Foxbase Alpha

Very much enjoyed this album tbh at first i had my doubts but it took me by surprise Production: 4 Songwriting: 4 Cohesion: 4 Enjoyability: 4.5 Songs liked: 5/13

seems we can never get a break from alt dance music... but to be honest i'm not complaining! anyways, this is the debut of british band saint etienne, a record which blends club sounds with odd '60s plunderphonics. the band started with two members who were childhood friends and were big musicheads, record collecting and reading fanzines. the album was kinda cobbled together by wanting to make new songs out of the weird records the guys already had. very DIY levels of making dance tracks. i've heard one or two tracks from this album in the past, and i was very surprised to see the album itself being suggested to me today. this is some clubby, not-quite-downtempo dance music made by early '90s art school students, essentially. talk about the fat reverb on this! this album wouldn't sound as distinct if it didn't have the amount of reverb it has. compared to a lot of dance records, this one feels very strange, dreamy, lower budget and twee-ish... it's yet another acquired-taste collection of tunes. i really like a bit of it! but it's not without its lower points. some songs aren't as good, some of the vocals get a little warbly and instrumentals can get weirdly muddy. i read that the vocalist had to record some of it in a bathroom. but it's no doubt a wonderful example of an "indie" take on dance music. dance music to play when you're camping with your intellectual peers.

Great Neil Young cover. I’ve listened to this record four times in the past day. Easy breezy house.

Not a genre that I normally love. This is different. Infused with beats and samples from everywhere, the result is infectious. I think I'm mostly digging the bass playing but the overall vibe of the songs really compliments Sarah Cracknell's very neutral vocal work. In another context, I might call the singing lacking in emotion but it's perfectly suited to this. This doesn't move me profoundly, so it's not quite a 5/5 but it is very good electronic music from a formative time for the genre. Well worth a listen -- probably also a good party record if you might have friends notice interesting music.

This is very, very good music

It just sort of played. No emotion no highs. Although why the squirrel was getting bashed in the mouth I don't know.

Dreamy and avant- guarde

Brilliant, no notes.

I don't have a lot to say about this one, other than I enjoyed it. It's an odd mix of dance and chill techno. I found myself grooving along without meaning to, while having it playing in the background while I was cleaning the house. I'd definitely listen to it again.

No private session used for Spotify. Occasionally there were some good chill vibes coming through, other times I kept thinking I was listening to Madonna(I don't mean that in a good way)

Not my thing

3.5/5

definitely weird and not what i’m used to but very fun and no song had the same vibe as another, i enjoyed!

Different. Didn’t mind it

This was an album that I had never heard of prior to this project. A lot of really enjoyable tracks. Favorites included Only Love Can Break Your Heart and People Get Real.

I really enjoyed Only Love Can Break Your Heart. I love the 90s drum and bass pop style. The rest of the album I got a little bored with.

Decent music

Loved it! A cross between Cocteau Twins and Lightning Seeds.

25. oktobar 2026 00.13h kao prvo ovaj bend je iz krojdona??? bas kjut i lijep album, podsjeca me na pocetak srednje (pogotovo kaver) best: girl VII, spring

Enjoyed the album. Thought is was well done.

70

One of the first times I’ve seen the “this shouldn’t be on the 1001” and I disagree. This is AWESOME. Infectious trip hop grooves with lovely synths and a beautiful voice layered on top. Def worth revisiting for me.

It's a nice, pleasant listen with good elements. Some might say it's boring, but it has the right mix of interesting without being overpowering. It's the club music they want to play at the end of the night so that you can wind down (for most of the songs, at least).

3.5

4.5

It was nice to check out Saint Etienne’s debut album, especially since I didn’t realize they went all the way back to the early 90s. This album was a bit more house driven than I was expecting, but I really loved it. It feels like a blend of indie, dream pop, house, and dub. House influenced rhythms and downtempo grooves form the backbone of many of the tracks, while light, jangly guitars reinforce the indie connection. This album also makes great use of samples and loops that draws inspiration from 60s pop and 70s television, creating a hazy, nostalgic atmosphere that almost feels like snapshots of suburban life.

