All About Eve --- All About Eve --- 1988 (Mercury)
A while back I featured their second album, “Scarlet and other stories”, in the “Nice song --- shame about the album!” slot, and it deserves it as it really is a disappointment, but All About Eve's self-titled debut is another matter altogether. It's actually the fact that it's so good for a debut that contributes to what a letdown the follow-up was. On the strength of this debut I had predicted and expected big things for All About Eve, but it seems that all their creative energy and enthusiasm was poured into their first album, and after that there was little left over for any further projects. Of course, the fact that singer and frontwoman Julianne Regan was going through a difficult breakup with guitarist in the band, Tim Bricheno, was certainly a contributing factor; the tension must have made it hard to work together, but even so it's not really an excuse. Leave the personal stuff at the studio door, love!
But back to this album. It was certainly their most successful, announcing them to the world and giving them a top hit single, but singles aside it's a great album with very few weak tracks (one, I think). It opens on “Flowers in our hair”, which from the name, and indeed that of the following track, coupled with the hippy, love-child image of Julianne which graced the album sleeve, would give you to expect a psychedelic, beatnik, hippy type song, indeed album, but nothing could be farther from the truth. Led in by heavy guitars and upbeat drums, it's in fact a “what happened to the hippy generation?” song, as Julianne wonders
”Where have the flowers gone/ Sun children?” It's a song of coming to terms with the realities of the now, realising that the sixties are gone, and that you can't be a hippy all your life, but also longing for the lost innocence of childhood, wishing to be that carefree again, as Julianne sings wistfully
”I wish we had the hearts of children/ Their eyes are wide and their love is pure/ We only dare to say 'Please love me'/ At the seventh glass of wine.”
It's a fast, rocky, uptempo opener, and things only slow a little for the semi-psychedilic “Gypsy dance”, with nice lively violin from Ric Sanders, giving the song indeed a gypsy feel, a sort of tarantella at times, with handclaps and a very campfire atmosphere. “In the clouds” keeps in the same general tempo area, some very haunting guitar from Tim Bricheno which gives the idea this may be a ballad, but it soon disproves that theory, breaking into a mid-paced rocker, with Julianne's crystal voice rising above everything, as if she is indeed in the clouds, then the big hit single is “Martha's harbour”, a quiet, gentle, acoustic guitar ballad which really serves to showcase Julianne's passionate and yearning voice. As you listen to her, you really wish you could go away with her:
”You are an ocean wave, my love/ Crashing at the bow/ I am a galley slave, my love/ If only I could find out the way to sail you.” It's a beautiful song, but being the hit it was you more than likely know it already, so let's move on to the next track.
“Every angel” is a fast, uptempo rocker, with busy guitars and a good hook, Julianne in more raunchy mode this time round, the song kind of back to the style of the opener with heavy drums and echoey guitar. Parts of the song are so similar to the first track though that you could almost sing the lyric of “Flowers in our hair” --- or at least, the chorus --- to its melody. It all leads up to the standout on the album, an epic, moody ballad, which goes through some changes over the course of its almost five and a half minutes. Opening with low synth and piano, the guitar comes quietly in, with more solid keyboard as the drums roll in, and Julianne singing at her passionate best on “Shelter from the rain”. It conjures up images of love lost, comfort found, dark winter days and warm winter nights as the atmospheric synthesiser lays down the soundscape for Julianne's gentle voice. Some Gilmour-like guitar riffs from Bricheno, but the song is mostly carried on the ethereal sound of Julianne's voice and the deep, sonorous keyboards which I think are also played by her, all floating along on a beautiful strings arrangement. Wayne Hussey from the Mission adds his distinctive vocal to Julianne's, and the song is a true masterpiece, perhaps the best I've heard from All About Eve, although I admit I've only listened to two of their albums.
What could top that? Well, not much, but then they launch into a truly haunting, almost acapella version of the traditional song “She moves through the fair”, and do an absolutely stunning job on it. For most of the time, Julianne is backed only by low strings, with much later some sparse drumming coming in, and finally Ric Sanders is back to add the finishing touch with his wailing violin. Absolutely mesmerising. Even moreso when you consider that everything, bar the violin, is played by Julianne. Following this with “Wild hearted woman” is a little pointless, but then, in fairness, very little if anything could truly follow such a brace of standouts, and the song is a decent, mid-paced rocker with some nice jangly guitar matched with some swirling keys, leading into what I definitely consider the weak link in the chain.
“Never promise anyone forever” just doesn't cut it, in my opinion, compared to the rest of the album. It's sparse, stark with a cold, wintry sort of feel that somehow doesn't gell with the other tracks on this debut. It's the only track on which the strings arrangement just feels, well, wrong. Julianne's piano is nice and calming, but there's just something missing on this song, I can't quite put my finger on it. It's followed by, luckily, another strong track, “What kind of fool”, which was also a single. With dramatic piano line leading the song in, Julianne's vocal is gentle but powerful, clear as a summer day. The strings here fit the mood of the song exactly, with choral vocals and bells adding to the melody as Julianne asks plaintively
”What kind of fool/ Lays all that's precious to waste?/ What kind of fool/ Leaves all they treasure to rust in the rain?” Then she sadly shakes her head:
”Fools like us.”
And as it began, the album ends strongly, as “In the meadow”, the longest track opens on strong guitar lines, taking something of a progressive rock approach as it leads in but getting heavy as it goes on, ending with a very powerful and frenetic guitar solo from Tim Bricheno as the song fades out. One of the very few tracks on the album not to utilise strings, it's guitar and keyboard with percussion, much more of a rock feeling than the previous few tracks, with a hard edge that ends the album really well.
I know All About Eve went on to release further albums and that they were moderately successful, but I think they'll always be known for the hit “Martha's Harbour”, which is sad in a way, because although that's a great song, there are better, and different, songs on this album that really should have had more radio airplay and been exposed to a wider audience. As it stands, this album, for me, showcases an emerging talent that sadly failed to live up to the promise of their debut.
TRACKLISTING
1. Flowers in our hair
2. Gypsy dance
3. In the clouds
4. Every angel
5. Martha's Harbour
6. Shelter from the rain
7. She moves through the fair
8. Wild hearted woman
9. Never promise anyone forever
10. What kind of fool
11. In the meadow