Saint Etienne - Hug My Soul (Motiv8 Remix)

With their new euphoric pop track Tonight coming soon, it got me to thinking about Saint Etienne's more glitzier dance outings. There's something so sultry about this one: the furtive and velvety verses are low key, making lusty observations, Cracknell playing some sort of romance novel drenched paranoid wreck with no appetite, or in a drowsy diet pill stupor, or something, then the dreamy chorus that wraps around and smothers you like candy floss. I know the Motiv8 remix tarts it up a bit to gaudily for some, and the original certainly is the most charming and swoon-inducing, but the facelessly uplifting Hi-NRG rhythm from Steve Roadway gets me everytime (it must be the Gina G connection). I just thought I'd write something stream-of-conscious to stylistically imitate how my imagination feels when listening to this little wondrous gem.

Twitter Review: Madonna - Erotica (1992)

Something I seem to do from time to time is pop an album on and post a tweet per track as a mini review (an activity I don't put much thought into, but enjoy an awful lot, just because it's simple and not like writing a conscious review at all). So whilst in terms of writing I don't have the time or focus to blog much, since I have a dissertation to do), I thought I would post some of my twitter mini reviews every so often, starting with Madonna's starkly intriguing masterpiece Erotica.  Please also take on board that tweets really do carry their own irreverent tone and not meant to offend.

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Languorous, drowsy Secret Garden could very well be Saint Etienne. Can't give a higher compliment if I tried. Not one stinker on the album

7 Jan 

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I remember using lyrics from the Erotica album in an English essay, aged 14. Madonna's love everyone agenda on this album really worked IMO

7 Jan 

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AIDS downer In This Life is incredibly haunting I'm proud of her for writing about it. Almost too sad to listen to, but has a waltzing aroma

7 Jan 

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"brothers, sisters" gets my neck snapping, privately. The whole thing is terrible embarrassing, yet inanely stylish. Delicious whingeing

7 Jan 

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The undulating Why's It So Hard gets a hard time from its critics, Madonna goes Ace of Base. Tongue-curling whatdowhahavedododoberespected

7 Jan 

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1 of the finest displays of her talents, Rain finally relents the tension. Characteristically expressive sleek stylish she surpasses herself

7 Jan 

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Morbidly obsessed, overwhelmingly fragile. Words: strong choked-up verses, middle-8 that leaves the ground, chorus plays 2nd-fiddle to both

7 Jan 

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It would be a divine treat for her to perform this on tour. My most wanted, absolutely. Campy, statuesque and aloof - the perfect M facade

7 Jan 

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Starkly vulnerable bruised & rouged Thief of Hearts was the original Vanity but has depth & genuine merits not least its ice-cold pathos

7 Jan 

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Locking into the groove, Waiting speaks under her breath. The rhythm experience is divine. Luscious Jackson with a boner

7 Jan 

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VERY different to the image I must have had in my head. She was wearing clothes, glamorous and alcoholic. Pining in an almost funky manner

7 Jan 

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The morning-after pill Bad Girl, my first concious and private witness of a Madonna video on the ITV Chart Show. I was impressed but it was

7 Jan 

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Translating innuendos into heartfelt grooves, giving her the wrong exposure. Convincing songwriting, strong delivery, engaging. Life Begins

7 Jan 

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The first of the drowsy after-hours jazz moments, Where Life Begins is years beyond the contemporary reaction to its lyrics.

7 Jan 

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Deeper can't surpass Vogue; indeed it submits to it, as if adding fuel, by ordering "go with the flow". Maybe she just had a heavy period

7 Jan 

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Deeper's sweeping disco, once again yearning for solutions regarding her mother and father. Throwing herself head first into love's excess

7 Jan 

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Such stylistic shifts gave us Bye Bye Baby, a nice original stroke with the phone-call kiss-off. Deee-Lite's Call Me did the concept better

7 Jan 

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Bittersweet, dance-inspired Fever moves elegantly, playfully, the voice is cool but melts like ice. It sort of just fits there, but rich

7 Jan 

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Gordon_L_A G L A 

Considered dated on it's arrival, Erotica's mumbles still breathe down my neck, I feel immobile to its commands.

7 Jan 

Rating: 9/10