Once a week on this list, there’s an English rock band from the 80s or 90s I’ve never heard of. It’s more dance music. Maybe wasn’t expecting that off the album cover. Some dance hip hop style beats behind a nice female vocal. There’s also a synth pop vibe on some but it’s more dance beat heavy a lot. Some songs feel a little unique then it just sounds like generic dance/pop music. It’s a strange album. London Belongs to Me is one of my favorites. It’s more of an ambient dream pop synth sound and it’s good. It stood out as something different than a lot of the rest of the album. This is probably a 2. It didn’t win me over but it works okay at times. Thought maybe it was a 3, but there’s not enough that really stood out to me. Okay with it on this list, but it’s just very middle of the road as far as albums I’ve encountered here.

10/11 Meh, was okay but nothing special

Oof what a disappointing week of music this has been. I didn't hate this, there were some cool samples and as far as 90s electronica goes this was pretty middle of the road. I don't think it's going to be one I'd be interested in revisiting though. If this were like 20 minutes shorter I might have liked it better.

Eclectic for it's time, unfortunately comes across messy today.

Also meh.

Recognised 2 songs that I think were either hits or included in movies from this era. My vibe from this album is it isn’t that bad, but it has not aged well and sounds very dated to the time it was made. Other comparable artists of the same era made it through without sounding so early 90s

Not a genre that I have much experience with, so I don't want to fall into the "not my genre, 1 star" trap; the whole reason I'm doing this 1001 albums challenge is to get exposed to music I haven't listened to before. That said, compared to the other electronic/house-adjacent albums I've listened to so far on this journey, this album doesn't really do it for me. It's great music to listen to while working, which ironically means I'll rate it more poorly, since that means it just couldn't really hold my attention. The first track is an introduction in French, so maybe I'm just not sophisticated enough to enjoy it.

Proto-triphop that leans into the twee britpop side rather than a spooky tone. It's alright, kinda nice, the shopping mall would sound cooler with this playing.

Has anyone else noticed that Neil Young songs you never really noticed are amazing when women cover them?

Callie every morning asks to “Dass” aka dance aka listen to music while we eat breakfast. Her patience has recently vanished so when the music fades between each song she says “more dass”. I enjoyed this album. It sounded a bit like Massive Attack at times. Made for a fun morning.

I felt like the more I listened the less I liked the album

You can be repetitive, you can be boring, you can sound like youre from the 80s. But when all 3 are activated??? 🙅‍♀️🙅‍♀️🙅‍♀️ Dont do that... Choose 2 max!!

#113 Eclectic and quirky 90s house music with a clear 60s influence. Lots of samples, and the Neil Young cover to start things off was cool. A bit too long, it would benefit from trimming some from the latter half. And cut Wilson entirely, that one blows. Highlights: Only Love Can Break Your Heart, Carnt Sleep, Girl VII, Spring, Nothing Can Stop Us 3.5 / 5

My run of boring or shitty electronic continues. Actually stunning how many of them I've had recently. 3/10

Französischer Name - Englische Band

Pretty good album. Enjoyable in the same vein of Enya.

Not really a fan of this. Her voice wasn’t bad, but I didn’t care for the music itself. 2/5

Love this group and this album. A cool version of Neil Young’s “Only Love Can Break Your Heart”. They had a lot of cool remix singles on CD and 12” vinyl throughout before career.

Weird but I kinda liked it

I kinda dig it

Excellent mix of retro and techno. Enjoyed listening to this album.

Well, I'm not seeing much point to this one. Some early 90s dance grooves added to some 60s pop sensibilities really tends to just dilute both musical styles into something that fans of either type of music are unlikely to appreciate. This is not unpleasant to listen to, but it's very quickly forgettable.

