Album Review

Saint Etienne keep their luxurious Swinging '60s pop elements intact while they embrace brittle 1970s and '80s synths without sounding inhuman. "Action" was a club hit everywhere but in the U.S.; "Stop And Think It Over" is a sunny float downstream. The album's narrator sums up the band's musical mantra: "Gentle and giving -- all the rest is treason."
- Nick Dedina