June 10, 2000
Heart Failed (In The Back Of A Taxi)
Saint Etienne Heart Failed (In The Back Of A Taxi)(Mantra)
Saint Etienne
Heart Failed (In The Back Of A Taxi) (Mantra)
After belatedly wangling a proper hit with trance whore Paul Van Dyk, feckless hangers-on Saint Etienne corral more tasteful - if less chart-aware - help for 'Heart Failed...', an atmospheric glide with warm bleeps and chilled orchestration arranged by To Rococo Rot and Sean O'Hagan. There's not much even they can do with the grating mundanity of Sarah Cracknell's voice, of course, though there is a soupcon of mystique here that is rare in Saint Etienne's massive, stinky oeuvre. The route might take in Berlin and LA, but you're still dropped off in Croydon. Maybe that's the point.
JOHN MULVEY
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