I can't form a strong opinion on this. On the plus side, i enjoyed the electro/60's pop combo vibe and there are undoubtedly some well written pop songs on here. On the downside it is very inconsistent, very irreverant and the vocals were very weak. If the vibe was right i would return to this and may end up digging further, but i also may forget about this entirely. Time will tell

This did not interest me or inspire me or draw my attention, which could be good in the right context but, it wasn't for me nothing really stood out and doesn't go anywhere the I care for it's made nice and sounds good but what's done with that sound isn't enough for me. Just not that energised I think I need a rest from the low trip hop vibe halfway through but it's not there, I can tell the people who would like it and I mean that as a compliment I'm just not that into it.

This is nice and a play to relax on a chill out day or an evening. Good to listen to but probably background music more often than not. There are a couple of great songs on here (The Neil Young cover particularly) and the rest has aged OK but also there are a thousand acts that produce some of this stuff now.

It's interesting and cool. Niel young as dance music. Lots of fun and creative samples, in the tracks and in the small skits. It has that airy almost acoustic house/dance style and seems good at that. It could thrill me more but maybe it just needs to grow on me a little more.

This is fine.

It's tough to judge a record where the "best" song is a cover. A very good one, but a cover nonetheless. I enjoyed a lot of the dreamy synth-pop grooves that came afterwards, but I do feel the album overstays its welcome - everything after "Nothing Can Stop Us" is unnecessary in my opinion.

Billy does NOT gaf abt those sweets i promise.

rym 3.49 Alternative Dance/Indie Pop 不算太好，也没有太坏。整体来说是很清爽的电子音乐。 pick: Stoned to Say the Least, Nothing Can Stop Us

Sounds again like a stock library of tracks from a crappy keyboard you find. This era just didn't age well in this genre

I'm not sure why this made the list.

This one did not spark joy.

Alright electronic background kind of music. Chill to have on whole working on other projects. But stand out enough to listen to more, or understand why on list, but not disappointed

Music to listen to while waiting to see the dentist you hate. 5/5

Only Love Can Break My Heart and Nothing Can Stop Us are the only two songs I really enjoyed. The rest were not my jam. Intriguing album.

Only Love Can Break Your Heart is absolutely insane, Spring is also very good but it's unfortunate the rest of the album doesn't come close to these in quality, some other pretty nice songs though

I feel like I should like this more than I do. It’s fine but nothing special. 5/10.

(4/7) decent background music for Saturday lab chores

I mean it's not awful. It's kinda crap and I can't bring myself to care.

I hoped for a ye-ye Pet Shop Boys, received the likeably slight, apart from the band-justifying Neil Young cover.

This was boring 35 years ago and hasn't improved with age, if anything has become even more irritating. Always found the two blokes a bit sinister, a pair of dorks grooming an innocent young lass with tales of Françoise Hardy and rare groove.

perfect

Could've died once again. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

This was a pleasurable listen to. Nice smooth grooves chill atmosphere very relaxing tunes. Vocals were good with pleasant tones.

nice

The sound of this 1991 album is incredibly dated - it hearkens back to the time when everyone fell in love with the idea of making sample-heavy beats for da club and forgot that throwing down a few chords and putting some random melody over it does not constitute a song. The only thing that works here is the cover of Neil Young's "Only Love Can Break Your Heart" because the bones of that tune are indestructible. (Also, this is exhibit #23037 in the series "95% of album covers are terrible".)

Mid sampling, kind of boring. 4/10

I always mistake these guys for a twee group. Not a dated housey 60s mash up. Doesn't quite work for me, but a decent effort at making more of the then current dance sound. 3 Heard before? No Owned: No, 106/413 (25%) Will I get: No

I’d never heard of this band or album - glad to listen to it.

Not unpleasant but not really inspiring

Man, these sorts of ‘90s/‘00s chillout records are my jam, but a lot of them sucked because they just meandered without particularly catchy melodies or good songwriting, coasting along purely on vibes. I guess this one gets recognition for arriving at that sound early, but it’s just kind of boring.

I liked this, pretty cool and chill indie-pop club music, I guess.

