Saint Etienne's brilliant dancehall/dub-inflected cover of Neil Young's "Only Love Can Break Your Heart," with vocals by Moira Lambert, blew my mind and was on my heavy rotation list when it first came it out. Ultimately I've come to admire the band more for their concept, art direction and points of reference rather than their actual material. Permanent lead singer Sarah Cracknell's vocal style has always been a bit too twee for my tastes I guess. And the band is so doggedly "British" - every day seems to be a wistful, rainy afternoon - let's just say I have to be in a certain mood to dig St. Etienne. They are usually not my "cup of tea," so to speak. But I do recommend their 15 year (yikes!) career survey, Travel Edition 1990 - 2005, out now on Sub Pop, which includes most of the band's more stand-out work.

However, an absolute must-have is the recently released The Trip created by Saint Etienne! This double CD, the latest in The Trip series (previous collaborators include Dirty Vegas, The Snow Patrol, and Tim Love Lee), is lovingly curated by St. Etienne's Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs and is the best, most essential compilation I've picked up in a while. From what I understand, Stanley and Wiggs were given free access to the massive Universal archive and also were able to pull junk-shop rarities from their own eclectic collection for the project. In their words, the end product is "a few familiar names, the odd TV theme, a barrel load of riches." Oh, it is that and so much more… this is one super-satisfying journey.

This is Saint Etienne cut-to-the-chase, where we get to enjoy their influences in an unadulterated form. Instead of hearing the band attempt to recreate or approximate the sounds that they love so much, we get to experience the original sources - and the way the various tracks on The Trip are mixed illuminate Saint Etienne's creative process. I'm feeling some serious rediscovered respect for the band here! And without Ms. Sarah - no weak vocals! This is an adventure steeped in late sixties/mid-seventies nostalgia. Their trademark snippets of vintage TV and film dialogue punctuate the cuts of course. Yet it sounds so fresh! This is genius.

Disc One focuses on Motown, garage rock, funk, film soundtrack instrumentals and psychedelia. Its really the ultimate party pleaser and will be in heavy rotation on the 18th for my big bash for MJ! It opens with Serge Gainsbourg's acid rock theme to the forgettable Jane Birkin vehicle Cannabis and blasts off in boogie mode from there. My personal new theme song is "Last Night Changed it All" by Esther Williams - we've been playing it in the office to get a buoyant kick start to the weekend! Other highlights include Marvin Gaye's little known "Symphony (Undubbed Version), the wonderful "My Love is Your Love (Forever)" from the Isley Brothers, and vintage club classics and rarities from Lalo Schifrin, R.P.M. Generation, T.U.M.E., and Kiss Inc.

Actually, Disc One of The Trip brings back fond memories of sneaking into the dark and roach infested movie theater/club room at the "old" Sanno in Tokyo (back when it was a truly dodgy military R & R facility). Of course there was the thrill of watching the forbidden fare - mostly consisting of kung-fu, blaxploitation, and other "adult stuff" I could not possibly begin to understand at such a young age. But the funky music they played before and between the shows - my god I can still savor my Grape Fanta! None of you could possibly relate to that but I just wanted to share. Makes me want to dig out my childhood roller disco skates!

Disc Two slips comfortably into a slightly mellower groove - soft rock, chamber pop, psychedelia-tinged folk - and promises to be a fine companion to the day after a night of exuberant partying. You know, cleaning up, drinking coffee, getting your body chemistry back together - and that mood which is a fine balance between melancholy and bliss. Highlights include choice cuts from The Sandpipers, Spanky & Our Gang, The Poppy Family, Roger Nichols & The Small Circle Of Friends, Fairport Convention, Dusty Springfield, The Left Banke, Scott Walker, Tim Hardin,
and Julie Covington. My favorites are these two obscure gems: "Ice" by Iceman and "The Happiest Day of My Life" from Queen Anne's Lace.

Don't be discouraged by the generic cover art and the somewhat hefty price tag, The Trip created by Saint Etienne is well worth the investment - the ticket cost - many times over! You're not going to be able to find most of these fantastic tracks anywhere else and certainly not assembled together like this!

By the way, Typepad has been KILLING me lately - this entry has been a nightmare to post!