Tiger Bay (album)

Tiger Bay
Original album cover
Studio album by
Saint Etienne
Released28 February 1994 (1994-02-28)
RecordedSummer – Autumn 1993
Genre
Length46:16
LabelHeavenly – HVNLP8
ProducerSaint Etienne
Saint Etienne chronology
You Need a Mess of Help to Stand Alone
(1993) 		Tiger Bay
(1994) 		Too Young to Die – Singles 1990–1995
(1995)
Singles from Tiger Bay
  1. "Pale Movie"
    Released: February 1994
  2. "Like a Motorway"
    Released: 16 May 1994
  3. "Hug My Soul"
    Released: 19 September 1994
Reissue album art (1996)
featuring Giuditta del Vecchio (from the film Léolo)

Tiger Bay is the third studio album by English indie dance band Saint Etienne. It was released 28 February 1994 (1994-02-28) by Heavenly Recordings. In an interview with Record Collector, band member Bob Stanley stated that the title is a reference to the 1959 film Tiger Bay.[2]

The album is described by Bob Stanley as "an album of modern folk songs done in twentieth century styles like techno and dub".[3] "Like a Motorway", for example, blends Kraftwerk-style techno with the melody from the nineteenth century folk song "Silver Dagger". Some of the songs, such as "Marble Lions" and "Former Lover" forsake electronics for classical folk instrumentation and orchestral arrangements. One, "Western Wind", is a traditional English folk song.

Background

The band wrote most of the songs in the Forest of Dean, in the hope that the countryside would inspire folk ideas. The original intention was for all the songs to be about death.[3]

Releases

Tiger Bay was released in the UK in February 1994. The original cover art is James Clarke Hook's "Welcome Bonny Boat", doctored to include the band members.[4]

The American edition of the album replaced the UK cover art with a photograph of the band smartly dressed at a table. It does not include the "Western Wind"/"Tankerville" suite. In place of the cut songs is the single "I Was Born on Christmas Day" and remixes by Daniel Abraham of "Hug My Soul" and "Like a Motorway".

The Japanese edition of the album was retitled as 哀しみ色のムーヴィー (Pale Movie), and included the bonus tracks "Who Do You Think You Are" and "Pale Movie (Lemonentry Mix)".

Tiger Bay was reissued in 1996 by Creation Records, in part because of Saint Etienne's absence from the music scene, but also because of their formal move to Creation Records. The reissue featured another new cover, this time showing Giuditta del Vecchio (from the film Léolo); the back shows a picture of the group. The inner sleeve was updated, and includes a short commentary on the album by journalist and friend of the group Simon Price, as well as a new selection of photographs with a summery theme. The album itself features a slightly shuffled track listing. "Marble Lions" is moved to appear after "Pale Movie". The second occurrence of "Western Wind" is removed completely; instead "Tankerville" fades into "Boy Scouts of America". "Former Lover" is also edited, although less noticeably, with only the opening guitar chords being removed. The reissue also features four extra tracks – "I Buy American Records", "Grovely Road", "Hate Your Drug" and the single edit of "He's on the Phone".

In 2010 the album was re-released once more. The new deluxe version reinstates the original sleeve art and includes a booklet with an interview with Bob Stanley and additional bonus disc containing a number of demos and all of the B-sides.

Response

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[5]
Chicago Tribune[6]
Entertainment WeeklyB+[7]
NME4/10[8]
Pitchfork8.7/10[9]
Q[10]
Record Collector[11]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[12]
Select4/5[13]
Vox8/10[14]

In his review for Select, Stuart Maconie hailed Tiger Bay as Saint Etienne's "best album yet" and highlighted its "almost criminally opulent variety of musical backdrops",[13] while in Vox, Mike Pattenden said that it showed the band "harnessing their encyclopaedic pop knowledge and striving to pull together its diverse strands."[14] Writing for Q, Andrew Collins deemed Tiger Bay an improvement over Saint Etienne's previous albums, citing its "much-needed consistency of pace and style" and "engaging (rather than clever)" music.[10] Trade papers Music Week and Music & Media reacted favourably, with the former appraising it as the band's "most commercial gambit to date"[15] and the latter suggesting "Pale Movie" was "a hit in the waiting room."[16] Chicago Tribune critic Brad Webber complimented the album's "soothing amalgamation of lush instrumentals and hypnotic, house-music beats",[6] and Entertainment Weekly's Michele Romero quipped that with its "beautiful ballads", "perky, disco-ready tunes", and "TV-theme-like music", "Charlie's Angels could have done a lot of jogging to ... Tiger Bay".[7]

NME journalist Paul Moody was less impressed, dismissing Tiger Bay as "kitsch" consisting "purely of half-singles and utterly anonymous ambient-chicanery."[8] Tony Cross of Smash Hits felt it lacked "effort" and noted the presence of "some really bobbins B-sides with token instrumentals."[17] In The Village Voice, Robert Christgau simply listed it as a "dud".[18]

The British release of Tiger Bay was commercially successful and reached #8[19] on the UK Albums Chart. Three singles were released, but none matched the popularity of those from their previous album. The first, "Pale Movie", peaked at No. 28.[19] "Like a Motorway" was more disappointing, missing the top forty completely and making only No. 47.[19] "Hug My Soul" was released as a two-disc set and managed better, peaking at No. 32.[19]

"Hug My Soul" was the only single that charted in the US and reached No. 40 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart.