Im a fan of house music but this one just wasnt doing it for me

Weird, to me with no background of the band it's odd but pleasant noise, with a weird war propaganda style speech every now and then

This album is definitely not much moving or enjoyable. It is not much interesting either. Sure, there are some interesting sounds, some nice melodies, but it feels pretty plain at constructing atmospheres. It feels sometimes even distant. And, to be honest, the switches between the house-driven songs and the atmospheric ones are not impressive at all, as they seem to not flow but, rather, conflict. And, it is not that there are not nice songs, for sure there are. And the singer's voice is really good and warm, something that really goes well with certain songs. But, even though there are some nice ideas, and sometimes they are delivered correctly or even in a good way, most of the time this album lacks of a clear direction, or, at least, of having a clear sound and trying to make it sound interesting. Because most of the time what could be immersive, what could transmit something, ends up being more like background noise, making the songs feel much longer than what they actually are. This is not great, for sure. But I appreciate some of the experimentation in here as well as some songs, but... It could be good. It isn't.

Not as good as I’d hoped. I remember liking Saint Etienne a while ago.

Give me good albums

I kind of view Foxbase Alpha as the reciprocal to the larger UK Brit-pop and Madchester scenes at the time. While the latter are '60s inspired rock music which have absorbed some things from the dance scene, Saint Etienne is a dance group which has learned a few tricks from '60s pop and rock. It's more unique than I thought, and there are a ton of really enjoyable songs here. I don't know if this style is *really* my thing, but I did have a good time with the catchy, detailed songs, cool sampling and great melodies.

***A good, easy listening album.

This is a very inconsistent listen. There’s some really nice jams on here accompanied by some bad electric songs and questionable interludes. Likes: Only Love Can Break Your Heart; Carnt Sleep; Spring; Nothing Can Stop Us

Comfy album, I've been listening to this one for quite some time.

Lovely voice and one or two decent songs. However her voice is wasted on these songs as they are not brilliant songs unfortuntly and the skits are meaningless

Bwah, eentonig. Wel rustgevend

Vreemd maar cool?

I found "Foxbase Alpha" to be an inconsistent debut that relies heavily on floaty, ethereal female vocals over a low-key backdrop, occasionally leveraging the house rhythms of its time inter mixed with soundscapes. There were a few moments that grabbed my attention - attempting a cover of Neil Young's 'Only Love Can Break Your Heart' was both brave and interesting and 'Like The Swallow' was the standout track on the album, but the album as a whole really just passed me by. Nothing poor as such, but nothing that I thought was essential listening. Three stars (rounding up rather than down!). 1 "This Is Radio Etienne" (2/5) 2 "Only Love Can Break Your  Heart" (3/5) 3 "Wilson" (2/5) 4 "Carnt Sleep" (2/5) 5 "Girl VII" (3/5) 6 "Spring" (2/5) 7 "She's the One" (2/5) 8 "Stoned to Say the Least" (3/5) 9 "Nothing Can Stop Us" (3/5) 10 "Etienne Gonna Die" (2/5) 11 "London Belongs to Me" (2/5) 12 "Kiss and Make Up " (3/5) 13 "Like the Swallow" (4/5) 14 "Dilworth's Theme" (2/5) Total - 35 Average - 2.5 421/1001 221/421 albums reviewed were new to me.

Really great music to work to, I will definitely be listening to this again. Somehow stays interesting without being overly distracting. Literally lo-fi before there was a lo-fi. Very british 60s meets the club music of the 90s. Cool!

Enjoyed

Honestly very interesting album. I really enjoyed some of it, and couldn’t wait to turn off the other half. 3/5 ⭐️ 243/1089

Somehow this band entirely passed me by, and I really like it. Recognised one or two songs e.g. Only Love Can Break Your Heart, and really like Like the Swallow.

Quite cool, I want to be into it as it feels like trendy 90s London but unfortunately trip hop type stuff is usually boring to me

Sounds like the soundtrack to an Urban Outfitters because Thievery Corporation was a little too edgy

Very 90s. Not for me.

It was okay. Kinda tough to get through. Good film reference. 5.8/10