Varee Is Love - Ohio Players
23. We Belong Together - Robert & Johnny
24. Smoke Rings - Les Paul & Mary Ford
25. Pinball - Brian Protheroe