Saint Etienne elevated their sampledelic sound with lush orchestration and acoustic strings to create the whistful dance ruminations and panoramic electronic folk of this emotional excursion. Even with the critical and commercial success of 'Foxbase Alpha' and 'So Tough', the trio had had enough of the hassles that went into that sound: "It was costing us more to clear samples than it was to actually record the album. There was a lot of dialogue on 'S0 Tough' and it was very difficult to get the permissions. We then entered a phase of not using samples, partly to make things more interesting for ourselves...almost all of the melodies were based in traditional folk songs. Aside from bonecrunching techno we were listening to Pentangle and Fairport Convention at the time, and we wanted to create something like a latterday 'Liege And Lief'. We even rented a middle-of-nowhere cottage in the Forest 0f Dean to write it, checked the visitors' book, and discovered the last person who had stayed there was Bill Drummond."
'Tiger Bay' features Sarah Cracknell on vocals, snowboard, and as scaremonger; Bob Stanley on keyboards, wulfren, and Scouse wit; Pete Wiggs on keyboards, space blue rinse, and as saucy git; with Ian Catt on keyboards, guitar, bass guitar, and bodlondeb; David Whitaker on orchestral arrangements; Shara Nelson providing vocals for 'On the Shore'; Stephen Duffy on guest vocals on 'Western Wind'; Debsey on backing vocals on 'Former Lover' and 'Pale Movie'; Siobhan Brookes on backing vocals on 'Hug My Soul' and 'Pale Movie'; Mick Bund on guitar on 'Marble Lions'; Ian Davies on flamemco guitar on 'Pale Movie'; Mike Patton on guitar on 'Former Lover' and mandolin for 'On the Shore'; Kate St John on oboe for 'On the Shore'; Spencer Smith on drums on 'Hug My Soul'.
Stanley says: "'Tiger Bay' was supposed to be an album of modern folk songs done in twentieth century styles like techno and dub. So we wrote most of it in the Forest Of Dean. We went into the country to get our heads together. We wanted to do loads of songs about death, so we bought the local papers to get some real stories, and there was nothing. Then the week after we moved, they discovered the bodies in Cromwell Road!"
'Tiger Bay' charted at thirty-one in Sweden and eight in the UK. It has been released in several different versions with different tracks and album covers.
http://www.saintetienne.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/SaintEtienneVEVO
"Urban Clearway"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCVEXNW3pqA
"He's on the Phone"
It went to forty in Sweden, thirty-three on the US dance club play chart, and eleven in the UK.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmoZan0Qo6A
"I Buy American Records"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYXPlxiOmwQ
"Hug My Soul"
It went to forty on the US dance club play chart and thirty-two in the UK.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovgaMmtfC0U
"Like a Motorway"
Barely broke the UK top fifty.
Bob: Number Forty-Seven with a bullet. The Americans tried to get us to change the title to Like A Freeway! Can you believe it? We said, Autobahn was a hit all around the world, fuck off.
Pete: Yeah, [it was supposed to be a Shangri-Las style death song.] Or Ring A Ring O’ Roses. Folk songs about death and destruction.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MP4Pxpu4W2k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFNPCsTN-Co
"Grovely Road"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bIOSY467TI
"Pale Movie"
It went to twenty-eight in the UK.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIGPwFhfAlI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_cX7oIQAgQ
"Hate Your Drug"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2f2ramW_icI
"Marble Lions"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdBbR-01rw8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46FCicXL6eo
"Western Wind"/"Tankerville"/"Western Wind" (combined)
"The Boy Scouts of America"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-b7fA-np60Q
"I Was Born on Christmas Day"
a duet between Sarah Cracknell and Tim Burgess, the lead singer of the Charlatans. It went to thirty-one in the UK.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAMTq6rNivM
'Tiger Bay'
full album:
All tracks written by Stanley and Wiggs; except where indicated.
1. "Urban Clearway" 3:58
2. "Former Lover" 3:49
3. "Hug My Soul" Batson, Cracknell, Male 4:15
4. "Like a Motorway" 5:42
5. "On the Shore" 4:06
6. "Marble Lions" Cracknell, Bund 4:35
7. "Pale Movie" 3:52
8. "Cool Kids of Death" 5:49
9. "Western Wind" Traditional, arranged by Stanley, Wiggs 1:33
10. "Tankerville" 4:01
11. "Western Wind" Traditional, arranged by Stanley, Wiggs 1:37
12. "The Boy Scouts of America"
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