Gamine - Westport Lake

the female My Life Story - Melody Maker

all the pop sensibilities of St. Etienne but with much more glamorous trimmings! - Boyz

This is a rare example (like Love's 1968 Laughing Stock b/w Your Mind and We Belong Together) of a single whose B-side trumps the A-side in terms of sheer quality. Enjoy Westport Lake - pure pop tinged with alluring vocals, strange lyrics and sinister harpsichord. But I was blown away by 'Checkmate', the flipside. The disconnected, eerie (yet excellently sung) vocals are perfectly set off by a haunting and spare bar-room piano sound. You can only admire the way the vocalist sings a simple word like 'goodbye' with such a hint of Eastern promise. Check it out, because it won't be on Top of the Pops anytime soon. - amazon.co.uk