In a 2009 interview, Bob Stanley said that in retrospect the band should have included some more obvious singles on Tiger Bay, to be commercial: "it definitely could have done with a couple more obvious songs". He also acknowledged that the original cover was a commercial mistake.[20]

In a retrospective review for AllMusic, Dave Thompson lauded Tiger Bay as "the peak" of Saint Etienne's early work, and "everything that two generations of post-Beatles wannabes have labored to create, but have always been too in awe to complete: a melding of mood with momentum, emotion with eccentricity, and an endless succession of divine verses sliding into sad and sexy hooks."[5] Pitchfork staff writer Marc Hogan regarded it as "the subtlest, most cinematic, and pretty much indisputably last of Saint Etienne's astounding initial burst of albums", whose "blend of pastoral folk and silvery electronics was worlds apart from Union Jack-waving contemporaries' phony Beatlemania."[9]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs, except where noted.

Original UK release (Heavenly, HVNCD8)
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Urban Clearway" 3:58
2."Former Lover" 3:49
3."Hug My Soul"
4:15
4."Like a Motorway" 5:42
5."On the Shore" 4:06
6."Marble Lions"
  • Mick Bund
  • Cracknell
4:35
7."Pale Movie" 3:52
8."Cool Kids of Death" 5:49
9."Western Wind"Traditional1:33
10."Tankerville" 4:01
11."Western Wind"Traditional1:37
12."The Boy Scouts of America" 2:57
US release (Warner Bros., 9 45634-2)
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Urban Clearway" 3:58
2."Hug My Soul"
  • Batson
  • Cracknell
  • Male
4:15
3."Former Lover" 3:49
4."Like a Motorway" 5:42
5."On the Shore" 4:06
6."Marble Lions"
  • Bund
  • Cracknell
4:35
7."Pale Movie" 3:52
8."Cool Kids of Death" 5:49
9."I Was Born on Christmas Day"
3:11
10."The Boy Scouts of America" 2:57
11."Hug My Soul" (alternative version)
  • Batson
  • Cracknell
  • Male
4:23
12."Like a Motorway" (alternative version) 5:25
UK reissue (Heavenly/Creation, SCR 475962 9)
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Urban Clearway" 3:59
2."He's on the Phone"
4:06
3."Former Lover" 3:37
4."I Buy American Records" 2:48
5."Hug My Soul"
  • Batson
  • Cracknell
  • Male
4:15
6."Like a Motorway" 5:43
7."Grovely Road"
  • Catt
  • Cracknell
3:38
8."On the Shore" 4:06
9."Pale Movie" 3:53
10."Hate Your Drug" 3:45
11."Marble Lions"
  • Bund
  • Cracknell
4:35
12."Cool Kids of Death" 5:46
13."Western Wind"Traditional1:32
14."Tankerville" 3:52
15."The Boy Scouts of America" 3:10

2010 deluxe edition

Disc 1 (Heavenly, HVNLP8CDDE / UMC, 2735896)
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
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"
  • Bund
  • Cracknell
4:35
7."Pale Movie" 3:52
8."Cool Kids of Death" 5:49
9."Western Wind / Tankerville" 7:12
10."The Boy Scouts of America" 2:59
Disc 2
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Urban Clearway" (demo) 5:32
2."Black Horse Latitude"
  • Cracknell
  • Stanley
  • Wiggs
4:23
3."I Buy American Records" 2:52
4."Hate Your Drug" 3:50
5."You Know I'll Miss You When I'm Gone"
  • Bund
  • Cracknell
2:59
6."Sushi Rider"
  • Bund
  • Cracknell
2:58
7."Hug My Soul" (demo)
  • Batson
  • Cracknell
  • Male
4:27
8."The Wedding of Stacy Dorning"
  • Cracknell
  • Stanley
  • Wiggs
2:49
9."Deborah's French Feast" 2:18
10."Western Wind" (demo)Traditional3:58
11."Pale Movie" (demo) 4:29
12."La Poupee Qui Fait Non (No No No)"
3:59
13."Highgate Road Incident" 2:10
14."My Christmas Prayer"Billy Fury3:27
15."I Was Born on Christmas Day"
3:12

Personnel

Original credits (1994)

Alternate credits for American release

  • Tim Burgess – guest vocals ("I Was Born on Christmas Day")
  • 'Jim Bob' Wheatley – engineer ("I Was Born on Christmas Day")
  • Mark 'Spike' Stent – mixing ("I Was Born on Christmas Day")
  • Daniel Abraham – additional production and mix (for White Falcon Productions), additional programming ("Hug My Soul (Alternate Version)", "Like a Motorway (Alternate Version)")
  • Merve Depeyer – keyboards, programming ("Hug My Soul (Alternate Version)", "Like a Motorway (Alternate Version)")
  • Juan Garcia – overdub engineering ("Hug My Soul (Alternate Version)", "Like a Motorway (Alternate Version)")
  • Recorded at Scream Studios, NYC, mixed at Right Track Recording, NYC. ("Hug My Soul (Alternate Version)", "Like a Motorway (Alternate Version)")

