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"ALL OF A TREMBLE", LIVE IN SWEDEN!....
...... St Christopher were formed in the 1980's by founder member Glenn Melia, along with Ian Kay (drums) & Nic Robson (bass)...... after releasing 2 45's on their own label, & appearing on several flexidiscs/compilation tapes with various fanzines, the band released their first 45 for Sarah Records, "You Deserve More Than A Maybe", in 1988, followed by 3 further singles, "All Of A Tremble", "Antoinette", "Say Yes To Everything" & a mini-LP, "Bacharach".... the first 2 Sarah 45's reached the UK Indie chart top 10, & created substantial interest in the band, particularly in France & Japan. The band went through various line up changes, & performed many gigs in the UK & Europe, also recording a national radio session for Bernard Lenoir, the "French John Peel", which was later released as a 4 track EP by the Slumberland label. A change of label followed, resulting in 1990's "Man, I Could Scream" the band's first album for Vinyl Japan, together with 2 succesful mini-tours of Japan.... by this time, Glenn was writing, recording & producing all of the material, & 3 further albums were released on the Vinyl Japan label, "Dig Deep Brother", "Love You To Pieces" & "Lioness", before the label's demise in the late 1990's..... 2 singles were also released on the Spanish Elefant Records label, "Young Nun", & "She Looks Like You". In 2001, the "Golden Blue" album, considered by many to be the band's finest, was released on the US Parasol label, preceded by 2 mini-tours of the West Coast......the band is now alive & well as a 4-piece, with more gigs scheduled for 2008, & a new album, "The Church Of Broken Hearts" to be released later in the year.....
Influences
........."ALL OF A TREMBLE"... LIVE IN GOTHENBURG, 2008.
........The third & finest St Christopher compilation, following 1994's "Dig Deep, Brother" & the 2008 "Lost At Sea" album...... a compilation of 25 remastered tracks from 1992-2001, taken from the St Christopher releases on Vinyl Japan, Parasol & Elefant Records.
...."25 tracks of aching guitars, yearning vocals & soaring melodies"..........
NORMAN RECORDS REVIEW, 8/11/O8.....".......I've long been a quiet admirer of St. Christopher, a fragile York based 3 piece. The singles comp on Plastilina covered the Sarah years and now we have the spoils from the following decade. They're a hard band to describe but I'm often reminded heavily of The Icicle Works here and sometimes of Pulp. They bridge the gulf between brittle, tremulous indie and epic "Big music" and often end up sounding like Marc Almond fronting The Wild Swans. They endorse a production style that sounds somewhat ghostly and echo laden but listening to this, that matters not a jot for Glenn Melia is a consummate songwriter with a delicate passion for spinning incredibly melodic gems with tons of addictive hooks that bury themselves right in yr skull. Fans of The Mighty Wah! & The Field Mice may care to take peek but i'd really like to say the songs this band produced are of quite a defined pedigree so it's hard to bracket them with other bands as they just sound like themselves!....."
"LOST AT SEA" CD STILL AVAILABLE.....
St. Christopher's "Lost At Sea" is out now!
At last! The long awaited retrospective album from St. Christopher is out! It includes all the recordings they made for the legendary Sarah Records. Includes liner notes by Mateo Guiscafré from Siesta Records!
"ALL OF A TREMBLE" LIVE VIDEO......
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St. Christopher – The Kind of Girl:-
"This must be one of the most beautiful songs about a girl anyone has written. Glenn Melia really is an expert on the matter, being the author of songs like "Antoinette", "Charmelle", "Josephine, Why?" and "Wanda". It's safe to say St. Christopher is one of my favourite, favourite bands and that Glenn Melia is possibly the best male pop singer ever! This swooning number is from the You Deserve More Than a Maybe 7", their classic first release on Sarah.".... AVERSION.COM review
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"GOLDEN BLUE " CD REVIEW, BY POP MATTERS MAGAZINE:-
"Like Barrett, Gabriel, Julian Cope and others, Glenn Melia lets us hop on his back for a sonic trip across the river that flows inside your imagination.
Golden Blue is a skyscraper of sounds with a driving lead guitar at its pinnacle fueling the melody, much like a surfer at Waikiki Beach racing towards the shore. Consider the cowboy-like, psychedelic “North Wind” or “Riverbank” with its claves and handclaps. “Majestic” indeed is that, with low end that challenged my speakers and shook the walls. The reverb-soaked vocals reminded me a bit of Wham!, Heroes-era Bowie and Peter Gabriel, a good thing in my book. The obvious comparison is to Echo and The Bunnymen, but I think St. Christopher is better. St. Christopher appears more about songs than posing. “The First or the Last” is a highlight with Massive Synthesizers. I can see a cocaine-crazed Keith Emerson lunging a knife into his B3, his Arp and his Moog here. Imagine the sound without the twirling stage and the laser light show.
This is ‘70s FM radio prog rock before it became ridiculous, crossed with ‘80s British psychedelia. Interesting chord patterns and songs that break out of the box are featured here. Again, Parasol has a winner......" POPMATTERS.COM review ..... BUY "GOLDEN BLUE" AT CD BABY.....
Thank you for allowing us onto your page. Been a huge of admirer of your wonderful music since 'You Deserve More Than A Maybe'....still got all the Sarah(and Bus Stop) 7"s, still deeply cherished.
Please feel free to post any flyers or info about releases, concerts, videos etc on our page. We're trying to cultivate a Blog/Zine celebrating the best Indiepop.
I am very glad to be your MySpace's friend. I appreciate your music tremendously. Moving, clever, amazing : An intense emotion in a nice melodic sense. Take care
"ALL OF A TREMBLE" LIVE VIDEO......
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St. Christopher – The Kind of Girl:-
"This must be one of the most beautiful songs about a girl anyone has written. Glenn Melia really is an expert on the matter, being the author of songs like "Antoinette", "Charmelle", "Josephine, Why?" and "Wanda". It's safe to say St. Christopher is one of my favourite, favourite bands and that Glenn Melia is possibly the best male pop singer ever! This swooning number is from the You Deserve More Than a Maybe 7", their classic first release on Sarah.".... AVERSION.COM review
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"GOLDEN BLUE " CD REVIEW, BY POP MATTERS MAGAZINE:-
"Like Barrett, Gabriel, Julian Cope and others, Glenn Melia lets us hop on his back for a sonic trip across the river that flows inside your imagination.
Golden Blue is a skyscraper of sounds with a driving lead guitar at its pinnacle fueling the melody, much like a surfer at Waikiki Beach racing towards the shore. Consider the cowboy-like, psychedelic “North Wind” or “Riverbank” with its claves and handclaps. “Majestic” indeed is that, with low end that challenged my speakers and shook the walls. The reverb-soaked vocals reminded me a bit of Wham!, Heroes-era Bowie and Peter Gabriel, a good thing in my book. The obvious comparison is to Echo and The Bunnymen, but I think St. Christopher is better. St. Christopher appears more about songs than posing. “The First or the Last” is a highlight with Massive Synthesizers. I can see a cocaine-crazed Keith Emerson lunging a knife into his B3, his Arp and his Moog here. Imagine the sound without the twirling stage and the laser light show.
This is ‘70s FM radio prog rock before it became ridiculous, crossed with ‘80s British psychedelia. Interesting chord patterns and songs that break out of the box are featured here. Again, Parasol has a winner......" POPMATTERS.COM review ..... BUY "GOLDEN BLUE" AT CD BABY.....
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