Saint Etienne So Tough

3.5 Stars - Very Good - "...visionary pop that ought to be a hit....It's Blondie without trash, each cut a delightful pop homage bestirring life-like memories..."
Highly Recommended - "...the record is a treat...the group achieves the near impossible and remakes England in its own wistful image....By turns elegiac and affecting, narcotic and uplifting, Saint E. sounds original and alive..."
4 Stars - Excellent - "...a superb and strangely trippy sense of pop hooks....TOUGH is an inspired, evocative and quite beautiful London album..."
"...Lusher but simultaneously harsher than FOXBASE ALPHA, SO TOUGH is danceable, singable, and in an ungushy kind of way, eminently fall-in-loveable...St. Etienne signpost the brightest future pop's possessed in years..."
Ranked #33 in Melody Maker's list of the 'Albums Of The Year' for 1993.
4 stars out of 5 -- "Singles 'You're In A Bad Way' and Hobart Paving stand out..."
"Ambitious multi-styled pop. It is impossible to remain unmoved by Hobart Paving."
6 - Good - "...classic St. Etienne...contains moments of true wonderment...compares favourably with their debut..."
4 stars out of 5 -- "[I]t provides bona fide belters such as 'You're In A Bad Way,' alongside countless sound collages and swirling, half-heard samples and steals."