Additional credits for 1996 British re-release

B-sides

From "Pale Movie"

  • "Highgate Road Incident"
  • "Pale Movie (Stentorian Dub)"
  • "Pale Movie (Secret Knowledge Trouser Assassin Mix)"
  • "Pale Movie (Lemonentry Mix)" (Remixed by Rick Smith from Underworld)

From "Like a Motorway"

  • "You Know I'll Miss You When You're Gone"
  • "Sushi Rider"
  • "Like a Motorway (Chekhov Warp Dub)" (Remixed by The Chemical Brothers)
  • "Like A Motorway (The David Holmes Mix)"
  • "Like A Motorway (Skin Up You're Already Dead Mix)" (Remixed by Autechre)

From "Hug My Soul"

  • "I Buy American Records"
  • "Hate Your Drug"
  • "La Poupee Qui Fait Non (No, No, No, No, No)"
  • "Hug My Soul (Twelve Inch Mix)"
  • "Hug My Soul (Motiv 8 Blackpool Mix)"
  • "Hug My Soul (Sure Is Pure Kodacolour House Mix)"
  • "Hug My Soul (Juan Kinky Hernandez Nu Bootz Groove)"
  • "Hug My Soul (Secret Knowledge Limbo Mix)"

Charts

Chart performance for Tiger Bay
Chart (1994) Peak
position
European Albums (Music & Media)[21] 30
Scottish Albums (OCC)[22] 17
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[23] 31
UK Albums (OCC)[24] 8
UK Independent Albums (OCC)[25] 1

References

  1. ^ Lassner, Bryan (1998). "Saint Etienne". In Graff, Gary; Durchholz, Daniel (eds.). MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Detroit: Visible Ink Press. pp. 971–972.
  2. ^ "[ETIENNE HEAVEN] Saint Etienne discography: Tiger Bay".
  3. ^ a b Bob Stanley, interview with Melody Maker. Qtd. in "Like a Motorway". Saint Etienne Heaven Archived 21 February 2013 at archive.today. 29 June 2002.
  4. ^ "Hebden Bridge, 14–15 July". 16 August 2012.
  5. ^ a b Thompson, Dave. "Tiger Bay – Saint Etienne". AllMusic. Retrieved 24 August 2012.
  6. ^ a b Webber, Brad (22 September 1994). "Saint Etienne: Tiger Bay (Warner)". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
  7. ^ a b Romero, Michele (15 July 1994). "Tiger Bay". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 18 October 2021. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
  8. ^ a b Moody, Paul (26 February 1994). "Crock of the Bay". NME. p. 40.
  9. ^ a b Hogan, Marc (4 June 2010). "Saint Etienne: Tiger Bay / Finisterre". Pitchfork. Retrieved 5 June 2010.
  10. ^ a b Collins, Andrew (April 1994). "Saint Etienne: Tiger Bay". Q. No. 91.
  11. ^ Quantick, David (May 2019). "Saint Etienne: Tiger Bay: 25th Anniversary Edition". Record Collector. No. 492. p. 104.
  12. ^ Berger, Arion (2004). "Saint Etienne". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp. 713–714. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  13. ^ a b Maconie, Stuart (April 1994). "Saint Etienne: Tiger Bay". Select. No. 46. p. 90. Retrieved 29 October 2016.
  14. ^ a b Pattenden, Mike (April 1994). "What's new, pussycat?". Vox. No. 43. p. 76.
  15. ^ Aston, Martin (19 February 1994). "Market Preview: Alternative – Pick of the Week" (PDF). Music Week. p. 12. Retrieved 28 April 2025.
  16. ^ "New Releases: Albums" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 11, no. 12. 19 March 1994. p. 9. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
  17. ^ Cross, Tony (2–15 March 1994). "New Albums". Smash Hits. p. 54. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  18. ^ Christgau, Robert (21 February 1995). "Consumer Guide". The Village Voice. Retrieved 16 July 2025.
  19. ^ a b c d "The Official Charts Company – Saint Etienne". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 19 November 2009.
  20. ^ Plagenhoef, Scott (4 February 2009). "Saint Etienne". Pitchfork. Retrieved 16 July 2025.
  21. ^ "European Top 100 Albums" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 11, no. 12. 19 March 1994. p. 18. OCLC 29800226 – via World Radio History.
  22. ^ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 9 February 2022.
  23. ^ "Swedishcharts.com – Saint Etienne – Tiger Bay". Hung Medien. Retrieved 9 February 2022.
  24. ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 9 February 2022.
  25. ^ "Independent Albums" (PDF). Music Week. 19 March 1994. p. 16. ISSN 0265-1548 – via World Radio History.
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