I'm Too Sexy For This Blog

One of the benefits of being a fan of Saint Etienne is that they are music fans themselves, and they leave a vast wealth of b-sides, compilation tracks, and remixes in their wake. You always seem to stumble over, say, a cover of a Gary Numan song that they've done, or one of the many Christmas songs that they've recorded over the years. And that, as a fan, is a feeling of pure joy, especially when you consider the consistent quality that the band seem to maintain, even on tracks that you figure must have been recorded during an afternoon.

I actually bought the 7" single that this track is from off of an auction on eBay, from a seller in the U.K. That was back when I had plenty of disposable income. What is particularly befuddling about the purchase is that to this day I do not have a record player. I think my feeling was that if I ever did get a record player, I would like the opportunity to hear what this sounds like.

The Fred EP is a single from 1992, and features three bands off the Heavenly record label doing covers of Right Said Fred songs. The other two tracks could be absolutely brilliant -- I have no idea, since I still have never heard them. The Saint Etienne track was the one that I was willing to pay international shipping to hear. When I was home over the holidays, my cousin was gracious enough to burn this, along with some other vinyl tracks (including a 15 minute version of Serge Gainsbourg's "Je t'aime... moi non plus" recorded by Donna Summer for the Thank God It's Friday soundtrack -- in case you haven't gathered as much, I like cover versions, no matter how lousy they are) onto CD. The quality is not great: Sarah Cracknell's vocals tend to get distorted a bit, and there's all the crackle and pop that you would expect from a 15 year old vinyl single. But it is still pretty interesting, and oddly pretty. I wonder how the band would record it if they were to do it now.

I was going to post this on Valentine's Day, but then I kept forgetting about it. Oh well, at least you get to hear it now. Enjoy!

Saint Etienne: I'm Too Sexy (edit).mp3