December 7, 2021

St Etienne - Nothing Can Stop Us (remix instrumental)

I moved up to Thornton (Just outside Blackpool) in August 1989, started at Baines 6th form in Poulton in September 1989 and discovered Cobweb Records within a few days. Unfortunately Cobweb is now gone but over the next few years I spent many an hour digging through the racks of 12” singles and picked up plenty of gems from there, usually for 99p or £1.99. This 12” remix certainly falls into the few category, the vocal version was the first St Ettiene track to feature Sarah Cracknell and is a great track but for me the instrumental feels more timeless with the crowd noises and vocal snippet samples as well as the main vocal removed. The drum break, baseline and strings build up beautifully to the main sample hook, the stunning intro from Dusty Springfield’s I Can't Wait Until I See My Baby's Face, the track soars at this point. A dreamy summer track that to me still sounds fresh now. For anyone who doesn’t have this and plans to hunt it down note the labels are on the wrong sides!

Words by Steve Jones