Saint Etienne Present Songs For The Fountain Coffee Room
Songs For The Fountain Coffee Room is the latest in the highly popular Saint Etienne Present series, soundtracks for places both real and imaginary. This time, Sarah Cracknell, Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs have put together a selection to fit a bar in mid-70s Los Angeles, the kind of place where Warren Beatty and Julie Christie might meet in the afternoon for a secret rendezvous between shooting scenes for Shampoo. There's a high quotient of airy, top-down soul, FM yacht rock, and an even larger amount of blue-eyed soul, with the odd singer-songwriter from Laurel Canyon making an appearance. Familiar summer sounds come from Todd Rundgren/Utopia (Love Is The Answer), Millie Jackson (A House For Sale) and Seals & Crofts (Get Closer). Among the discoveries are Hall and Oates deep cut Lilly (Are You Happy); Bill Quateman's irresistible acoustic guitar and string-powered Only Love; Marvin Gaye's gorgeous Where Are We Going?, from the period between What s Going On and Let's Get It On; and the £100 crossover soul gem One Way Or The Other by the Fifth Avenue Band. These gems are the kind of thing Netflix will be tripping over themselves to use next season. Amid the potted palms, the pace is strictly mid-tempo; it's too warm for anything faster. The windows are wide open, the sky is a clear blue, and this is the perfect summer soundtrack.