SAINT ETIENNE - “Action”
SAINT ETIENNE - “Action”
(I’m going to try and break the format of NYLPM a bit - post quickie reviews of tracks I’ve been downloading, try to be a bit less considered and more concise because hopefully I’ll get a bit more written that way. Anyway here goes.)
Saint Etienne’s new single has an atmospheric start - ominous crowd rumble, clipped English accent: “Have you ever been to a Harvester before?” - and I think, yes, something’s happening here. But it never does, or not the way I want: the cover - a stencilled cop getting his block knocked - and that sample are like dots which never get joined by the chintzy, bouncy, restrained pop Etienne actually deliver. Tangents’ recent review was right - it is more S Club than Sex Pistols (referencing ‘punk’) but then I never wanted Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs to write S Club’s songs, for fear they’d be offhand genre exercises just like this. Of course it might be that modern pop songwriters are just better than Stanley/Wiggs these days, but Saint Etienne have had their share of hot streaks in the past and every time they come back I so want them to be great again. I was totally wrong about “How We Used To Live” which is so nearly great - maybe I’m wrong about this. But a song called “Action” could hardly be more passive.
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