St. Jude is the debut studio album by English rock band the Courteeners, released on 7 April 2008 by Polydor Records.

[1] They self-released an EP, titled Ltd E.P., which consisted of early versions of "Kings of the New Road", "How Come", "Slow Down" and "Fallowfield Hillbilly".

[16] The staff at NME said "Cavorting" has Fray "tumble into a cliquey scenester club night, decree it’s 'full of over-rated, dehydrated goggle-eyed girls' and stumble out again convinced he’s far too big a rock’n’roll star to bother with any of them".

[19] The title arose from Fray taking time at a post office during work hours, only for his manager to remark "what took you so long?".

[21] The Motown-lite "Please Don't" sees Fray sing in a high register, akin to Ian Brown of the Stone Roses, while discussing the theme of separation.

[27] "Not Nineteen Forever" comes across as a mix of New Order and the Strokes with its disco rhythm section as it details disintegrating relationships.

[19][22][28] It has an optimistic atmosphere as Fray describes teenagers' insecurities and romantic moments, referencing the 42s nightclub in Manchester, which the band used to attend.

[19] The album concludes with the acoustic song "Yesterday, Today & Probably Tomorrow";[12] in the background, noise can be heard from the Piccadilly station in Manchester.

[34] A promotional seven-inch vinyl record was released to coincide with this, featuring an acoustic version of "Bide Your Time".

[37] The song was then released as the lead single from the band's forthcoming album on 14 January 2008; the CD edition included "Slow Down".

[42] "Not Nineteen Forever" was released as the second single from the album on 31 March 2008; the CD edition included "Smiths Disco".

[54][55] The following month, the Here Come the Young Men mini-album was released in Japan, collecting all of the songs from the "Cavorting" and "Acrylic" singles.

[60] Fray then played a solo, one-off show in London that same month as part of The Best British Sound: Best of the Festivals concert series.

[4][69] A version of "Please Don't" with Blossoms was released in July 2020; a music video was filmed at each members' house due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

[73] AllMusic reviewer Stewart Mason thought Fray was not a "distinctive frontman or as an instantly memorable songwriter, but the best parts of St. Jude are at least superior to, say, Menswear or Cast".

[6] Huw Jones of Gigwise said Street's production work aided the album's "extremely commercially viable" sound, as it "resonates with the warm recycled familiarity of so many bands that have gone before".

[12] God Is in the TV writer Bill Cummings considered the band to a share a similar vein to Status Quo, in the way they are "musically tired, derivative and boring".

[22] The Guardian's Maddy Costa gave a similar sentiment, stating that the band were "troglodytes on the rampage; if the garage fuzz of Kings of the New Road is effective, it's only because it's so derivative".

[7] musicOMH contributor Taras Binns felt Fray had "something quite constructive to say" unlike the band's contemporaries, as he is "capable of scribbling down some damn good, meaningful words".

[6][9] Cummings felt that Fray lacked the "wit, sensitivity and duality" of singers such as John Cooper Clarke, Jarvis Cocker or Morrissey, as his "vocal tone is so flat and repetitive that you wonder how people could bear it live".

[22] Costa noted that Fray was "aiming at a kind of sardonic wit," only to come across as "sneering, arrogant and aggressive" instead, backed by him "howling on the loud songs, whining on the quiet ones".

[74] St. Jude originally peaked at number 4 on the UK Albums Chart, where it sold 105,000 copies by the time its follow-up Falcon was released in 2010.