All Saints - All Saints Review

All Saints All Saints

dig it

full review

Tracklist:
1. Never Ever
2. Bootie Call
3. I Know Where It's At
4. Under The Bridge
5. Heaven
6. Alone
7. If You Want To Party
8. Trapped
9. Beg
10. Lady Marmalade
11. Take The Key
12. War Of Nerves

Release Date: 1997

user rating

2.7
average

Chart.

recommended by reviewer

Spice Girls Spiceworld
Pussycat Dolls PCD
Sugababes Angels With Dirty Faces
TLC CrazySexyCool

members also liked

The Beatles Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band
The Beatles Revolver
Lou Reed Transformer
Guns N' Roses Greatest Hits
Sinead O'Connor I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got
Blondie Parallel Lines
Goldfrapp Seventh Tree
Avril Lavigne The Best Damn Thing

2.5
average

Nick Butler STAFF (158 Reviews)

2007-01-17 | 7 comments | 857 views

Summary: Once, All Saints were considered the credible alternative to the Spice Girls. While there's pleasure to be had here, it hasn't aged well.

I'm not entirely sure why, but when I was younger, All Saints stood out for me amongst the post-Spice Girls wave of girl groups. It might have had something to do with the fact that they reminded me a little of TLC, and yet, unlike many other groups who cribbed from CrazySexyCool (my first ever favourite album, incidentally), I didn't have to reconcile the fact that they were American (which was a stumbling block of sorts when I was younger). Or maybe it was the notion that they were far more 'authentic' - the press, for a brief period, made a big deal of them being songwriters. In fact, this lot were toted as the more serious, credible alternative to the Spice Girls an awful lot - it was their entire marketing angle, if I remember rightly. Consider the chasm now between the way the 'edgy', 'real' Sugababes and 'fluffy', 'manufactured' Girls Aloud are percieved. This was that, 7 or 8 years earlier.

So I'm sure I listened to All Saints more then any other record I owned back then. Which might make you think this holds a certain amount of weight, bringing back a lot of memories for me? Wrong.

Well, okay, maybe a little. "Never Ever" is a fantastic song; quite rightfully, it still gets a fair bit of airplay today, and I still enjoy it whenever it appears on one of those VH1 Power Ballad days or whatever. I enjoyed "Bootie Call" even before I knew what one was, and now I'm a little more worldly, I probably enjoy it more. And the cover of "Under The Bridge" isn't actually as hideous as most people make out. It's not as good as the original, sure, but in a world that's now seen the Scissor Sisters attempt "Comfortably Numb", I think this one's definitely forgivable. Maybe even enjoyable, in the right frame of mind. I certainly have moments where I'd rather listen to this version. The cover of "Lady Marmalade", on the other hand, is quite possibly the definitive version; the slightly sneering performance by Shaznay Lewis (a great singer, and always the star of this group) is a delight. Certainly far better than the monstrosity doled out a few years later by Christina Aguilera, Missy Elliott et al. On these songs, it's almost tempting to compare them with Sugababes one more time.

The rest of the album is a non-event, though. Boring in the extreme. "I Know Where It's At" is the only other song worthy of mention, and that's only because it's as annoying as hell. I used to like it a lot, of course - it was the reason I asked to have this bought for me. I even own it on single. But I cringe a little whenever I hear it now. Everything else is filler, though a couple of tracks do seem like vague stabs at Britpop credibilty, driven as they are by acoustic guitars and a more high-minded lyrical bent than the rest of the album. Bear in mind, however, that when I say 'Britpop', I mean 'Cast'. There are also examples of Shaznay rapping, which simply isn't pleasant.

I still have the CD, but it's in a box without a jewel case. Clearly, this failed to make the leap from childhood infatuation to happy nostalgia, unlike the apparently less credible Spice Girls. I still enjoy the singles a lot when I hear them, but if there was ever a war between the two groups, All Saints lost it.

Share: Facebook Stumble Digg Twitter Del.icio.us