News

Saint Etienne Re-Issue Tiger Bay and Finisterre

• 24th Mar 2010

Saint Etienne have announced details of the release of expanded and re-mastered versions of their albums Tiger Bay and Finisterre on Heavenly through Universal Music Catalogue on May 3rd 2010.

Both albums will be re-released as Deluxe Editions featuring the original album, an extra disc of session tracks and B-sides and extensive sleeve-notes. A limited-edition version of Finisterre featuring a DVD of the film of the same name will also be available.

The albums are the latest in an on-going Saint Etienne re-issue series that has so far seen the release of Foxbase Alpha, Continental, So Tough and The Sound Of Water. They also recently released Foxbase Beta, a re-working of their debut album by renowned producer Richard X.

Tiger Bay was Saint Etienne's second Top 10 album, and took the group into a new place by mixing traditional folk melodies with modern electronica. They worked with Underworld, Shara Nelson, Stephen Duffy, arranger David Whitaker, and Birmingham neo-dubsters Original Rockers to create a windblown but lush record, echoing its oil painting cover. Previously unheard bonus tracks on Disc Two include an abandoned sequel to Mario's Cafe called Black Horse Latitudes (set in the evening, in a Tufnell Park pub), and the perky Wedding Of Stacy Dorning which looked forward to the sunshine pop of 1998's Good Humor.

Finisterre was a love/hate letter to London, with its iconic image of the collapsed Ronan Point on the cover, recorded at a time of mass demonstrations against the government and just after folk hero Ken Livingstone had been elected Mayor. Alternately harsh and gentle, electronic and thrumming, it included the nu-disco call-to-arms single Action. Unreleased tracks on the second disc of the deluxe edition include the near-mythical Dr Who-sampling There There My Brigadier, and a tribute to the mysterious Aqualad who resides under the Thames, waiting for his moment to take the city back from the financiers and to open up the Post Office Tower's revolving restaurant once again.

Made up of vocalist Sarah Cracknell, Pete Wiggs and Bob Stanley, Saint Etienne (named after the green shirted French football side who enjoyed a run of European success in the 1970’s) formed in 1990.

They released their debut album, Foxbase Alpha, in 1991, and have since gone on to record seven studio albums. The group continue to record and play live and last year performed their debut album, Foxbase Alpha, in its entirety over 3 sold-out nights at both London’s Bloomsbury Ballroom and the Shepherds Bush Empire.