Various - Saint Etienne Present Songs for the Fountain Coffee Room (CD)

Sealed.

2020 collection. 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 ('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.

1 Only Love - Bill Quateman
2 Where Are We Going? - Marvin Gaye
3 Get Closer - Seals & Crofts
4 Tell Her She's Lovely - Batteaux
5 One Way or the Other - the Fifth Avenue Band
6 Lilly (Are You Happy) - Daryl Hall & John Oates
7 Love Is the Answer - Utopia
8 Oh Honey - Delegation
9 Easy to Love - Leo Sayer
10 A House for Sale - Millie Jackson
11 Tin Man - John Edwards
12 Thunder in the Afternoon - Bobbie Gentry
13 Save It for a Rainy Day - Stephen Bishop
14 Love Don't Come No Stronger
15 (Than Yours and Mine) - Jeff Perry
16 Hollywood - Boz Scaggs
17 A Love of Your Own - Ned Doheny
18 Natural High - Bloodstone
19 Hickory - Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons
20 Touch Me Baby (Reaching Out
21 For Your Love) - Tamiko Jones
22 Sunshower - Dr Buzzard's Original Savannah Band